This here is a collaboration between Greek and Swedish luminaries from Acherontas and Nastrond. Being on Agonia you expect a degree of class and seriousness and it certainly doesn’t disappoint in that respect; there’s a deep, lush production here which fully rounds out the sound and presents the music in a fine arena in which to breathe.
For some reason that word breathe comes easily to mind. The music here is, I guess, of the shamanic trance variety with edges brushing through dark ambient and even dark dungeon territory (though I suspect some may disagree with the latter aspect) and some of the land touched on by Dead Can Dance’s ‘Spiritchaser’ album. There is a gentle, almost soporific pulse to the insistent drum beats and plenty of traditional instrumentation throughout from horns to singing bowls and the like augmented by keyboards.
Split into five alignments I guess this is intended to be your guide through levels of meditation and communion, a soft but distinct thread through enveloping music, rhythm balanced with electronic ambient pulses and the occasional devotional voice. I’m not going to tell you I tried this because, despite probably needing such spiritual discipline, I have recently been kept very much in the hard, glaring material world. As an ambient piece though I suppose it works in some respects but you have to bear in mind such an approach by the listener is essentially a re-purposing of it and not what was probably intended by the artists. It is not entirely what I would deem a work that builds a sense of atmosphere of a particular idea or place, being created to channel, so i found for me there was always a tendency to pull away if listened to as ambience I’m afraid.
Hmm. Tricky. Maybe I’ll discover its true power and potential if I return to meditation, but in the meantime, this is well put together, and serious of intent but I’ll have to pass, sorry.
(5.5/10 Gizmo)
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