Dark Ambient Review: Maal Niir
Review by Casey Douglass
Some dark ambient
albums just seem to ooze threat, the soundscapes they contain seeping
and glooping around the thoughts they create in the listener’s
mind. Oestergaard’s Maal Niir is one such album, containing
four tracks of lurking peril that drag the listener into the dark
happenings of another reality. They also created a bit of a dark
mental narrative for me as I was listening, which is something that I
always enjoy.
Maal Niir gets things
going, a track with a staticy rhythm and swells of dark tone. The
interesting thing for me was that near the midpoint, the static sound
became more akin to a flag flapping in the wind. Coupled with the
other sounds, this conjured a mental impression of a crumbling city
in a glowing fog, the only visible thing being a high tower with said
flag fluttering in the breeze. I also felt that a massive leviathan
shadow encircled the tower, a giant thing barely visible as a darker
shade of fog. Gentle piano notes begin to sound nearer the end of the
track, along with a squeaking grinding noise as the flag pole falls
to the ground.
Next up is Niirbrôtn',
a track that dragged me to a tunnel in the ground at the foot of the
tower. The track begins quietly, with a breathing-like swelling of
sound. A high tone occurs, like a bird call at distance, or it might
be a scream. Then a crackling, like a boot stepping on a bone-strewn
floor. A wave of static-distortion pulses along the tunnel at
intervals, creating the impression of flickering red light bathing
the walls before fading. This track, to me, was the entrance to hell,
and I mentally walked straight in.
Rásiirat darkens things even more. The sounds at
the start of Rásiirat begin like breathing, but soon turn into what
could be a guttural demonic conversation or chant. A little later, a
higher tone appears, the guttural demon words pausing around that
point. The image this track created in my mind was that an angel (the
high tone) might be dashing through hell for some reason, to give the
poor souls there hope. The demon listens and then continues its
chant, knowing that the intruder will soon be snuffed out by the
watchers that guard the realm.
The final track is Kullméija', and I felt that
this track contained the sound of the angel becoming trapped and
having a long wait for the end to come. The opening music has a dark "om-like" quality, with juddering on-rushes of pressure. The soundscape
caused me to think of the angel becoming caught in some kind of demonic fly-trap,
stuck to glue-paper that melts the wings and scorches bone.
A lonely track, one that ends with a quiet male-voiced monologue,
speaking words that I couldn’t understand.
Maal Niir then,
is a dark ambient album that I very much enjoyed. When an album
causes my mind to create a narrative, and each track seems to
progress that narrative, I often come away feeling quite the
connection to it. Maal Niir did this, but I think that even if
it hadn’t, I would have appreciated the darkness and bleakness it
contains. The tracks have a pulsing quality, the low tones breaking
against the mind like dark waves on a barren beach, each one helping
the grimness to push into the brain that little bit more, but gently,
calmly and patiently. If you like your dark ambient deep, dark and
ominous, check out Maal Niir on Bandcamp here. You can also
listen to the first track, Maal Niir, below:
I was given a review copy of this album.
Album Title: Maal Niir
Album Artist:
Oestergaards
Released: 28
December 2018
