Genre: Goth / Ambient

01 Mystic Fuzion
02 Cursed Be Canaan
03 Dark Madness Has Taken Hold
04 Caress
05 From Now Unto Eternity
06 Siren's Lullaby
07 Skeletal Embrace
08 Occultique
09 This Familiar Addiction
10 Secrets In The Night
11 Unheard Thoughts
12 Mother's Black Soul
13 Alien Larvae

I am not entirely sure about the sentence "...the true future of music..." that is written on the band's web page, and I am not entirely sure about the statement about chaoticum making the music you hear in your nightmares (or maybe that says something about me and the kind of nightmares I am having, which are far worse?), but fortunatly for them, this doesnt say anything bad about Chaoticum. Psybersect, their second released album (there were quite a few unreleased albums recorded by these guys before finding a label to release their music) is a mixture of a drifting, half conscious, gothic dreamscapes with electronic loops and drums that sometimes develop to club oriented music. Their influences from Dead Can Dance, EBM music and sometimes, but not always, Coil, is showing. Some of the tracks remind me of the band Oneiroid Psychosis and many of the tracks on this album could feel like the short, instrumental parts of the albums by Cradle Of Filth if they sounded more orchestrated.

"Mystic fuzion" starts the ride with a low and haunting synths and percussion, along with an interesting ethnic loop that sounds somewhere between an indian flute and a high pitched guitar. A real good track with good vocal work, which sounds sampled as well. The next track is made of more synths and drums loops. A half reversed piano sound appears somewhere in the middle of the track and takes the music to the dreamy state one again. Chaoticum is about the occult and is about the dark side. While on many times, their drum machine is not remarkable, and other elements that are made to "keep the track rolling" have been heard before here and there, the parts of the music they play, on every track, related to the unreal area they are exploring are really interesting. The sinister whispers and the dramatic melodies are beautiful and interesting. Best evidence for this contradiction between these two elements can be found on my favourite track, "this familiar addiction", where the sounds and bell-like loops are really good, yet the percussion section is certainly lowering the dramatic effect. Fortunatly, the other sounds win over the percussion, but it's an unnecessary battle. Another notable track is "mother's black soul", which, in my opinion, sounds great from top to bottom.

Very interesting album to listen to if you are a fan of the atmospheric goth music and of dark ambience. Even in the places I cannot relate so much on this album, namely the rhythmic parts, are done in a sensible way, and indeed sound like people have thought about how to make them. The semi-psychedelic, sometimes ethnic tunes are a nice refreshment to the usual gothic familiar environment, and at the end of the day, this what makes Chaoticum win and raise their album above several other bands that are trying to make nightmarish music.