Saturday 8 November 2014

Dark Review - Interdimensional

Interdimensional Review

Written by Casey Douglass


Interdimensional is the first dark ambient album to be released by musician Ager Sonus, a composer who enjoys mixing real world ambient sounds with electronic and synth to create deep soundscapes that entertain the ear.

In this review, I take a listen to Interdimensional and try to give an impression of how it affected me.

The first thing I noticed was the crispness of the real-world sounds used in many of the tracks. Rain, footsteps and nature all managed to blend into the soundscape and yet still seemed defined and separate. I found this with most of the other sounds in Interdimensional too, they all seem to occupy their own space and claim it, rather than, as with some other ambient tracks, undulate and oscillate in a more symbiotic way. It’s not a bad thing, not at all; it's just something I noticed.

Now for each track in turn:

Nocturnal Stroll
This is the longest track with a running time of around ten minutes. It begins with footsteps and the sound of the falling rain, leisurely and at ease. As the track continues a catchy background melody chimes in, which to me hinted at crossing into a fantastical dark city.

Distant Water
Starting with more footsteps and the sound of water, a background droning carries us through this track, changing as it progresses to what I could only liken to sounding like sci-fi energy rushes building around a great machine.

Voce Arcanum
An echoing voice recites verses in an unknown language (to me at least) with a pulsing simple sound for accompaniment. As the composition continues it becomes louder and slightly discordant as it nears the end.

Orbital Exploration
Light and bouncy sounds seem to reverberate back into your ears. I found that it conjured images of trajectories and star charts in my mind.

Hive
Aptly named as begins with the sound of distant droning, like bees far away. It also features chimes and sounds that you aren't sure are music or screams.

Magnam Noctis
Begins with the sound of an owl and the broader sounds of night time. A crackling fire and insects a joined by an ominous drone, with a main melody that sounds like an insect swarm mingling with the howling of wolves. It has a certain majesty about it that hints at lofty events unfolding in a strange valley.

Pillars of Creation (Featuring Ivan Black)
This track feels spacious and peaceful, conjuring the image of a row boat on a still lake under a starry sky. Then things flip upside down half way, you fall into the sky and everything becomes cold and abyssal dark.

Dystopian Visions
Simple and light tones with an airiness until the drums and bass guitar comes in. A pleasing melody.

Horologium
The simplest way to describe this track is it makes me think of a chittering darkness, alive with the movement of strange insects.

What’s in those sewers?
Footsteps on a journey to find out the truth. Strange cries and haunting piano hint at the answer being something familiar yet all the more fearsome for it.

My Thoughts
I enjoyed listening to Interdimensional, as attested to by the fact I am on my third or fourth listen as I write this review. I appreciated the sound quality and the variety of soundscapes conveyed. The tracks themselves take you between nature and ruins, to space and the void, and right back down to the ground again. I thought they all had a great feeling of space (as in a large area rather than the black starry kind) and used some interesting melodies to give the mind something to focus on amongst the drones.

I give Interdimensional 4/5. It was a very enjoyable listen but as I stated in another dark ambient review, wasn’t twisted enough to my own personal taste, but that's just me.

Visit Ager Sonus on Bandcamp here to view buying options.

I was given a free copy to review.

Album Title : Interdimensional
Artist : Ager Sonus
Released : 22nd October 2014.