Reido



2006 - F:\all

Official Site

Reviews:

Burning Black
(july 2007)

Reido is the Japanese word to define the absolute zero temperature (–273.16? C). Reido is also the name of this young band from Belarus which, taking as a basal concept the total technologic and logic collapse decide in 2002 start creating the most freezing and desolate music ever conceived. “F:\all” is the result of all these unnatural desires. The music of Reido could be considered as Extreme Funeral Doom Metal with strong Drone traces, but after several listens you start to fall into the hypnotic and cyclic atmospheres, full of ambient/industrial references and only then, you can really appreciate what this album is all about. “F:\all” consist in five tracks at 70 minutes of crawling desperation, starting with “Zero Level Activity”, a sort of five minutes Industrial Ambient Funeral Doom intro (considering this is far the shortest song of this album), after this desperate piece, the nightmare of crawling Doom Metal continues its path of relentless destruction, describing all tracks one by one would be insane, taking into consideration the shortest track after “Zero Level Activity”, “Logical Collapse” is clocked at 15 minutes. But talking about the general aspects of this work, we can say the atmospheres of Reido are completely varied, dealing with a wide range of negative emotions, the whole music varies between the droning/ambient, atmospheric/doomy parts and extreme Funeral Doom Metal passages. With ultra low and slow guitar work this band creates devastated scenarios, accompanied by ultra tenebrous atmospheric industrialized elements. The bass is highly present along the disc, with a strong, consistent and heavy as hell performance. The drumming couldn’t be slower, like a dying heart pumping for the last time. The voices belong completely to the darkest realms of Funeral Death/Doom Metal; with ultra low guttural grunts deliver the most extreme element of the entire album… The Cd also includes a video for “Zero Level Activity” as a bonus; this video is a really obscure, claustrophobic and asphyxiating audio visual experience, completely fitting with the post-apocalyptic vision of Reido. This album has the ability to transport you to the time after the apocalypse, where all life has gone, and only the ruins of a splendorous past remains…

Reviewed by: AP

Metal Reviews
(january 2007)
(62/100)

Most funeral doom bands generally embody a cold, harsh atmosphere, so it’s fitting that Belarus’ two man (at least at the time of this release, they have since added a third member) outfit Reido chose a name that translates to “absolute zero temperature” in Japanese. I say “fitting” because there are no beautiful or uplifting aspects to be found on their debut album, F:\all, which is far and away the most brooding and dark release currently offered by our friends at Russia’s Solitude Productions.

As most already know, funeral doom is usually very polarizing, and F:\all is no different. “Absolute Zero Temperature” is not only the literal name of the band, but also goes a long way in conveying the theme and mood of this album. The band has stated that throughout the two year recording process of this album, in which they shed two of their original members, their music took a turn from melodious to slow and mournful, and I will certainly vouch for the latter description. If you’ve found it hard to enjoy bands like Esoteric in the past, you’ll probably find little here to enjoy, as Reido offer only slight variations in their approach. If this kind of music interests you, as it does me, then listening to F:\all is a worthwhile undertaking. The opener, Zero Level Activity, aptly darkens the mood using an eerie blend of feedback, droning noise, and deep guitar bursts, with a scarce low growl as the only vocal portion. You really get a better notion of this band’s sound on the following track, the suitably titled Frozen Terror. The union of the electronic noise and synths more common in the drone scene with the low, heavy guitar and rhythm sections and the almost whispered groan of Alexander “Faceless” Kachar make for interesting results. As with most funeral doom, Reido’s songs carry long lengths, with all but the opening track surpassing the fifteen minute mark. Of course, this isn’t a problem if you enjoy doom. Unfortunately, there is too little variation on these songs and I often found myself drifting off and losing focus. Perhaps that was the band’s intent, lulling their listeners into a dark trance. However, it is possible for an album to wash an all-encompassing, trancelike ambience over its listener while still commanding their attention, an aspect that was absent from this album. There are bright spots, though. The opening lead of I Am the Absolute Truth is fantastic, and Exhausted sees some of the album’s finest riffing while showcasing a haunting whisper which fits the band’s style perfectly. With a few alterations, those songs could have been outstanding. As it stands, they’re merely adequate.

F:\all has qualities befitting a “promising” debut, by which I mean that there are definitely positive elements and plenty of tools to work with. They’re just not utilized properly here, in my opinion. If Reido can manage to focus their sound a little more on the next outing, funeral doom fans could have an impressive work to add to their collection.

Reviewed by: Adam

Hyper Blast Metal
(january 2006)

Quick Review:
Absolutely quintessential Belarusian Death/Doom. The band has huge potential to become one of the forerunners of the arising Eastern European Doom Metal scene. This is not your average Death/Doom release – expect touches of Intaglio acoustics, crippling Sludge, and even some Industrial dotted around the release. Very highly recommended!!

In-Depth Anlaysis
This is the debut release from Reido, one of the first Doom acts to emerge from Belarus, although it would be fair to say they are very much a part of an emerging Eastern European Doom Metal scene, typically fronted largely by the Russians.

Reido play a style of melodic Death/Doom that clearly has riffs based in Peaceville Three era, contains some Industrial elements, some soft acoustic work that could be compared to fellow Eastern European Doom band Intaglio, and solos that wouldn’t be out of place on Umbra Nihil’s “Gnoia.” The vocals on this album are nothing groundbreaking, but vary between consistently good low growls that we’ve come to expect in Death/Doom and softly spoken words. As well as the aforementioned factors, Reido also uses some more original factors in their play, like the incredibly clean production of the bass and leads – you can literally hear every strum from both. The music also has a Sludge overtone to it, which helps to create the mentally disturbing music that the lyricist obviously intended to create.

To summarise; There’s nothing disappointing here, only encouraging. The songs are long, powerful in many ambiguous ways, whilst still retaining an occasional atmosphere of beauty somewhere in the chaos of Reido’s twisted words. What to define it as though? I suppose you could call it a Sludge-influenced style of Death/Doom as a loose description. Anyway, I enjoyed this release greatly, and I think it will stay in my CD player for a considerable amount of time, as it should do in yours! Fans of Intaglio or the Peaceville 3 would probably be the most likely candidates to find a large amount of merit in this particular release.

P.S. I have absolutely no idea what the album title is all about. It looks like someone attempted to spell “Fall” on a keyboard in a drunken manner, and it’s stuck like that! That or they’re attempting access the “all” folder in their F: Drive… whatever comes first.

Reviewed by: Loki

Metal Only
(december 2006)

Even though the Belarusian band REIDO falls in under funeral doom they are on a bit different track than many others within this style of music. With their debut “F:\\all” they create an at least said impressing post apocalyptic soundscape, which has also left its mark on the albums really nice looking layout.

As mentioned REIDO plays funeral doom, but their sound still differs quite clearly from the normal approach with strong elements of misery and melancholia in the atmosphere. What you are faced with on “F:\\all” is instead the cold and desolate atmosphere of a post apocalyptic world filled with empty steel skeletons of factories and rusting machines. You could almost see this album as funeral dooms equivalence to industrial, where much of the same cold and mechanic atmosphere is created, but with different means. Since even though REIDO uses some dark ambient elements, like in the magnificent beginning of “Zero Level Activity”, the focus is still on the heavy guitar riffs, the slow drum hits and very deep growls. The guitar work is however at times surprisingly active for funeral doom, which means that the sound isn\'t as monotonous as traditional funeral doom. This naturally leaves its mark on the atmosphere and this increased variation in the music enhances even more the fresh feeling that the music has. It\'s really nice to hear funeral doom bands that searches for an own niche and with REIDO succeeds really well with this. On the album you also find a video for the song “Zero Level Activity”, which in a great strengthens even more the post apocalyptic feel in the music. The only thing that you could really criticize the band for is that the album is a bit too long and it could have been an idea to shorten it a bit. 70 minutes of heavy post apocalypse in funeral doom-style is a bit like dropping a 700 pound weight on the listener, a noticeable experience which may very well brake your back.

I've really fallen for “F:\\all” and I can do nothing else but to applaud REIDO for this great debut. They have truly managed to create a powerful and capturing atmosphere with their great song material and I\'m really anxious to hear more material in the future.

Reviewed by: Janne

Tartarean Desire
(november 2006)
(8/10)

Under the flag of Russian doom metal label Solitude Productions, here we have this Belarus-based band whose name Reido is of Japanese origin. Voil? the exotic touch! Uh, I forgot to say Reido perform sort of a ultra slow doom metal with alien raids. Apocalyptic as only that style of music can be, this album depicts a future (actual?) world collapsed by decay, entangled in debris, derelict in agony, a post-industrial landscape where humanity has slayed any trace of nature and emotion, subdued by turmoil. The booklet pictures and especially the videoclip included as bonus –rather consistent and expressive to be a low budget production- are the perfect visual expression of the music hereby contained. If we add the fact music is interesting and varied (varied to a certain extent; don?t expect any sudden jazzy breaks nor anything similar...), surely the slow doomsters around there, I know you exist, will be opening their eyes and ears to this band. What do the guys at Reido have which makes this release special? Well, first of all, guitars are wider than in any average release in this style. Even you can find some solos and emotional leads combined with the graveyard doomy marches. The sound of the strings is rather clean, so it?s quite different from the traditional down-tuned fuss most of bands employ. The use of bendings is also fresh and fits in the personal sound these guys seem to search. The effect used on the bass in some passages is tight and gives an extra to the whole; it?s another cute detail I?ve noticed and enjoyed. More positive things? The songmaking is mature, production is powerful and the arrangements are quite worked. A promising debut.

Reviewed by: Fjordi

Metal Observer
(october 2006)
(6/10)

Ah, the wonderful joys of Funeral Doom. Like genre forefathers SKEPTICISM and THERGOTHON, Belarus' own REIDO play painfully slow, mangled Doom Metal with deep, growly vocals and a smattering of despair and deepy depressive atmosphere. "F:/All" is an album full of crawling beats, chunky riffs and really loud keys, though not played in the church organ style, a la SKEPTICISM. Instead, we get attempts at, to use a completely tired turn of phrase, "swirling soundscapes". The overall feeling here is a whole lot brighter than most other Funeral Doom acts - make no mistake, it's still dark as Hell, just not quite as abysmal and miserable. Kind of like a rainbow through the Nineth Circle, if you will.

The problem with "F:/All" is that is just doesn't grab me like, say, "Stormcrowfleet" grabbed me. I listened to this album as I did the dishes, as I prepped a grammar lesson, as a I folded laundry - and never once did it even remotely distract me from what I was doing. Is this the kind of music that can only be appreciated if one is sitting still and solitary in a dark room, surrounded by candles and skulls? Perhaps, but when I imagine that scenario, I think I'd probably fall asleep rather than fall deeper into REIDO's twisted aura. The album just drones on, seemingly repeating itself and never leaving much of an impression.

The two dozen Funeral Doom fans in the world will want to check this out, as perhaps they will find the same characteristics in this as they do in other genre favorites. For me and most other Metalheads, however, "F:/All" is about as interesting as, well, something that isn't very interesting at all.


Reviewed by: Wesley D. Cray

Power Play Records
(july 2006)
(7.8/10)

The guys from Solitude Productions strike back with their newest release which is the new album from Reido. "F:\all" is the title of this album and it has five tracks. Don't be surprised with the duration of this album, almost seventy minutes!

Reido walks in the doom metal paths and after their opening track which is only four minutes then we have four songs with more than fourteen minutes each. Also the band had included a bonus video clip for the "Zero level activity" song.

I don't know why but Russia, had some really impressive bands in the doom metal scene and always Solitude Productions give us the chance to hear the finest works from these bands.

Be prepared for a dark trip through the sadness and the sorrow while the doom / death vocals will haunt your soul forever. I know that it isn't the easiest album to digest but if you pass all these seventy minutes of pure doom metal then you will taste the flavours that Reido put inside their songs. Doom or be Doomed!

Reviewed by: Antonis Maglaras

Doom-Metal.Com
(july 2006)

Reido is one of the artists on the young Russian label Solitude Productions, and this lengthy debut album is a good addition to their growing catalogue.

This duo brings us funeral doom with an atmosphere that matches the artwork and the accompanying video, whcih is a very nice touch, by the way. 'F:\all' conjures up a bleak urban wasteland with concrete rubble, crumpled steel, and a landscape made up of abandoned factories. The music is unforgiving and emotionless, mostly grey riffs, 'decorated' here and there by an electronic note, some spoken word, or a growl. This drab atmosphere is very intense, but at the same time, the downside of this otherwise good debut is that the album is a bit too long and contains too little variation to justify that length. That is, unless all this colourlessness is right up your alley, in which case it won't be too long at all.

Whichever way, 'F:\all' is a good debut, which at times reminds one of Longing For Dawn or Reido's labelmates Intaglio. This is only for true funeral aficionados, though.


Reviewed by: Oscar Strick