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Last Active 03-28-23 6:46 pm
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| [drone] Definitive guide to Maeror Tri
In early 2000s, among my music buddies Maeror Tri and Troum were revered as living drone legends. For quite a long time I was certain that "drone" effectively means "guitar drone ambient", and M3 - short for Maeror Tri - are the genre-defining pioneers of it. Years later I found out that not only there are loads of other shades of "drone" music, but what was even more surprising, that the phenomena remains obscure or entirely unknown to the majority of you melomaniac geeks out there.
Maeror Tri's technique was using mostly guitars as sound sources, reshaping the looped fragments with layers and layers of effects, adding some occasional field recordings and vocals, all transformed into twisted echoing kaleidoscopes.
Maeror Tri borrowed from drone, ambient, minimalism and industrial music genres as you'll read on the web, but what makes them unique is that they are addressing not the rational mind, but explore the subconscious. I have no idea how they do it, which hypnotic means they are utilizing in their highly abstract sound with moods ranging from psychotic to nostalgic, but it works. It took me quite some time to grasp though, I just kept playing their albums while doing everything from reading to walking and at some point I just found myself, well, in. And whatever Maeror Tri did, their music remained dreamlike - if nightmarish at times - and transcendent, engaging you in communication with you most hidden self.
After I've ingested most of their output, I tried to look for "something like that" but as it often happens with genius-level musicians (e.g. Swans, The Angelic Process, Bad Sector) they seem to remain one-of-a-kind. The closest it gets is obviously Troum, founded by two of three Maeror Tri's members after the split-up, but that's a different story, way more mellow if nothing else.
Enjoy diving into the abyss folks. | | 1 |  | Maeror Tri
Dedicated to a New Dawn
They say that the first rule of any musician is "never ever share anything you've recorded in first 2 years". Which could be the case, as this sounds like a demo tape, which it is. Aside from pure historical interest there's not a lot of value here, unless you're curious about how a mixture of lo-fi post-punk, noise rock with droning delay loops could sound like. With a lot of vocals, Maeror Tri are in search of their style, seeds of which begin to emerge in tracks 5, 7 and 8.
1/5 | | 2 |  | Maeror Tri
Peak Experience
Second tape is all about experimenting with power electronics and aggressive lo-fi noise. Post-punk, haunting drones and looped melodies drenched in delay are present too, but the whole thing just doesn't get together and falls apart, as the experiments with style continue.
2/5 | | 3 |  | Maeror Tri
Ambient Dreams
As its name implies, this is a collection of minimalistic ambience drones. Vocals are gone, the sound is monotonous with quite some movement under the surface, never getting boring, however it never really manages to capture my attention for its runtime. This could hardly be called a mature work, on the other hand it appears to be the first manifestation of what M3 want to say.
3/5 | | 4 |  | Maeror Tri
Sensuum Mendacia
A huge leap forward in developing their unique sound, it's hard to believe that this was released just a year after rather amateur Peak Experience. Everything M3 will soon excel at is already present here - layers of reverted echoing melodies, vast droning soundscapes, field recordings. Perhaps the first really great album, diverse and consistent at the same time, re-issued in 2016 with Somnia split.
4/5 | | 5 |  | Maeror Tri
Subliminal Forces
Quite average and largely almost boring drones, best used as a background, if at all. Lustmord fans could probably give it a try though, it's in similar low-frequency-minimal-variation vein. Almost entirely skippable in my opinion though, only Memento is worth mentioning.
2/5 | | 6 |  | Maeror Tri
Fragilitas
Originally a private release, while this is a few seemingly random tracks from compilations, it is one of M3's best, representing their minimalistic, melodic and harmonious facet.
5/5 | | 7 |  | Maeror Tri
Hypnobasia
On the more experimental side, trying out a number of directions but never really getting anywhere.
2/5 | | 8 |  | Maeror Tri
Venenum
A bit disjointed but a very good one, with all the trademark approaches present. Remastered version of the re-issue is highly recommended.
4/5 | | 9 |  | Maeror Tri
Yearning for the Secret of Nature
Dedicated to nature, meandering journey through imaginary landscapes, everchanging and spontaneous, filled with floating looped guitars and mellow noises. Might sound unstructured and too improvisational but this is what I like here, and what I'm missing in dedicated, straightforward Hypnos/Trance. A personal favorite.
4/5 | | 10 |  | Maeror Tri
Mind Reversal
Entirely consisting of reversed sounds, diverse and quite mature, the more experimental album. A bit of a hit and miss though, with both great and skippable moments. Contains one of my all-time favorites, Fountain Of Your Self, which always brings me to those long-forgotten foggy mornings and solitary trails though moss-covered spruce forests...
3/5 | | 11 |  | Maeror Tri
Archaic states
This album is addressing the archaic in the listener mostly through the tribal sound patterns and rhythmic loops. Interesting but not much more than that, Lacus Somniorum is a gem though.
3/5 | | 12 |  | Maeror Tri
Multiple Personality Disorder
A conceptual album, four pieces representing different faces. Leaves somewhat too rational and calculated impression, not bad but more a curiosity than a really enjoyable listen.
3/5 | | 13 |  | Maeror Tri
Rare & Old Recordings / Fragilitas
A compilation of two early compilations, of which Fragilitas (1991) is a lot more interesting. The first one is mostly notable for a rough version of Landscape of Visionary Thoughts.
Rare & Old Recordings 3/5, Fragilitas 5/5 | | 14 |  | Maeror Tri
Ultimate Time
Claustrophobic, suffocating, oppressive. A brutal cacophony representing M3 at their gloomiest, never really learned to enjoy it though, too sick for my tastes.
2/5 | | 15 |  | Maeror Tri
Meditamentum
One more compilation, an great listen but leaving the impression of a handful of entirely random pieces, which it is.
4/5 | | 16 |  | Maeror Tri
Ambiguitas
MC album dedicated to the ambiguity of life, with results equally ambiguous - it's neither great nor terrible, and mostly not really memorable.
3/5 | | 17 |  | Maeror Tri
Myein
There's quite some controversy regarding this album, with opinions ranging from "a timeless masterpiece" (which is true) to "it's just repetitive, boring and lacking movement". What I find outstanding about Myein is the scale of it. First track is 17 minutes of moderately intense drone soundscape, slowly building up until it blasts into a wall of beautiful noise. The second, Desiderium, is floating in layers of minimalistic looped guitar melodies, distant, sad, one of the most dreamy soundscapes. The third one, Myein itself, is a long 47-minute journey, a quiet river flow, cold and soothing, a solitary straying, wandering the vast barren space. It does not grab your attention by a storm, but rather softly crawls in. M3's opus magnum.
5/5 | | 18 |  | Maeror Tri
The Beauty of Sadness
One of their most accessible, this represents the melancholic, harmonious side of M3 best, while technically being yet one more collection. My only complaint about it is that it's sort of a kaleidoscope with pieces not always fitting together perfectly, but I love it this way too. Probably my most-listened album, infinite replay value.
5/5 | | 19 |  | Maeror Tri
Language of Flames and Sound
The title is a perfect description of it, this is an erupting volcano - a monument of wild, aggressive, menacing, stormy sound on a gargantuan scale. Howling and crushing but never falling into the overly distorted high-frequency noise, lo-fi yet powerful. Give Viurunge (Last Firing of the Neurons) a try, it's violent and cathartic. Diving into Monument is huge and solemn. Following two tracks, Entrance of Reality and Onus, give you some time to breathe, before the final 33-minute long industrial behemoth Origo steps in. Ecstatic.
5/5 | | 20 |  | Maeror Tri
Mort aux Vaches
Subtitled Hypnos/Trance, this monolithic three-piece canvas does its job well, slowly leading the listener's mind from peaceful Initiation, through menacing Alteration, to the chaotic and forceful Expantion. Certainly a massive album, to me it always sounds a little too mechanical, sort of the opposite to the natural flow of Yearning for the Secrets of Nature.
4/5 | | 21 |  | Maeror Tri
Emotional Engramm
It's complex and controversial - not too heavy but anxious and paranoid. Landscape of Visionary Thoughts is a highlight, offering majestic views over vast hallucinogenic expanses. Nebulos is outstanding, enveloping everything in heavy rain, turning into static noise but never really overstaying its welcome. Chymos starts with a beautiful sad tune and turns into a panic attack, Undisonus goes both ways in parallel. Engaging travel through ranges of emotions, most of which aren't exactly pleasant, but with sparks of harmony glitter in the dark - like C-beams, you know.
4/5 | | 22 |  | Maeror Tri
Hypnotikum I
Fragments of live records, interesting as live legacy but not really exciting.
3/5 | | 23 |  | Maeror Tri
Hypnotikum II
More fragments of live records, a little more diverse than first one but more of the same.
3/5 | | 24 |  | Maeror Tri
Meditamentum II
A diverse and accessible collection of singles and compilation tracks, perhaps one of the best introductions to the M3 sound.
4/5 | | 25 |  | Maeror Tri
The Singles
M3's heritage is "a vast inconsequential epic", so the story turns around again, gathering all the 7" singles this time. Quite solid collection if unconnected, contains one of M3's absolute peaks - the outworldly Mystagogus.
4/5 | | 26 |  | Maeror Tri
The Wheel
Yet another post-mortem handful of rarities, multi-faceted and kaleidoscopic, some great, others less.
4/5 | | 27 |  | Maeror Tri
The A.V.E. Tapes / Live in Nevers
More fragments of live recordings, mostly notable for the remastered sound, rather skippable otherwise.
3/5 | | 28 |  | Maeror Tri
Sensuum Mendacia / Somnia
Re-issue of 1990 split with Nostalgie Eternelle containing some practically unknown, rare but top quality material, and 1991 cassette album Sensuum Mendacia, both among M3's very best. This, apparently, is the last great rarity from their expansive legacy.
Sensuum Mendacia 4/5, Somnia 5/5 | |
mystagogus
12.05.24 | I needed a full chronological guide, thus had to create one.
English is not my native so any corrections are welcome. | mystagogus
12.05.24 | A couple of splits absent in the list:
2000 - Forazeihan (split with Crawl Unit)
One track from M3, good industrial but nothing outstanding.
3/5
2015 - Hafenstadt (split with MOHR)
Maeror Tri present three industrial compositions here, kind of interesting but not more than that.
2/5 | SomeCallMeTim
12.05.24 | well I'm checking Maeror Tri out today. Awesome list | Hawks
12.05.24 | Hell yeah I will also be checking some of these. |
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