Dark Ambient Review: Palaces of Darkness
Review by Casey Douglass
Palaces... The ones in
the real world never fail to disappoint me. Give me the more
make-believe variety though, and I could happily imagine myself
walking amongst their corridors or ruins, depending on what is
happening. Palaces of Darkness is a dark ambient/ritual
compilation from Black Mara, a compilation whose five tracks each
take the listener on a tour around soundscapes steeped in ritual and
magic.
Album
Description: Some of the most impressive performers of the genre
in Dark Ambient / Ritual Compilation open the gates to the Kingdom of
Darkness. All compositions are like signposts that lead listeners
deep into the possession of Mara.
As
Palaces of Darkness has strong ritual elements, there are
varieties of chants, drumbeats and pipe instruments, the rhythms
created often buffeted by field-recordings of the elements, or maybe
even the crackling of a bonfire. If you’re a fan of vocals and drumbeats
creating a lulling or trance-like feeling in your brain, a number of
the tracks do this very well too.
The
first track, Muv-Anki, opens the album with a medieval-feeling
composition, the wind instruments and plucked notes setting up a
slightly quirky soundscape in which the listener is almost walking
the trail in one of those classic fairytale forests, hoping to set
eyes on the ruined castle where others fear to tread. If you have
ever seen Jim Henson’s The Story Teller, it brought to mind the
devils from The Soldier and Death episode. This track conjured
curdled puddles, slimy walls, and Pan-like creatures playing amongst
ruins of black stone, waiting to feast on foolish explorers.
The
Kingdom of Nav is another track steeped in myth and brooding, the
female singing and chanting creating what sounds like witches
performing an incantation in a dark, windy cave. Their chants seem to
get a response from something deeper inside the darkness, an ominous
rumbling and sighing of the earth. There are moments where certain of
the female voices screech and gurgle in hag-like fashion, their
voices straining against the dark. This is a riveting track, made so
because the voices are used to such a clever degree. Another track
that makes great use of chanting voices is Spirit of Water. This time
they are male and droning, set to the backing of water and various
clacks and wooden rattlings.
The
final track that I wanted to mention is Autumn of Time. After its
opening pipe/flute notes are joined by a deeper beat, the soundscape
seeming to open out into the dark night of a calm lake, bat-like
swirls of sound dancing over a deep drone. To me, this track hinted
at dark boats rowing out into the middle of the water, their
flickering torches making the thin mist that’s clinging to the
surface glow and throb, the strong drumbeat and chanting a telltale
of the mystical goings-ons.
Palaces
of Darkness is an album that creates pockets of mystification and
surrounds them in the mantle of night and ritual. Whether it be the
witches summoning the devil, or dark monks performing a secret rite,
the soundscapes and chanting catch the ear of the listener and pull a
shroud of occult fairytale over their mind.
Visit
the Palaces of Darkness Bandcamp page here, and check out the
teaser trailer below:
I was given a free
copy of this album to review.
Album Title:
Palaces of Darkness
Album Artists:
Sol Mortuus, Corona Barathri, Nubiferous, Mrako-Su, Ad Lucem
Tenebratum
Label: BLACK
MARA
Released:
December 13 2018
