Genre: Experimental/Drone/Ambient

Track Listing:

01 Uproot, A Noose of Silk
02 Willows Deep
03 Visceral Monologue
04 Interlude: The Death of Kotzwara
05 Sickly Sweet Fertilizer
06 A Breath, Then It Comes
07 Aural Cavity Obstruction
08 Light Rejection, The Return

There exist certain artists that have the ability to take a concept and turn it into something way beyond what other can even begin to imagine. Roto Visage is the brainchild of Jason Popejoy and he really proves that he is a visionary with his latest album Where the Mandrakes Grow. The artwork for this album is stunning with its haunting and disturbing cover that brings my mind to surreal Japanese horror or cosmic Lovecraftian terror. The cover really sets the mood for whats to come, a masterpiece of dark experimental drone that really borders to genius. What makes Where the Mandrakes Grow so good is primarily the mood, from the first track and forward the ambience takes you in and brings forth a feeling of both joy and an uncertain feeling of distress. The ambient structure is so sublime yet perfectly matched that the drone never goes into this monotonous overdrive that some of the artists have a hard time balancing out. Overall the music just lulls you away to a darker side of reality and this quality is what makes Roto Visage stand out in the crowd of dark ambient acts. The production is ace with an excellent mixing that really blends all the various drones, sounds and ambient structures together like a fine net. The album evolves with time and although the overall feeling remains the brooding drones of the first section of the album evolves into more experimental sections and offers even more variation to the mood.

For most of the parts this album is masterful and most of the time I find myself wondering where Popejoy finds the inspiration for all this weird sounds and songs. Somehow the novel The Music of Eric Zann lurks in the back of my brain all through the album and it may be appropriate music to hold the abyssal horrors at bay. However some of the parts feel unnecessary and could have been blended in better. Some of the samplings used takes control over the whole song and should have been great if used in a more sublime way. I understand the thought behind the haunting whispering voices that lingers in the songs but most of the time they should have been more discreet, gently giving a vague hint of its existence rather then taking the front row.

To sum things up Roto Visage delivers and Where the Mandrakes Grow is an example of how to make excellent ambience using both drones, haunting samplings and an experimental edge that just adds greatness to an already splendid composition. This album is inspiring, breathtakingly beautiful and hauntingly lingering at the same time. It’s a trip above and beyond the borders of our own reality and the feeling that is so important in this kind of music stabs you in the back with its potency. Where the Mandrakes Grow is an album I would recommend for anyone into dark ambient as a whole and seekers of dark inspiration have a goldmine in this darkest of creations.