Human Greed

“Human Greed lie somewhere between the gorgeous drones of Stars of the Lid and the haunting and solemn “Symphony No. 3” by Henryk Górecki… This is powerful stuff and takes a while to fully digest it. The oily darkness that the music conjures up gets deeper and deeper with every listen, a resonant and otherworldly tremor that is at once human and sublime.” Brainwashed

Michael Begg’s Human Greed project has gained significant recognition since the release, in 2008, of their third album; “Black Hill: Midnight at the Blighted Star”. Some of the attention may have been down to the illustrious roll call of friends and collaborators who pitched in with contributions; Julia Kent (Antony & the Johnsons), Clodagh Simonds (Fovea Hex), Fabrizio Palumbo (Larsen, Blind Cave Salamander) David Tibet (Current 93) but more, it was the clearest sign yet of Begg’s singular vision gaining traction and momentum.

The abstract soundscapes, swaying from melancholy streaked sensitivity to vicious slabs of noise (once memorably described as being akin to Arvo Part conducting Metal Machine Music) maintain a tense narrative sensibility throughout, underpinning Begg’s assertion of the project as a statement on narrative and language as much as it is an investigation into stimulating direct emotional response. As the live show has developed Begg has begun introducing formal spoken word elements – a calculated move as piercingly effective as it is surprising.

Black Hill, which was voted #2 Electronic/Ambient album of the year by Italy’s Blow Up magazine, was complimented by a series of successful live performances in Poland and the UK. The shows have evolved to bring a new, richly compelling immediacy to the Human Greed sound – as observed by Heathen Harvest: “Their music provides an absorbing journey into inner realms… Human Greed compel attention. Their sound has a taut presence tinged with unease. Like tightrope-walking over a huge chasm, there’s a constant nagging awareness that a plunge into the abyss could happen at any moment. ”

Human Greed’s last album “Fortress Longing” was released in 2011 and was met with rave reviews:

“Staggeringly beautiful music… utterly dreamlike… one of the albums of the year”
Brainwashed

“A studio master creating an album of of mystery and imagination… contains so many moments of sheer perfection. Impossible to pin down. Impossible to put down”Was Ist Das

“A rich release full of hidden drama. Excellent.”
Vital Weekly

“Fortress Longing has the confidence and construct of a single orchestral symphony… with the unpredictable power to chill or destroy”
Musique Machine

“A gorgeous one-hour aural journey”
Francois Couture

“The music unfolds as a beautiful symphony from a parallel universe… It is a grand and compelling masterpiece of unprecedented splendour.”
Caleidoscoop

Black Hill: Midnight at the Blighted Star reviews

“Black Hill occupies a realm that is somewhere between the gorgeous drones of Stars of the Lid and the haunting and solemn “Symphony No. 3” by Henryk Górecki. This is powerful stuff and takes a while to fully digest it. The oily darkness that the music conjures up gets deeper and deeper with every listen, a resonant and otherworldly tremor that is at once human and sublime.” Brainwashed

PILGRIM: New World Homestead reviews

“This is night music, which ripples with your deepest and darkest doubts… Human Greed have managed to conjure up a chilling collection of audio nightmares that calls the listener back again and again to discover more layers of sonic creepiness”
Rock a Rolla

“serious and overwhelming”[...] “a hostile environment of latent violence”
Trinta de Fevereiro

“Taking atmospheric, menacing ambience to heady new depths… to create an atmosphere which could enswathe the grimmest of David Lynch’s filmic output”
Boomkat

“As fitting a drama of nervous exploration and discovery, there is wonder and dread in equal measure here: Part dream, part nightmare, Pilgrim’s hypnotic call inevitably lures the listener into treacherous waters before plunging them into fatal depths”
Rough Trade

CONSOLATION reviews

“A Fear filled symphony of terrors… that gradually entwines your imagination in its numerous sonic tentacles and refuses to relinquish its grip.”
Edwin Pouncey, The Wire

“…a dark delight full of Stygian soundscapes”
Mojo

“A master class in claustrophobic paranoia.”
BarCode Magazine

“Secures a place for Human Greed in the echelons of melancholic experimentalism”.
Absorb

“Requires the patience of a saint”
Kerrang!

“Disquieting as it is exceptional… Brutally honest, enlightening and remarkable”
Dark Star