Dripping
in the Form of Styx
Morgue of Human Sanity
The Worm of the Broken Urn
Let Yourself Float...to the Flute of Death
Litany of a Lonely Corpse
The Silence was Unmade
The Shadows were Unmade
A Cry from the Maze
Croatian act Kerovnian follow up their highly-acclaimed debut release "Far Beyond, Before the Time ", also on Cold Spring Records, with this brilliantly-dark release.
The introductory track "Dripping in the Form of Styx"
is a very cold dark ambient piece, leading with the aforementioned 'dripping',
scattered with multi-layered female, metallic heavenly voices. This is
disturbed by a slow, echoing distorted male voice (bringing to mind Mortiis
ala "Crypt of the Wizard"). "Morgue of Human
Sanity " is another ambient work encompassing drones, rumbles
and echoes. The voices are sinister throughout: female - metallic and
layered; male - heavily distorted, similar to that of Anenzephalia.
There are also underlying whispers to add to the oppressive atmosphere.
"The Worm of Broken Urns" features echoes and creaks,
evoking thoughts of deep caves and the music of MZ.412.
There is little actual music, mostly samples. A distant solitary drum
here can also be heard on the next track "Let Yourself Float...To
the Flute of Death". This track reminds me a lot of Sanctum;
a female voice echoes, challenged only by a dark, distorted male voice.
"Litany of a Lonely Corpse" is strikingly similar to
Ildfrost's track
"That I May Drink and Leave the World Unseen" - orchestral
strings, chimes and rhythmic electronic samples. A slow, distorted voice
is overlapped with heavenly echoed voices. "The Silence Was Made"
slowly emerges with a fluctuating darkly metallic sample. "The
Shadows Were Unmade" features demonic vocals, distorted then
whispering. More slow, distorted vocals and it's into the final track
"A Cry From the Maze": a short track of melancholic
echoes with an angelic voice, reminiscent of Aghast
but slightly less cold.
This is a beautifully crafted, dark piece of work. Lots of variation on
a theme and well worth a listen.
JLM