Dark Ambient Review: The Substance of Perception
Review by Casey Douglass
Life
gets tainted by many things. The things we enjoy always come with
drawbacks. Sometimes the feeling of something being “off” is
obvious. Other times, it’s more subtle. The Substance of
Perception is the debut, collaborative album from NERATERRÆ, and
one of the things that I really enjoyed about listening to it is the
way that it shows this “more subtle tainting” in an interesting
and audio-based way.
The
opening track, Shadows of Regret is a case in point, and is one of my
favourites on the album. Gentle and airy tones mingle with the patter
of rain or snow. It’s like the opening to a
marshmallow-cloud-filled-dream-castle sequence. Then the “taint”
enters, a high pitched tone that unpicks this sense of safety and
whimsy. It pulses and whines, and is soon joined by a dark drone, and
a voice talking about dreams and coming to hate yourself. Talk about
a change in direction! It’s the audio equivalent of a summer meadow
that hides an escaped tiger, or a pleasant white picket fenced house
with a prisoner chained in the basement.
Seeing
as I’m opening with a favourite track, I will skip straight to
another that I liked just as much: Becoming the Nightmare. It opens
with a dark exhalation and looming atmosphere, with a rumbling soon
rising in the soundscape. Then the screeching begins. I can only
describe it as the screaming of what sounds like a female creature of
some kind. My first thoughts on hearing it were that it might be what
a trapped succubus might sound like. Voices and chanting emerge and
after a short time, a bestial ‘thrump’ sound occurs, as if
something much larger is in dialogue with the captive she-demon. I
don’t know what kind of ritual or rite is occurring but I’d
imagine anyone happening to walk in on it would immediately go grey
and run for their lives. Or get our their smartphone and film it.
This is 2019 after all.
Another
track that I wanted to say a little more about is To Reveal the
Unseen. It’s another that features a kind of dark chanting
aesthetic, deep “Oms” brushing up against a drone that later
gives way to a quiet, dripping, introspective space. A shimmering
whistling in this latter space seems to hint at the lifting of the
veil between worlds, or some kind of barrier at least. The shortest
track on the album but no less impactful for its brevity.
The
other tracks do sit well alongside the ones I’ve already mentioned,
each with their own aspects to appreciate. The Wicked Pulse of
Conscience features the kind of off-kilter feeling of “taint”
that I’ve already expressed my admiration for, but in its own way.
That Which Shall Not Be Witnessed includes whispers about which I
can’t decide if they really are whispers, or just a sound that
seems similar. I like this “not knowing”. Beyond, has a strange
‘trilling’, like something you might hear in a Lovecraftian tale
of horror, and Echoing Scars has gentle “tainted” melodies and
rainfall. Beautiful stuff.
The
Substance of Perception is a dark ambient album that treats the
listener to soundscapes that pick at the edge of their most nebulous
dreams. A bit like that feeling you get when you wake up and know
that you were having a nightmare, but are confronted by a sunny
morning with the birds singing. Your mind lags behind the apparent
scene of safety, like a paranoid looking back over their shoulder
into the receding night. If the idea of this sensation excites you,
take a proper listen to The Substance of Perception by
visiting this link. You should also watch the music video for Shadows
of Regret:
I was given a review copy of this album.
Album Title:
The Substance of Perception
Album Artists:
NERATERRÆ, Northaunt, Alexey Tegin from Phurpa, Treha Sektori, New
Risen Throne, Flowers For Bodysnatchers, Taphephobia, Ugasanie,
Xerxes The Dark and Infinexhuma
Label: Cyclic
Law
Released: April
26th, 2019
