Review from Wounds of the Earth
Posted by Nick Skog on Monday, November 5, 2012 Under: Album Reviews
From: Wounds of the Earth
Published: April 5, 2012
Original Link
I find humorous the chasm between what dark ambient (CMI, etc) guys perceive as "dark ambient" and what black metal guys think is "dark ambient". This album came to be from black metal imprint Hypnotic Dirge under the label of "dark ambient". This isn't remotely like what you'd find on Malignant, Loki, CMI, etc, but I guess compared to black metal I see where they're coming from. The name Primal could not be more apt for this. This sounds like very primitive ritual music, being performed by ancient cultists in the woods under cover of the moon. Very organic and earthen. It sounds like the sounds are all from traditional instruments: acoustic guitar, drums, flutes, bells, etc. That's not really my thing, but I can't refute that the simplistic, repetitive compositions are indeed dankly atmospheric and hypnotic. There is a really good variety of stuff here, from more upbeat guitar strumming with drums, to slower more brooding pieces driven by flute or drones, to stuff that sounds like folk metal (minus the distortion), to stuff that is reminiscent of Diablo or similar dark RPG Music. A few of the tracks have vocals. The biggest flaw in my opinion is the rawness of the whole thing (think Burzum, Woods of Ypres, etc). The overall volume is extremely low (+ it fluctuates track to track), and the sound quality is lo-fi and gritty (though this does lend a bit of darkness to the atmosphere). Going along with the rawness, in some tracks it sounds like they make mistakes while playing but failed to edit it out or re-record the part. My favorite track is "Old Forgotten Lands" which sounds the most fleshed out, full, and cohesive. It has solid guitar work and some synthesizer pads which flow nicely, coupled with really good vocals - it reminds me of more folk-y Agalloch material. Overall, this isn't really a style I'd go after, but it's done pretty well for what it is. I would've liked if they had better, more full production to make it sound like an album and not a demo. Fans of black metal who like ritual and folk stuff, check it out.
Published: April 5, 2012
Original Link
In : Album Reviews
Tags: old forgotten lands primal elan o'neal ambient folk world dark black atmospheric
