Listening to PBB's second release reminded me of the most pleasant and horrifying dinner scenes of my early youth. In those days, after dinner had been served, I started my little private investigation on what I was about to eat. While investigating the ingredients, I discovered eatable stuff that could really make me happy. However, some ingredients truly detested me.

Lets consider PBB's (or, if you like, chef Church's) menu for this evening: Black Brothel.

I have to admit, chef Church has taken quite some effort in preparing his exquisite meal: a hint of idm, some pieces of dark ambient, and a fair amount of down tempo industrial. I guess you won't be surpised, dear table companions, that we're not dealing with junk food this evening. Contrary, chef Church has applied a satisfying amount of variation and special attention to the preparation of tonight's meal, and, to our great relief, refuses to apply a standard recipe to his menu.

The first course of the menu ('Handless') consists of a slow and rather plain and senseless rhythm, accompanied by some high pitched, synthetic sounds and a hint of a melody, when, slowly, out of the distance, an underlying drum'n'bass like rhythm emerges, speeding up the track, which is immediately dressed up with a mysterious, atmospheric background sound. After a while the rhythm shifts back to it's initial slower pace. In the course of the track the rhythm is alternating between these two paces, while earlier elements are shifting back and forth. Our appetite has only been increased...

The second course of our menu ('Dark Passenger') is introduced by a female voice. In the background a rhythmic pattern with a hint of tambourine is building up, while warm, analogue electronic sounds create a comfortable atmosphere.

At the start of the third course ('Empty Words'), which initially seems to start off where the previous course has ended (one should never overemphasize a specific taste in a meal), I tend to fall back into my familiar, little investigation routine: while shifting my fork through the contents on the plate, I start to get a little bored with the monotonous rhythmic patterns. Nonetheless I proceed eating.

The next two plates ('Whiteout' and 'Lullabye') appear to be welcome changes in the context of the overall taste: a slow melodic pattern keeps on repeating, hypnotizing and spinning around in my brain ('Whiteout'), followed by an dark ambient piano part with an unmistakable improvisational aspect ('Lullabye'. What's in a name?). These are the moments to comfortably lie back and gain some fresh appetite.

The next course ('The Wait') consists of a hammering rhythm, now and then appearing, while a slow rhythm and some melodic sounds constitute the main part of the track.

While the next plates are being served and taken away, I catch myself on investigating the meal more often now, slowly shifting the rhythmic parts to the edge of my plate. Finally I get fed up with the annoying monotony in the rhythmic parts of tonights' meal. The title track ('Black brothel'), and particularly the track 'Adverse'(which starts off rather nice) really destroy my appetite. Meanwhile I'm frantically ploughing up my food through the remaining courses of the menu, until the final plate ('Wavelength') brings some salvation at last: a slow and atmospheric dessert rescues the gastronomic experience just in time.