AKheon

This album is hard to describe since most of the songs go to different places. Generally used styles range from somewhat elegant symphonic music to industrial to spoken word to ambient... It's a sprawling and lukewarm but conceptually focused package of music, with a lot of quiet (and not so quiet) drama within. I especially like "Serpent - From the Ground" that has a perfect and very unique sound arrangement, like a snapshot of a rainy street and some philosophical pondering on the top.

Some of the album's multitudinous ideas seem questionable. Or that's just my impression anyway. For example, "Insomniac", while a cool soundscape, I feel doesn't lead anywhere. Another example is "Serpent - Ordinary Snake", which starts to sound like desperate second-rate darkwave once the female vocals kick in. I guess it's the melody which bothers me the most in this instance...

Much of the album's concept comes implicit in the form of instrumentals, and even the poems to the main worded songs come from three different writers and thus perspectives, which to me is another intriguing idea. There's a lot of room for interpretation. Overall, it's an interesting album with potential to surprise and evoke thoughts.

"Bell Meditation" is a highly minimalistic song with slowly reverbating bells and subtle background melodies, apparently devised for meditation purposes. It's beautiful, but has so little going on that it is painful to actively concentrate on it. It is music that is by all means meant for your implicit brain, thank you very much. Or, interpreting it another way, it is one hell of a build up to "Neptune".

"Neptune" goes back to a more normal D&LS sound with Lena's piano improv and Doc's tense ambience. The piano part at the very end sounds as if you had risen out of Neptune and were still dripping water.

Finally, "Andromeda" is another minimalistic piece based on a slow rhythm. I like it better than "Bell Meditation" due to the more open soundscape, free from the constraint of those endless bells. It feels like you are flying through space.

To close off, this is the D&LS album that demands the most imagination from the listeners' part to work, or at least a willingness to meditate a bit. I believe it's good at what it does, but it's utilitarian enough that under normal circumstances most of it is not easy to enjoy.

Fourth album by D&LS. After the experimental Noble, Sentimental & Ambient Waltzes, the duo returns to a more abyssal, watery aesthetic with this album. Admittedly, Echoes From an Engulfed Cathedral doesn't have that much in common with An Island of Joy, despite water being an integral part of the concept in both of them. Echoes is by far the friendlier album of the two, with wondrous and occasionally happy moods, a stronger sense of direction and more variety. It's like a guided tour of underwater spectacles, with also the most technically impressive piano playing by Lena thus far. It's downright flashy for ambient. A moment of acoustic guitar, even rhythmic instruments at one point... sometimes reminiscent of "normal" meditative music and such. It's ambient I could see many people not accustomed to listening ambient enjoying, at least if they aren't immediately driven away by meditative or Disney-esque moods.

After the generally positive first track it changes, though. The entire second song "Movement in Stillness" is like an enlongated version of the sensation you get when you are swimming and suddenly hit an eerily cold spot in the water. Then, "Echoes From an Engulfed Cathedral" gets almost as close to dusty and forlorn as an underwater scene can get. You are a claustrophobic scuba diver exploring the lower floors of a sunken construction, like Titanic, with your flashlight as the only source of light. Oh, and the dive lasts about 28 minutes, have fun.

An impressive, focused album with highly entrancing moods... definitely worth sinking into. I find it slightly worse than Island due to the constructed, a bit "artifical" feeling of it, but that may be just me.

First and seconds songs are partially built on the same motif. Calm and slightly ethereal. Long, relaxing soundscapes that sound quite unearthly. Third song becomes more blurred, with slight touches of symphony around the edges. Fourth is jagged and buzzing, though that description might give it a too harsh impression. It sounds similar but still different, with the sound from the first songs slowly sweeping the backdrop. Then it takes a slightly unexpected turn by introducing electronic choirs to the sound. Fifth is a droning piece of music, and sixth sounds like more familiar Cometa by containing a few playful traits and a more driving instrumentation than the other songs. At least first, but then it too takes an experimental turn and eventually becomes something completely different.

These months I'm in the state of mind that doesn't get too much out of "pure music", but regardless, it's a good album for the ones looking for no-strings-attached electronic serenity.

Straight gothic metal. Quite enjoyable, thanks to both decently interesting songwriting and a heavy production (vocals could've been mixed a bit more upfront, though). Patiently melancholic, unfolds with grace. Don't expect too much originality, but to some extent you can expect integrity and honesty.

(part of a series of reviews "Jamendo Metal")