Dark Ambient Review: Nephilim
Review by Casey Douglass
I’d heard the word “nephilim” before, but beyond some vague notion that it was a biblical thing, I knew little else about them. The album description relates how these beings are “fallen”, and also mentions that they liked to share forbidden wisdom, when they weren’t too busy boffing eligible women who were game for a bit of fun. The result of these couplings happened to be the birth of a race of giants, which caused a fair bit of a ruckus before things settled down again. Sorry, I don’t know why I went all “British 60’s seaside postcard humour” in this paragraph. I guess I`ll never know.
The Watchers is the opening track, one with fuzzy vibrating tones, dense echoes and a light shimmering that wafts through the soundscape. The space seems to throb and thrum, and it put me in mind of some kind of a dark temple fizzling with energetic manifestations. Around the midpoint the track quietens into a smoother pulsing space, with hollow chiming tones resonating into the perceived darkness.
The second track, The Decent, begins with a low, rough drone and an echoing space. Tension begins to grow, and it begins to feel like sensing the sound through your skull rather than with your ears. Hints of other tones insinuate and then burst into life, soon joined by low, string-like notes.There is a buffeting feeling at the edge of things, and distortions that pick at the threads of the soundscape. This track is a fun excursion into an energetic and wind-blasted realm of low bassy turbulence, and is one of my favourites as a consequence.
Track three, Forbidden Wisdom, opens with light plucked notes and a vibrating drone. An airy static hiss comes and goes, and the drone evolves into a meditative Om-like sound. The various elements begin to build into a busier soundscape, hinting at energies collecting. The static is harsher, sharper and more distorted as time passes, almost as if it is abrading something. Things stop suddenly around the halfway mark and the listener is left in a smoother, larger space. I wonder if this track depicts the way that we might take in forbidden wisdom, the way that the mind churns as it digests something new, and the sensation of horizons expanding once we have integrated our understanding. This was another track that I really enjoyed and would call it a favourite.
The next track, Heavenly Lineage, opens in a more abrupt way. There is a kind of ricochet-like pop of wind sound, which then goes on to settle into a distorted vibrating space with drones and lighter tones as the backdrop. Vibrating electronic tones judder and arc away, sometimes taking on the mantle of screams, in my own ears anyway. The second half of the track quietens into a calmer, more peaceful space.
Track five, Abyss, is another track that starts with an echoing, windy feeling. This one also features a feeling of movement or tension by way of a low rhythm that gently agitates the space. Small swells of hissing air or voice punctuate the fringes, and help to create a pleasing impression of the soundscape throbbing with some kind of pregnant presence or potential. As the midpoint approaches, the soundscape feels like it begins to whir and shimmer, and a female chant-like vocal seems to appear at times.
Chaos is a track that opens with a slowly growing drone. There is a subtle impression of air currents that soon fill with beguiling high tones that throb and nestle. A short time later, a bassiness gently pumps the ears, accompanied by a wailing-like tone. Things quieten for a while and then a hint of whispering emerges at the edge of hearing. High tones impinge again, bringing a ghostly choral vocal effect along with them. The second half of the track quietens and then swells into life again in a similar way to the first half.
The penultimate track, Darkness, sees a return of the string-like notes. A low drone is their companion, and everything pulses and distorts in a bouncing, throbbing manner. Things become quiet and then as they build again, clearer notes begin to describe a brief, slow melody. After further periods of quiet and swelling, and after the halfway point, chiming notes coming from the right of the audio field set the soundscape reverberating. There is a subtle falling cluster of tones in the centre of the space, a bassial throb and a falling hissing sound. For me, this track had a sad, hopeless feeling, and the various effects made me think of something gently imploding.
The final track, Apocalypse, opens with a horn-like blare, one backed with a low drone and a shimmering throb. This is a juddery, echoing soundscape, with a chime-like quality that softens the harder effects. The track reverberates and increases in tension, the pulsing pressure intensifying as the horn-like blares repeat at intervals. This feels like a desolate space, one wiped clean of anything that might come close to warmth or kindness.
Nephilim is a dark ambient album that is full of restful, yet interesting, droning spaces. Each track felt like it made a great use of busyness and quiet periods, and the soundscapes themselves had plenty of subtle details and textures for the listener’s mind to focus on and to explore. Nephilim is an ominous yet peaceful trip into myth, and if you like your dark ambient on the more soothing end of the spectrum, you might like to take a look at Nephilim on Bandcamp.
I was given a review copy of this album
Album Title: Nephilim
Album Artist: Hiemis
Label: Noctivagant
Released: 22 September, 2024
