Drott take us into the strange underworld of Orcus with this album. The band includes members from Enslaved and Ulver, and with backgrounds as diverse as metal, jazz and classical music, dive into “sonic, experimental landscapes” with this instrumental progressive rock work.
The ambiance is that of a big world full of wonder and uncertainty. Drott create the mobility for us to tread through it and make our discoveries. The drum beats steadily. A kravik-lyre, bowed lyre and Hardanger fiddle – I read this on the label’s description, having wondered what instruments I was listened to – create the gloom and eeriness. The imposing guitar sound of “Katabasis” has the ring of Enslaved but as we progress into the wonderland, there is a melancholy in the string section. Subtly it speeds up as if we’re trying to escape. There are strange voices. The piece punches on its melodic rock and almost psychedelic way. “The Strait” starts out with what I can only describe as swampy jazz. One thing these pieces have in common for me is that the whole listening experience is like walking through the woods. You never know what you’re going to find or what you’re going to hear. This leads into the strange sound waves of “Psychopomp” and the dark classically-oriented mood music that follows. We are entering the sphere of horror here. By contrast “By the Lunar Lake” has a Chinese feel to it. As a steady beat passes through its veins, the whistling sounds as if it could come from a misty mountainous region of rural China. From mystical tones we return to the darkness and menace of “The Marauders”. In another twist, we seem to have turned into Jean-Michel Jarre with “Grey Gull”, an ambient but quite pedestrian piece. After the plodding “Arch of Gloom”, the album closes with a powerful and imposing march in the name of “Orcus”.
The first thing is that although I recognised that I was in a different world, I found it hard to connect these 10 pieces. Ambient sound effects are at the fore in this new age classical album. Although I couldn’t get excited about “Orcus” as an album, it does have interest and intrigue, and occasional moments of wonder. But in spite of the aim of evoking our imagination and to some extent achieving it, for me much of it fell into the category of background music.
(6.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
Leave a Reply