Vision Éternel - An Anthology of Past Misfortunes (V)

Vision Éternel is the soft, instrumental work of Quebecois artist Virkelix, previously operating under the name Triskalyon. Virkelix calls his music "ethereal," and this is certainly an apt label. The music consists at least primarily of smoothly ambient clean guitar work, and the minimalism of his composition leads one to drift along in the soft mourning he's left on tape without noticing the time pass. "An Anthology of Past Misfortunes" has been playing on repeat for most of an hour now, and it still feels like I've just put it on. "Love Within Isolation" is pulling me to stop writing and weep softly instead.

I will unquestionably be listening to this record a great deal. The only thing missing from this release is a soft, wistful vocal, and even that would only give me words to whisper to myself in the dark of night. Sometimes, when artists ask that we give their music a listen, we sit as a group and wonder what possessed these people to waste their time and ours with their music. Vision Éternel, however, is a real treasure. His first two EPs combined here, both stories, combine for a listening experience that is somehow compelling and timeless.

This is the sort of music that becomes a sympathetic friend and an embrace through pain and misfortune. Looking forward to hearing the upcoming split with Ethereal Beauty on Abridged Pause Records. In the meantime, pick up a copy of this from Frozen Veins at frozenveinsrecords.com.

_Algol_/Cloudy Horizon - Split (K)

The internet has given us the advantage to communicate with people from around the world and in case they are artists to enjoy their art (theoretically speaking); even though thousands of miles lie between us. Such happens to exist in terms of _Algol_ & Cloudy Horizon: both of them are projects of the same person: Daniel, a guy from Siberia. His idea is to create ambient music in a variety of styles and this split release offers two approaches on how this might sound.

_Algol_
According to the MySpace site as well as the homepage, the term «space ambient» has been used to describe this project and it is very fitting. The music is very minimalist with a slow progressing melody and reverb in the chords. Only few textures appear at a certain time and accordingly it is very easy to follow the music respectively concept. Spoken passages appear but on a very small scale; opening of «The Total Siberian Eclipse», towards the end of «Dark and Light near the Tannhauser Gates». Noise textures are also used, but not on every track they play a dominant role. There is some resemblance to the art of Vinterriket and hence would fans of this band also like what Algol performs on this split release. It should be noted, though, that the Russian band does not use field recordings and this does differentiate this band from the Austrian one.

Cloudy Horizon
In comparison with _Algol_ the music of «Cloudy Horizon» offers a kind of atmosphere the other project if not able to create. This has to do with the use of an acoustic guitar that plays an important role in the concept; not only in terms of the atmosphere. Further is there a drum-computer playing in the background and also samples from the nature had been used; water play and thunder sound. Beyond these conceptual differences, the most obvious one to the listener is the existence of a beat which keeps the song going. Despite the minimalism which does also appear here, it is easier to get the idea. Both songs are well performed and offer some sort of folk ambient. Both songs are very linear and take the listener through different stages of atmospheres as well as arrangements. Yet all is very calm and without anything that would work as a counter-point towards it.

Ambient interpreted in two different ways, this could be used as a description for this release. Music that is easy to follow, never irritating and also somehow catchy. An interesting release.

Barzel - A Shield of Defense and the Word of the Son of Blood (V)

Barzel is a strange creature. The front of this record is anything but vague: the largest words are the phrase "MILITANT JEWISH INDUSTRIAL." That's certainly a fair warning label - or blessing.

Barzel is essentially a noise project - a strongly rhythmic noise project, harkening to the Futurists' ideals of music made from noise - covered in soundclips of Jewish, Zionist propoganda. In the case of this particular record (I asked David of Barzel), the voice clips are from "an old LP about the birth of Israel," and David gleaned the clips on the new record (which I haven't laid my hands on yet) from a variety of documentaries. He admits that it's hard to find applicable material.

Personally, my favorite aspect of Barzel is the overall sound - David manages to make the industrial noise sound like not only a call to arms in the defense of Israel, but like historical music made for the LP he samples. The distorted, pulsing roar is softened into a vintage vinyl sound that creates something of an amazing atmosphere. Even when Barzel's noise influences come forward in a blast of sound and distorted screaming that would do a live Masonna show proud (as in the track Milchemet Brera/Jewish Steel), it doesn't detract in the least from the historical atmosphere of the overall work.

I'd recommend this record for not only anyone interested in industrial and noise music, particularly older examples, but also for those interested in examples of historical propoganda in the context of race and nationalism. If you can hunt down a copy (try contacting David at myspace.com/barzelx), pick it up.

Arcane Art - Keen Joys of Solitude (V)

Karsten Hamre is one of those people who enjoys having far too many projects at any given time. Not that I know any of those *cough, cough.* Arcane Art is a project that specialises in keyboard work with spoken word.

Some of the atmosphere of Keen Joys of Solitude reminds me of some of the neofolk that I listen to far too much - an observation borne well by my recent discovery of Karsten's last.fm profile. Artists in common? Death In June, In Gowan Ring . . . it's oddly meditative music for something as . . . not ambient as it is. The melodies are enjoyable in a calm way and the orchestration is creative and works quite well. I'm almost certain the last track quotes American hymn "Lift Every Voice And Sing," which strikes me as quite strange coming from a Czech artist, but I suppose it may well be a coincidence.

Arcane Art seems in some ways a forum to discuss art and a work to relax the artist rather than so much an offering to others. It comes across as personal and heartfelt. Do explore Karsten Hamre's work where you can - I don't know how available this (limited) release is anymore.

Mark Solotroff/Stillbirth/Sharpwaist/Silvum/Karlheinz - The Enemy, Chicago, IL, 21/6/2008 (C)

I found out about this gig kind of on a whim. Updating the TIS (www.myspace.com/thoughtimagesound - CLICK HERE FOR HOT SINGLES IN YOUR AREA NOW) myspace one day I was looking at the bulletins and saw that one of the acts that I was friends with, or maybe the venue, or someone or something had posted a bulletin advertising it, and thought to myself "Well, gee, nothing else is working out while I'm in Chicago, I might as well try this out." I worked out heading down with Carter (and, as it turned out, my dad - a veteran of the old school performance art scene- for transportation's sake) and almost half expected us to be the only folks at the show. I wasn't too much off, other than the 6 people performing, during the first set, I'd say only about five other people were there, and the crowd built up to a strong fifteen to twenty people between sets.

The venue itself was pretty interesting. It was pretty much just a cleared-out space in a beat-up old studio apartment with some old furniture to make a small sitting area, and a pretty full kitchen /dining room. The sitting area/kitchen looked out onto a cold (-looking, it got pretty damn hot) concrete area which had the five set-ups in different areas and provided a great viewing space.

Against the rightmost "wall", which was a curtain covering up some sort of very large storage area, Mark started off the night with, as the flier described, "feedback using a clutch of microphones and his voice". Mark described his set as an Animal Law piece that he was still learning the melody to, but his performance was nothing short of striking. I can't honestly quite say I've ever really experienced anything quite like his set. The way Mark choreographed his every move to effect the shape of the feedback in the space was both sonically engaging and made me think more about the sound, making me take it for more than just its surface value. Every motion as small as creating a wall between two of the upright microphones with his hand created huge changes in the song that were somewhat surprising. I think the nicest part about the set was that from the description I was expecting more power-electronics-esque feedback-punching and screaming as frequently used in the other sets. It was much more enjoyable and interesting than I had thought it would be, and was definitely the most surprising of the night. Mark had the most tremendous presence of the performers that evening, performing with an ease that betrayed hours of practice, and years of performing.

Stillbirth came up next, assuming his spot at a small table near "center stage". His set began with him turning on a small table light, and the other lights in the venue being turned off. He presented what seemed to me to be relatively straightforward and very enjoyable power electronics. The lyrics were a bit clichéd in my mind: "genocide - tourniquet - genocide - killing women", but the effects he used to treat his voice were top notch. The performance aspect of the set were pretty good, the point where he fell on the floor and started moaning was a bit silly, but other than that - pretty good. The set was short and to the point, as it needed to be. In my mind the high point of the set was the image left in my mind of the lighting, and the ampeg cab pulsing with the rhythmic background noise, and so-and so standing eerily behind his effects table.

Sharpwaist seemed to be having some sort of issues that evening, but their piece was still great. It was nice to hear power electronics with a sort of lower droning in the beginning rather than the usual wall of white noise or pulsing stuff. It started off as somewhat generic power electronics, which I wasn't really too excited for and the main man spilled his beer on the floor and the guys from Silvum and Set 2 had to help clean it up while they continued to play. Eventually the second half of the duo kicked in and there was some great back and forth action. For a brief moment the main effects man dropped a distortion pedal into a metal crate along with a contact mic (or something along those lines) and shook the crate for just a few seconds, which created some great noise and spontaneity. This, for me, illustrated what the noisier acts were missing and was pretty cool to see. They also used a great series of back-and-forth screams that sounded awesome. In the end they were probably the best sounding of the noise sets.

Silvum in a way stole the show for me. Coming after two power electronics sets and presenting something wholly new compared to everyone else that had played, Silvum was nothing short of a breath of fresh air both in the context of the show and out of context. I don't recall quite specifically how it began, because I admit getting a bit lost in the experience, but what really matters is eventually Nick seamlessly took a piece of tape, measured it against his arm as if he'd done it a thousand times before, and then taped a microphone to his throat. The whole act was itself was very powerful to watch and was almost ritualistic as my dad described it later. The heartbeat worked perfectly into the music, running through some sort of delay and creating a kind of a train-sounding rhythm, and really brought the music forward on a lot of levels. The drone set proceeded with thought and created soundscapes that couldn't help but draw you in. The set wound down with the addition of… Breathing or vocals? I don't remember or couldn't tell. Either way, it sounded great. For the entirety of his set, except when using the mic, Nick stood almost completely still at his mixing console with a tremendous presence and sense of calm (though I might say his pulse might showed something else) which only enhanced the mood. Given my inclinations towards more minimal sorts of things, it's not surprising that this was, alongside the first, my favorite set of the evening. I talked to Nick afterwards and he was a very humble and nice guy, and seemed surprised when I asked to buy an album from him. Well the album was amazing as well, and is reviewed in this months Etherised, check it out.

Karlheinz finished up the night. Musically and performance-wise he was most forgettable. He had been the on-going "sound guy" for the night, and I didn't realize he would be performing so I was kind of excited. He performed three songs during his set, all of which were very much similar, and kind of generic. He screamed about some sort of angry things for two of them, and pointed at people in the crowd and ran around like you would expect him to, then performed an "instrumental" piece at the end which was referred to as the "Karlheinz Drone Set", which at first I took as a joke, then I kind of thought that was what he was doing… Then I just couldn't tell. I kind of felt bad when he raised his arms up above his head intending to swoop down and hit as many pedals as he could and unleash another huge wall of noise, but only managed to reduce the decibel level a bit and knock his pedals all over the place. I enjoyed his set anyway, and he seemed like an entertaining guy. Maybe if he hadn't looked so much like someone I knew, or worn that silly cop hat with the flashlight it would have been better. Oh well.

Over all, the show was great fun. I don't know that I would have picked a different venue to see this group of people, and the intimacy was very welcomed. Each performer brought something slightly different and they were each enjoyable in their own respects. The highlights of the night were definitely Mark, Silvum, and Act 2, all of whom made me think and were enjoyable to listen to.

Thought.Image.Sound - Spread Against the Sky (V)

This is certainly the beginning of a new chapter for TIS. Spread Against the Sky effectively transitions from the glitchy, feedback-soaked noise of past work and collaborations with NTRLWRM to a sort of minimalist, meditative expression of echoing guitar and bass work. The first two tracks, "A Thousand Shades of Night" and "Rabbit Fence," are mostly improvised and center on the use of effects and effects loops and twisted, smashed guitar sounds. Each is a slowly building experimental work, layering interspersed chaotic strumming and ambient drone. "Rabbit Fence" eventually crashes its way from glitchy distorted chaos to softer chaos that brings the word "ambiance" and even "melody" directly to mind.

My favorite track while the record was still in progress, "A Touch of Frost" sounds like pure decanted atmosphere. You can hear the melancholy chords drifting out across the mountains. You can feel TIS sitting and staring into the melancholy of the abyss. Slowly, the guitar and bass build and drop and flow into the delay-harmonised melody of "An Aging Statue." This statue is lonely. Introspective. Quiet. Then the modulated fingerpicking of "Drifting Away" builds tension, rather than releasing it and ending this album's chapter. I'm waiting for the next TIS release, so I can see where this is going. Get this.

Silvum - Fading Signals (C)

"Fading Signals" is a best-of album from Virginia's Silvum, AKA Nick Henry. Fading Signals presents a sort of ambient drone almost reminiscent of Stars of the Lid - only instead of the pristine crystallized beauty, it ranges a spectrum of beauty and the stuff of horror movies. Nick lovingly crafts pulsing soundscapes throughout the album that seep into your bones and grip you. Each track seems to come from a new direction, pulling you into an otherworldly collage of sounds. I can't begin to imagine how some of the great sounds have been created, since the piano credited on track four sounds very ethereal and unnatural. The album as a whole doesn't sound like a "best of", and flows naturally as though it were created to stand alone as an album. I highly recommend this for anyone looking into Silvum.

Merzbow - Music for Bondage Performance (V)

Of all the Merzbow I've heard so far, Music for Bondage Performance is definitely my favorite. Rather than the harsh, crackling, grinding electronics that dominate so much of noise and even Merzbow's work, Music for Bondage Performance blends noise with softer ambiance and percussion.

"Hara-Kiri Video" features layers of pulsing interacting polyrhythmically with a slow, steady bass drum and swells and clicks and aching ambiance. "Seishi Seppuku Kei" extends the acoustic side of the performance with clashing, echoing percussive crashes vibrations, and scrapes mingling bizarrely over a distant constant tone and arrhythmic heartbeat-like pulses that build and shift and change their context. Over its ten-minute span, it abandons the emphasis on experimental percussion in favor of more shifting, swelling, almost-tones and sustained noises. "Ropes in Tears" builds on tone clusters of tuned percussion and again slowly falls apart into ambience and almost subliminal scrapes and creaks. "Aimei Nawa" builds noise around its ambiance with tone loops, more strange percussive loops, and eventually fearful scraping of a bow on strings that brings to mind one of the poems, "Serenade," from Giraud's Pierrot Lunaire: "With a giant bow grotesquely/Scrapes Pierrot on his viola . . . " in its harsh strains. "Lost Paradise" is a brief venture into chaotically jangling bells that somehow doesn't seem out of place transitioning to the 26-minute "Bondage Performances," a soundscape of not only the shifting tones that dominate this album, but almost noisy, reverberating drums. This track wanders everywhere, combining field recordings of knocking and barking dogs and distant voices and brass instruments and strange loops and crashing blasts of noise and little melodies. Even through broken-sounding keyboard glurps and bleeps and frenetic drumming and mad grinding.

Music for Bondage Performance is much more artistic and advanced than the average noise release, softer, more ambient, but yet just as tense and wild and random. If you want to look into a strange mindscape, look no further. If you want an expansion of what noise is, look here. If you want noise spirit without harsh ear abuse, this is the album to put on.

Apparitia/Gog - Apparitia/Gog (V)

Apparitia dishes out some fairly typical raw, only semi-tonal black metal. Poorly recorded distorted guitars shifting chords chromatically sit over medium-paced machine-sounding blast beats with regular fills. The vocalist fills the musical "air" with swirling, distorted chaos. But between blasts of stereotypical black metal (which somehow has a bewildering feel that's much more appealing than most of the black metal I've heard), there are odd breaks of clean arpeggios. And the insane drums never get boring. Sometimes, there are even pulsing soft, ambient section. There are regular changes of tempo and dynamic. The whole thing is a complete mess. I love it.

Gog is some incarnation of soft, ambient doom. Hammered strings float over a backdrop of dark, clean chords and soft ambiance. Slowly, it builds into hanging, distorted doom. Not a thing to complain about. There aren't any vocals, aside from a spoken word piece at the end of the second track, which really improves the experience in this situation. There's always a wall of drifting sound and feedback hanging from existing chords, but the front edge of the musical movement is always heavy and clearly audible. Definitely a must for anyone who likes Nadja and wants something heavier and darker.

Both sides of this split are quite desirable, in wildly different ways, for fans of ambient, dark, noisy metal. Give it a listen.

Aghiatrias - Ethos (V)

अम्बिंस, complex, compelling, sampled from some live percussion and various sound sources, deep, mystical, ritualistic, subliminal, dark chants and mumbled warnings and imprecations. clashing, dark, piano tone clusters, piano as percussion, charles ives, twisted electronics, drum like a cracking whip. lasers, mallets, humming layered sines, prophecies of doom. pounding tribal rhythms, more hissing, cracking electronics. agressive ambient music. industrial. semirhythmic thrashing and pounding.

Stars of the Lid - Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid (C)

Stars of the Lid. Where do I start? For one, this is how drone SHOULD be done. Stars of the Lid create ambient droning soundscapes that sound like nothing. They literally sound like nothing. The main bits certainly don't sound like the guitars they are, they're so effects-treated, and the few string and brass and piano parts are the only distinguishable parts of the music. Stars of the Lid are beauty. Pure, distilled beauty. Their music embodies aesthetic perfection in all its form. Simply stated, if you have not heard Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid, then you ought not to ever use the word "happiness." The soundscapes of Tired Sounds… are unencumbered by the drums and vocals so often added by other drone supergroups. This album is lying in the grass on a fair spring day, watching clouds passing overhead. It's the feeling of the sun on your face while you sit at the beach. It's lying cozily in your bed next to someone you care about on a cold winter night. Stars of the Lid have managed to concentrate emotion, add it to powdered landscape, and coat it over a perfect batch of chocolate chip fuzzy feelings. Sometimes I listen to this album and feel like I might cry (Which is okay, guys. Just let those tears out), and sometimes it makes me feel lonely and isolated, and other times it makes me feel warm and happy to be around so many wonderful people.

Stars of the Lid are a perfect dreamtime experiment. Spin Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid and get ready to start spinning.

Nadja - Long Dark Twenties (J)

Well, today I decided I was going to get back into Nadja, and it's a good thing I did. I must have grabbed about one and a half gigabytes of releases (I'm almost done!) and by far this EP has stuck out as one of Aidan Baker's most beautiful works.

This song is has its similarities and differences from the rest of the nadja discography. The standard thick-and-slow-as-chilled-molasses rhythm riff over an industrial drum machine is still apparent, but this release has more similarities to shoegaze mainstays such as Slowdive or My Bloody Valentine.

Aidan's light vocals are mixed much higher above the music than before, but this isn't a bad thing. One can definitely make ties to Justin Broadrick's work in Jesu just by hearing the vocal work.

Wonderful ephemeral guitars flutter in the background and mingle with keyboards and flutes, giving this piece a very light and airy feel, contrasting the heavy sludge riffing beneath.

Overall, this EP is beautiful, one of Aidan's best, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of doom metal, shoegaze, or even ambient music.

Nadja - Desire in Uneasiness (A)

Nine albums. Nine fucking albums. That's how many releases Nadja has already put out THIS YEAR (and we're only at the half-way point!). Most artists/band never release that amount in their existence. Saying it's prolific is an understatement. But suprisingly all the material released by duo (husband and wife too) Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff is quality stuff. Ok, some might not completely agree with that previous statement, saying some of the material can be too samey, but fuck it, I love everything they've put out, granted ever since hearing "Truth Becomes Death" some odd years ago i've been a HUGE fan. Just couldn't resist some kind of dreamy drone/doom/dirge/ambient/post-rock/shoegaze hybrid! It manages to be totally blissed out AND crushing at the same time. So with that said, onto one of the latest of Nadja's releases.

First off, something for those already familiar with Nadja that will certainly raise an eyebrow or two is the art, which certainly gets one ready to expect something different from the music. Cartoonish drawings of chickens, half-filled bottles and chairs with trees growing through a hole in the middle of them adorn the cover and insides of the album. Another quick glance will most likely elicit even more eyebrow raising as in, this album has a real drummer on it! This being the first album to date without programmed drums. And to date, this is probably the most organic sounding of Nadja's releases. Guitar takes to the back burner, smeared into more of an ambient blur than usual, present but never overpowering the other instruments although it menacingly rears its head from time to time. The focal point of "Desire in Uneasiness" is the bass and drums, which usually end up locking into a kind of laidback groove at some point in every song, wanting to stay that way and drift forever. A lack of vocals can be noticed too, which is also a tad unusual for Nadja. Though, it works quite well as I don't see how Aidan's vocals would fit over the "jams" provided. "Desire in Uneasiness" is a definite step forward for noticeable change, one that works rather well and see's a band able to have a recognizable sound and yet move forward in their approach.Something not just for obsessives (like me) and completists. Something that could work to win over new fans. Something to show the skeptics Nadja still has a few tricks up its sleeve.

Released through Crucial Blast.

Coil - Constant Shallowness Leads to Evil (V)

Constant Shallowness Leads to Evil is a patchwork of glitchy electronics, marimba, experimental percussion, and twisted, ritualistic vocals from the late John Balance. This record could easily be a gateway record into noise, or an almost musical addition to a noisehead's collection.

Coil's work in this context is less connected to beats and straightforward songs than on a typical Coil album - and that's saying something, given Coil's twisted approach to songwriting. There's something glitchily attractive about the tone of Constant Shallowness' swirling, droning, rumbling electronics that has nothing to do with harshness or chaos. Coil's semi-noise has a stronger connection to tones, pitches, and chords than the all-frequency chaos of the average noisework. That said, the music is swirling, drifting, grinding, teeth of giant gears working together, without the piston-pulse of industrial drum machines lowering Constant Shallowness to a glitchy electronic pop piece.

The marimba and assorted percussion connects further to the musical spectrum than the electronic glitches that pervade Tunnel of Goats, but in an atonal-sounding semi-mechanical loop that pulls Balance's effected, groaning ritual mutterings - "I am the Green Child" - into a mystical, drug-hazy trance. Not often can one find razor-edged sounds that create such a numb, mind-drenching atmosphere. This is not a typical Coil record. Pick it up, whether you like Coil or not. You'll not regret it.

Urfaust - Geist ist Teufel (A)

What to make of an album that features the following in the cd booklet, a black and white picture of a shirtless man holding a torch with the captions "Black Metal Occultists Fire Walt With Us". Not to mention the cryptic black and white pictures within, one being some painting of monk like men praying in fire with a naked devil like figure with a very cartoonish looking face (complete with bulging eyes and exaggerated mouth expression). And they're called Urfaust, named after Goethe's earliest forms of work for his famous play Faust. Well as it turns out the music is even stranger then you could probably imagine, even with all the previous hints. It starts out with a kind of lo-fi orchestral throb with super dramatic, crooning, evil sounding vocals over it. Next is an almost traditional, raw midpaced black metal track, except for the vocals, which transform it into something so much more. Almost over the top, equal parts croon, howl and drunken operatics (!) instantly recognizable once you've heard it. The third track starts with one of THOSE guitar riffs that get stuck in your head, constantly humming along to it, wondering why you aren't listening to it at that exact moment. The vocals follow suit and basically goes along with the riff which is repeated over and over throughout the song, offering only a few changes throughout. Normally that kind of repetition might be a bad thing but here it works wonderfully, plus it's one of those things you don't mind hearing over and over and over. The song could be described as some kind of drunken, loping vikinglike jig played to raw black metal, probably the most "festive" track on the album and perhaps my favorite. Next we have another dirgelike track of raw black metal and of course those over the top vocals making it that much more amazing. Then the albums closing tracks veer more into ambient territory, which as it turns out the band originally formed to create ambient music. The second to last track is a more orchestral based ambience with those unmistakable vocals over it. And the closing track is all ambient swooosh and swiiiish, totally trance inducing, totally blissed out, sounding like it could be a long lost Tangerine Dream song that's collected a bit of dust over the years. Some kind of lo-fi orchestral ambient wierdo raw black metal masterpiece.

Released through GoatowaRex.

Njiqahdda - Njimajikal Arts (J)

Njiqahdda really came out of nowhere this year, and I still can't find out who this guy is. Rumor has it that he's the guy from Light Shall Prevail, the unblack metal band from Illinois, but there is no concrete evidence. All we know is that this elusive character has just been producing music in spades this year, and great music at that.

On this release, Njiqahdda takes the standard atmospheric black metal formula, lets it ferment for a few years, and serves it chilled as the fine wine it is. Not only is this atmospheric black metal, it's also funeral doom, psychedelic noise, dark ambient, and even shoegaze in the last song of the first cd. Njiahdda has obvious influence from bands such as Nachtmystium, Vinterriket, Agalloch, and Shape of Despair, along with ambient projects Maeror Tri, Troum, and even middle-era Ulver.

The first disc is comprised of three lengthy metal songs, ranging from 9 minutes to almost the 30 minute mark. These pieces ebb and flow like the tide and enshroud the listener in lush soundscapes.

The second disc is two very long, minimalist ambient pieces around 22 minutes in length apiece. Normally built of of a small melody (around three notes), that melody remains constant and is then accompanied by drones or field recordings (one sounds like windchimes). Very relaxing and has almost qualuude-like effects.

Amazing release, one of the best of 2007. Keep an eye out for these guys, the releases are very limited and cost a lot of money ($25 USD), but he just keeps cranking them out, so if you miss one, get another!

October Falls - Sarastus (J)

After months of searching, today I finally got my hands on Sarastus, the lesser-known of the 2 EPs released last year by October Falls's mastermind Mikko Lehto.

Unlike the other release, "The Streams of the End," "Sarastus" is a pure acoustic guitar, flute, and piano release, much like previous releases "Marras" and "Tuoni."

These songs convey similar atmospheres to aforementioned releases, though these songs tend to lean more towards the complex side with many guitar tracks and harmonies galore, unfortunately sacrificing length for complexity, much like Opeth's "My Arms, Your Hearse."

On this release, the guitar tone takes more of a later-Empyrium-like sound, rounded and soft, as opposed to the slightly-sharper acoustic sound of other releases.

A real surprise is track 7, an acoustic rendition of "White Northern Soils," the second track off of the "Streams of the End" EP, one of the more powerful songs off of the 4 song EP.

Overall, this EP is nothing short of wonderful, though I will take off 2 points due to the shortness of this release.