Genre: Dark Ambient

Disc 1

01 Aetherfront – Ginnungagap
02 The Sounds of Earth – Struggle For Control
03 Persona – Dolor Irreversible
04 Moon – The Snow Is Falling On A Distant Planet
05 Rauschform – Reality Torn Apart
06 Radiator Blues – Momentary (the wind, worms, the wood)

Disc 2

01 Tardive Dyskinesia – Murdering Spirits
02 Kadaver – The Moon Bares Teeth (Part 3)
03 Matamore – Senior Bartel
04 Flutwacht/Vronthor – LSD Soldier
05 N. Strahl N. - Krebsnebel
06 Bonemachine – Heimkehrer

Disc 3

01 Uruk-Hai – Keeper of Nenya
02 Angel’s Flesh – Sous-sol
03 Chaoticum – Thelemachus Unveiled
04 Hexathurz – Breed of a Ritual
05 Souls of Nephilims – Forbidden
06 Life’s Decay – Sphere
07 H5N1 – Organic Spread Defiance-DC2
08 Likantropika – Quatermass
09 A Quiet Womb – For Those Who Cannot Relax

I always enjoy a good compilation. When I’m short of cash and looking for some new music I’ll tend to go for compilations so that I can get exposed to a larger number of artists in preparation of future spending sprees. I was pleased to receive a three disc compilation in my review package, though slightly daunted at the possibility of writing a review with so many artists. I only recognised a few of the names on this release such as The Sounds of Earth (who’ve been lucky enough to review before), Aetherfront, and Uruk-Hai. The rest I think are unknown to me.

Rather than go through every track on each disc I’ll just refer to the stand-out tracks on each one. The first disc opens with the epic expansiveness of Aetherfront’s Ginnungagap. Really quality, meditative, dark ambient that captures some of the essence of the void before creation. This is followed by my favourite piece off the first CD. The Sounds of Earth provide a totally different approach to ambience than Aetherfront. Struggle for Control is a much denser sounding piece with many layers for the listener to pick their way through. The whole piece has the real cinematic feel, like some futuristic sci-fi film. The skilfully employed vocal samples add to this effect. The other four tracks are a good standard too. From the creepy sampling and building white noise of Persona’s Dolor Irreversible to the improvised harsh ambience of Radiator Blues. I also want to give an honourable mention to the title of the track by Moon. The Snow Is Falling On A Distant Planet creates wonderful mental images and the accompanying music helped seal that.

To be honest the second disc of this set seemed slightly weak in comparison to the first. While none of the pieces are bad in any way I just found myself not being grabbed by most of them. Certainly I’d hoped for a stronger opener than the Tardive Dyskinesia piece, which while a solid performance wasn’t of the same strength as the opening of the first disc. I think if some of the tracks had have been a little shorter their impact would have increased. N. Strahl N. and Bonemachine do a lot to rescue the disc though. N. Strahl N.’s Krebsnebel is a really affecting slow rumbler of a track. Lots of shifting sound that strikes a balance between being too over-stimulating for an ambient track and being a repetitive listen. Bonemachine’s piece really stands out at the close of this disc. It’s has rhythm and ambience and reminds me of one of the Deutsch Nepal tracks but the title slips my mind. Being a shorter track it carries more punch and keeps me engaged all the way through.

The final disc really picks up, right from the start. Uruk-Hai present the shortest piece on this compilation but it is one of the best. Keeper of Nenya creates dreamlike mental images of dashing through Northern forests in enchanted kingdoms. Angel’s Flesh follow up with a track that could be set in the same world. Droning sounds of what could be dragon’s breath and shimmering sound cutting through make up this 12 minute soundscape. I would have liked to have seen them do more with this though. A little more progression of sound over the length of the track could have made this great rather than just good. Chaoticum’s multilayered drones and chants and rhythmical pulsing creates an occult unreality of dark ritual before building to a crescendo of almost techno-influenced tribal rhythms with some heavy guitar riffing seeing out the piece. This track really works for me, though I’m not sure the second half is particularly ambient in nature. Breed of Ritual is a particular highlight on the third CD. Again, pitch at the right length to move the listener just inside the hypnogogic state while managing to keep them engaged. Souls of Nephilims piece Forbidden was a surprise for me. It is a very ambient piece but on a lighter side than the rest of this compilation. It would work well as a gentle meditation piece or for use in path working. Life’s Decay return the darkness to the compilation with Sphere, which could be easily find a place on a horror movie soundtrack. Perhaps even the Hellraiser remake. A finely crafted piece of disturbing aural cinema. Life’s Decay is one of the acts on this compilation, that are new to me, that I’ll be keeping an ear out for. The final piece that stands out to me, on this the strongest of the three CDs, is Quatermass from Andorra’s Likantropika. I was pleasantly surprised to see a country being represented that is not among the first one thinks of within the ambient scene. Quatermass is a beautiful track. This is another piece with a soundtrack quality to it, making me think of Vangelis’ work on the Blade Runner score. Gorgeous synth work over a pulsing, background tone, and breathy sounds. Within the ten minutes of this track Likantropika does just enough to make it work and no more. If this piece represents some as yet undiscovered scene in Andorra, we have a gold mine to explore.

All in all this is a good solid compilation. There are no bad tracks and there are even some gems in here. If a wide spectrum of ambient music is what you are looking for then this could be the compilation for you. It could perhaps have worked better split into two separate releases, making it a tighter listen but it’s enjoyable enough as it is. I’ve come away from this release with a few new projects to check out. Perhaps some Heathen Harvest readers would get the same benefit.