A deep electronic wave is the background to a slow and repetitive guitar riff. The machine has started. There are sounds of wind even further behind. The bleakness and tone remind me a lot of the music of Burzum. This is about vacuum and empty space. I imagine an industrial setting. It’s important to imagine. Eerie sounds penetrate the gloomy scene. Sounds can be heard but not distinguished. They are muffled and distorted. The voices are like Munch-inspired echoes. There are words in the waves, however they cannot be made out. The absence of cheer remains. Lotus Circle call this a “karma of genres such as Doom, drone, black metal, noise/electronic music always under the sign of a spiritual Inner Ritualism”. Slow burning and buzzing electronically, it’s tortuous and tortured. The second piece continues in a similar dark and gloomy vein. The electronic drone penetrates the brain. The listener can only strain to make out the nature of those terrible cries as the funeral dirge continues on its not-so-merry way. “dawn of a dead sun” is what it’s called. It sounds as if every drop of life is being extracted as it becomes more distant. The electronic drone is relentless. The monotony is hypnotic.

The voices return. Like fellow Greeks Rotting Christ, there’s a chant but here it’s hidden away in the murky background. A bleak guitar riff strikes up and repeats itself. The voice from the muddy swamp that we heard earlier makes a return. The deadened sound brings Kongh to mind. The world is grey and scary. Electronic experimentation takes over, suggesting a more chaotic vision than the shapeless one we have experienced so far. Distant screams mask a kind of old school psychedelia. The screams are almost audible. The buzzing drone goes on, supplementing the ever-present deadpan monotony. The voices seem to be fighting the irresistible soundwaves. The monotonous substructure still will not change, however. Odd sounds can be heard. It’s hard to know what Lotus Circle can do. The ambiance is set and it will remain swampy. You go somewhere else for a party. The appropriately-titled “from the depths” resurrects itself and the familiar done returns. It’s not pretty and won’t have you on the edge of your seats.

There’s definitely a feel of “2001 A Space Odyssey” about this with a good dose of Boris. “plutonian funeral” has the minimalism of the latter. Anguished whisperings linger but it’s all in the shadowy background. The electronic buzz is there like a deep industrial process. It’s like stepping into space. I found it depressing. It ends as quietly as it began. We have spent just under 40 minutes in a dark chasm.

I can see where words like “karma” and “ritual” come from to describe the sound waves. I’d say it was disturbing rather than relaxing. “Caves” is the right title. Repetitive, slow and atmospheric, this album started to go through me and lead me into hollow voids, but interesting as it is, I wasn’t wholly sucked in. “Caves” has ambiance but it requires a certain mindset and isn’t for everyone, I think.

(6 / 10 Andrew Doherty)

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