PROJECT PITCHFORK TRIALOG EP WEA, EAST WEST, CANDYLAND, METROPOLIS RELEASE: FEBRUARY 4, 2003 (USA) REVIEW: JANUARY 29, 2002

I will start by saying that I have not bought anything by this band since their 1996 masterpiece "Chakra: Red!". Since that album, they have signed with WEA/East West and slowly have been bending over backwards to make a commercial success of themselves. Watering down their sound and turning their back on the style which defined them has become the norm. Their latest album "Inferno" was more of the same garbage. But...
Two new EP:s show that Project Pitchfork is back. Back in a way that I have not heard in an eon (sic). "View from a Throne" has some excellent examples of true Pitchfork style with tracks such as "Die Schlange" and "Corpus Hermeticum" stunning me with their powerful, foreboding atmospheres and oppressively dark tones. I just wonder how it is that Peter Spilles and Jürgen Jansen are able to just "turn on" the creativity that makes these EP:s stand out so dramatically when compared to their last three albums.
"Trialog" - reviewed here - is an even better EP with "Tal Der Dornen" and "Radiolarie" unabashedly taking us back to the glory days of Pitchfork (1992-1996) while updating the sound and opening some new doors for future releases. There is a strong connection on this EP to their definitive releases, namely "Lam Bras" and the entire "Entities" period. The alienation and abject isolation that made me love Project Pitchfork all those years ago has returned. I hope they are able to continue on this path. Finally, the dark years are over. Welcome home, boys.

PETER MARKS