Dark Music Review – Episode
Written by Casey Douglass
A mental journey through unconscious destruction
With recordings from 2013 to 2015.
The “destruction”
part of the above album description seems to be the most apt part,
the two tracks that make up Sound Awakener’s Episode are raw
soundscapes that to some might be simply dismissed as noise.
Listening more closely, you can hear the artistry in how the volume,
pace and composition of the tracks changes as the time marker moves
on. Let’s take a look at the tracks in sequence:
The Tracks:
Episode – Distorted
sound that seems to contain various noises. I could hear hints of
wind, rattling foil, an engine. Episode is a maelstrom of ebbing and
flowing noise that makes the listener feel like they are caught in a
digital storm. There are moments where the sound stops totally and
then stutters back into life even more violent than before. There are
also great reverb type effects that sound a little like an elephant
trumpeting in a blizzard.
Stones Turn To Ash –
Very harsh distorted static at the start that seems to keep a
balanced range. There are
hints of other noises but the sheer volume of the main destructive
tone leaves me more unsure if they are just audio hallucinations. As
the track nears its end, I think I hear a rising and falling tone,
like someone tuning a radio or messing around on a theremin.
Thoughts
The first thing I would
say is that these are not two tracks for the uninitiated in
experimental or noise based recordings. I have been listening to dark
ambient and experimental stuff for a good many years now and I can’t
really imagine anyone coming to these as their first exposure to this
kind of music and coming away impressed. There are certain degrees of
nuance that can only be detected by ears acclimatised to these kinds
of track so it goes without saying that I don’t recommend these to
everyone.
That being said, I
enjoyed my time spent listening to them. They have enough quirks and
variation to them to keep the interest, and while they might be
uncomfortably raw at times (especially the beginning of Stones Turn
To Ash), they never quite get to the “Sod this, I can’t take it
any more!” level of audio barrage. Of the two tracks, I much
preferred Episode. While a fairly desolate track, it had a bit more
to it than the wall of sound thrown up by Stones Turn To Ash.
I give the album
Episode 3.5/5, mainly due to the enjoyment of one track above
the more monotonous second track. Played one after the other, the
listener can experience the progression from one to the next and
appreciate the more violent second track, which is the main reason my
rating isn't nearer 50%. As a snapshot in time and an audio-emotive
endeavour, I felt Episode does a good job of encapsulating what a
journey through unconscious destruction might just sound like.
Visit the Episode
page on Bandcamp at this link for more information.
Album Title: Episode
Artist: Sound Awakener
Release: 18 May 2015