Genre: Dark Ambient

01 Funerals
02 Across The Divide
03 From One Dream Into The Next
04 The Only Alternative
05 No Lights In Our Eyes
06 Long The Night
07 Standing Silent
08 Hearts And Minds
09 Strange Our Lives Should End
10 The End Has No Beginning

Drakhon and K. Meizter hereby offer their third album on the famous Cold Meat Industry label, while also having released four albums, a DVD and a collabortion ('Hypergenome666', with Henrik Nordvargr Björkk and Kenji Siratori) through Old Europa Cafe. Two years after their 'The Dull Routine Of Existence' their newest release now sees the light, which is visuall way more pleasing than their previous effort. The frontcover is mostly black, with some grey/white clouds coming or going over hills in the distant. The booklet and the CD have this very same picture, and the inlay is simply black, as well as the backside of the release. Simple, dark, clean. Very pleasant.

'Funerals' starts with a gloomy drone over which a dark voice mumbles something before the track becomes a deep and dark journey through a brooding soundscape with some minimalist passages and both tender and dark pianoplay. Strangely enough, the picture that sits in the booklet for this track is the only one with color, while a funeral is an end, and usually depicted in black or white.

The rest of the album follows this pattern; extremely dark and brooding music, which will find its way crawling into your ears, but also into your head, influencing your mood. When you have your audiosystem set up correct, it'll also find its way into your whole body, as the lower tones are sometimes better felt than heard to get a complete experience of this music. Layered of the relaxing soundscapes are various forms of vocals, but mostly spoken word.

All in all this release consists of 56 fine minutes of very dark and fine ambient music. It's not minimal, luckily, but very layered without being busy. All layers merge into one another very fine, and with the track Standing Silent, the album reaches a zenith. A hypnotic rhythm merged with a relaxed atmosphere make up the most of this track, but a choir and several very silent other vocals make this track a truly pristine experience that almost has a religious nature to it. Absolutely beautiful.