In times when everybody can set up shop and start releasing their music, the announcement of a new label is no longer the big event it used to be. Thanks to its outstanding and idiosyncratic releases, Swedish outfit Reverse Alignment has nonetheless sparked expectations of great things to come right from the start. Behind the excellence of the music lies an open philosophy, uncommon for many other Dark Ambient labels and the personal vision of a man, who felt the need to pay back to the scene – instead of voicing his disgust.

Money and the Masses
“No, the label wasn’t born out of dissapointment about other current releases, although I do think there´s a lot of bad/sad/crappy artists/productions out there that seem to have hit earth just for the cause of making ‘a record’”, Reverse Alignment label head Kristian says, “I’m not impressed by the fact that there´s hundreds of dark ambient/industrial releases when there´s not one good release among them. Then again, there are also many interesting acts out there.” Some of them have already signed with him.

The story of Reverse Alignment begins with “The Silent Decay” by Avsky in August of 2007. “The unresolved beauty of these ethereal drones lingers over the music like tarnish inevatibly forms on silver over the course of ages”, we wrote in our review and another publication predicted it could turn into “one of those obscure things that float around on blogs in ten years as a long forgotten classic.” Despite the praise, it didn’t immediately sell in bucketloads or rake in loads of cash for the fledgling startup.

To Kristian, the monetary success of “The Silent Decay” weighs much less, however, than the satisfaction of having released this album on his own imprint: “I´m totally satisfied with the album itself - it´s a masterpiece. On the other, I´m not that satisfied with my efforts of trying to get it out to the masses. But then again, it is the first release on Reverse alignment and I think things are getting better and better. I´m really enjoy doing this!” This joy can be felt in every second of the two titles which followed suite.

No restrictions
Both “Sunken Temples” by Protoplasmic Reversion and “Anomie” by former Northaunt-member Taphephobia are marked by cinematic wideness, epic aural storytelling and a well-balanced and diversified use of blackness. Even though Kristian finds a degree of darkness a necessary prerequisite for his releases to obtain that special sinisterly romantic feeling he loves, the most important aspect to him is how an act manages to suprise him as a a listener: “If the projects don´t develop, I don´t find them enjoyable. It´s the same with the acts on my label, they have to develop somehow to be of interest. This means it can go down "pitch black" or the "other" way. It just depends on if there´s anything new to offer.”

No wonder, then, that some of the other labels he feel close to, do not restrict themselves exclusively to the Dark Ambient sector either: Athen’s Triple Bath, for example, has released anything from Jazz to Noise and Brazil’s Essence Music covers Doom as well as Psychedelic Rock. And if Kristian had to decide upon an act he would sign blindly for Reverse Alignment, he would go for Allseits, a project from Bremen, which has already performed with Canadian Metal-twopiece Nadja and German Drone legends Troum.

The same approach towards his label activities is apparent in his own musical endeavours, which range from Dark Ambient to Industrial and Noise and are currently turning from a mere Hobby- into something more serious, as his project Lakkalaenga picks up pace.His decided aim to contribute to the scene is making itself felt – in many different ways.

By Tobias Fischer

Homepage: Reverse Alignment
Homepage: Lakkalaenga at MySpace