From Aversion Online.
Here's a massive, god damn near 80-minute outing of high quality dark ambient material, with damn near every track surpassing 10 minutes in total running time. This is the debut full-length from this project, and it's been three years since his last release, so a lot of time and effort must've gone into this fucker, and it really does show. The disc contains six tracks divided into three parts, each consisting of a couplet, beginning with "Recollection of Lost Thoughts" and its 13+ minutes of surging dark ambient tones that interestingly fall back to some orchestral synths midway through - which is actually one of the only moments on the entire record in which these types of influences are explored (though that's probably for the better in the long run). "Secret Kept in Exile" is the shortest track, but still hits more than nine minutes, stripping down to buzzing hums and resonant swells with some percussive textures and cascading drones for an ominous yet consistent piece that carries along nicely. "Brilliant Curse" changes things up quite a bit, as the sounds of birds and faintly crashing waves lead into some flitting wisps and distant percussion that gives way to a minimal ambient throb that gradually builds into a sizzling distorted pulse before dropping back to a sparse take on the style of ambience delivered in the previous piece. Minimalism initially continues as "Paradoxical Void" slowly builds in with ethereal textures that fade around in several directions as sparse, tribal sounding percussion starts to present itself at the fringes of the drones. This basic approach continues, increasing in density and volume over time, for the greater portion of a whopping 17 minutes - making for a rather hypnotic affair. "Fighting Fate", like "Brilliant Curse", marks another significant shift, introducing some excellent vocal shouts over another crispy distorted hum that grows more and more oppressive over 14 minutes (nothing too aggressive or abrasive, mind you). The vocals are mixed way back in the distance, so you can't make out too much of the content, but the shouts aren't heavily distorted or manipulated (sans plenty of delay), which sounds awesome, and kind of ties the style in this piece to power electronics as easily as it does to Bastard Noise or even Godflesh or the like. Very fucking nice. All of this climaxes in the title track, which gets immediately harsher off the surge at the end of its predecessor, using thicker, rawer sounding distortion amidst wails of feedback and windy swells for the duration of its 10-minute running time. A nice, deliberate touch that definitely falls into place well. There's just a lot of detail to the recording and mixing here that I really enjoy. Everything sounds full and resonant with lots of bright intricacies as well as foreboding low-end that gels together very nicely throughout the very specifically arranged compositions. The packaging looks pretty damn nice, too. I don't care for the back of the booklet or the art under the tray as those panels seem a little off from the cover/back cover, but the outer visuals are all top notch and depict strangely colored doorways and passages that kind of have a cavernous sort of appearance. The CD-R is jet black and has the Existence Establishment logo stamped on the front, hand-numbered out of 120 copies, and the disc is housed in an oversized plastic case probably generally used for DVD's (with a hard shell though, like a big jewel case or something). The printed matter has those perforated edges that suggest home printing or whatever, but the print quality looks totally pro, so... it's a nice looking affair for what basically amounts to a D.I.Y. release. There's even a little bit of text (Lyrics?) inside offering some insight on the subject matter, with the entire package being housed in a sewn gauze sleeve. Not too shabby. This project's just gotta get more attention out of this one. There's honestly a lot more thought and effort put into this than most of the dark ambient material you're gonna come across out there, especially at this level, because this disc is definitely of the caliber you'd expect from some of the better known labels dealing with this niche of the scene, and that should count for something. I'm actually pretty damn impressed by this. There are areas that might need a little work, for example, it might be worth considering to keep things a little less heavy handed as far as the total length is concerned (79 minutes is a long fuckin' time), but that's not such a big deal. I've love to hear more of the vocal work, and I think that over time this motherfucker could really do some severe damage as his skills progress even further. And that's the thing that drives me nuts about the noise scene: It's so damn oversatured that it's extremely difficult for an album like this to make a dent, hence an excellent piece of work is so limited that a mere 120 people will get the chance to hear it, and that's just offensive. Quality should do the talking, and this work should reach a greater number of listeners. Well done. (8/10)