One man, one track, 57 minutes. When I also mention that it is intrinsically instrumental funeral doom from the Ukraine and on Solitude Productions that may have all but the hardiest of fanatics running in terror but it would be selling it short as there is so much more going on here than a mere slow plod, all at the same pace for almost an hour. For a start there may not be vocals per se but the whole piece is accompanied by what I can best describe as a celestial choral part making it sound both austere and adding to the already epic feel of the piece. The funeral doom tag is also partly a misnomer as this is a heavily symphonic work and although in places it is certainly slow and unhurried it has a much more upbeat feel to it rather than being fashioned to drain life out of everything it touches.
It kind of feels like civilisations are crumbling as the track picks up and evolves. The celestial feel that I mentioned gives me the idea that everything is being watched over by the gods from the heavens but they are not interfering just revelling in the chaos that the planet finds itself in as mankind brutally evolves and civilisations tumble from ‘ashes to ashes.’ Well that’s what my imagination has me thinking when listening to this and it kind of makes a change when so many other albums that go down similar routes, favour doing so in space, or submerged under watery depths. I guess that is also why the label has mentioned similarities to Ea who do walk a similar way in feel of narrative.
The best thing about this is that Luna never descends into making the listener feel bored, although passages are long there is a lot of variation led by the ever changing keyboard driven harmonies. There are sections that are heavily reliant on piano melody and the track is always pushing ever forward. There are some really hefty and heavy segments where doom death is forged by a solid slow pulverising charge. It’s certainly a work to thoroughly immerse yourself in, something I have taken great pleasure in doing so on several occasions. The slow tolling of a bell can be heard at times and things go rather dreamy, the heaviness behind it all is constant though as drums pound slowly away and the choral parts eerily pick up the devotional chant. Be prepared for a bit of a surprise during the labyrinthine sprawl of the track; let’s just say it bites and will catch out the unwary.
Demort who is also in Amily (whose ‘To All In Graves’ I vaguely remember coming through here) has delivered an exceptional work, one that due to time is something that is not the easiest to pull off but one that has kept me enthralled and coming back to again and again. It’s available to stream at the link below so find out for yourself.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
http://solitude-prod.com/blog/lang/eng/2014/06/sp-089-14-luna-ashes-to-ashes
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