Release Info:
Artist : Kerovnian
Album : Far Beyond, Before The Time
Genre : Ambient
Label : Cold Spring
Catnum : CSR24CD
Source : CDDA
URL : http://www.discogs.com/Kerovnian-Far-Beyond-Before-The-Time/release/
Mode Info:
Tracks : 10
Time : 01:09:19
Size : 115.89 MB
Encode : LAME 32bits version 3.98.4 (http://www.mp3dev.org/) -V0
Quality : 221kbps 44100Hz Joint Stereo
Tracklist:
1. Those Beneath The Moaning Castle 6:54
2. Far Beyond, Before The Time 8:07
3. The Godless Keep 6:34
4. From The Lands Where The Winds Die 5:22
5. As They Dug Their Way Out Into The Machinery Of Death 11:22
6. Before The Oblivion 5:39
7. My Realm 7:44
8. Of Oblivion Undead 4:18
9. Whisper, My Defiled 7:17
10. The Litany To Devoured 6:02
69:19 (min)
Far Beyond, Before the Time is the dark ambient side of a former black metal
artist. This phrase is usually enough for most people to perform an about-face
and flee in the opposite direction. No wonder, given the actual glut that seems
to exist of those ambitious grim-and-frostbitten types who harbour pretensions
of artistic range by putting down the tremolo picked-to-death guitar and
mashing a keyboard for a change. This action usually results in a lazy release
that fails to engage the listener, overflowing with cringe-worthy melodramatic
flourishes and an overall feeling that the equivalent visual medium would
probably be a childÆs rough crayon drawing of a troll. This remastered
Kerovnian release, however, manages to dodge that bullet and actually be
interesting and engaging despite its corpse-painted roots coming to the fore at
a couple of points throughout the album. Subtlety, imagination, and a downright
sense of creepiness keep this release mostly on-point and enjoyable.
The man behind Kerovnian is one Vlad K. from Croatia, whose forays into the
free-form music styles, it is said, came from a need to create æsupport musicÆ
for poetry eveningsùan interesting background story at the very least.
Lovecraft is also mentioned, that specific patron and muse of all things which
are beyond consciousness and veiled in shadow. Indeed, an interpretation which
jumps out at me is that the album is a support soundscape for some kind of
Lovecraftian roleplay. Each track seems to bear a different crypt-like
atmosphere and be stamped with a title which suggests some kind of different
Eldritch scenario. There is variety throughout the album and the tone of the
Chthonic rumblings shifts enough to keep oneÆs attention from straying too far
off into happier places.
There is a calm atmosphere which permeates throughout, leading further to an
impression of the album as a cinematic or narrative backdrop. The watchword of
the album is æcryptÆ, and everything comes across as emanating outward through
many layers of ancient stone.
One is reminded of Popol VuhÆs Nosferatu soundtrack in its dustier, more
vampyric aspects. Also to be heard are the strained and tormented sounds of
beasts and stifled reverberations, not unlike LustmordÆs Heresy which is
famously subterranean in nature. The major strength of the album is that it
remains mostly calm and subdued, resisting the flagrant shit-show of synth
wankery which characterizes a lot of the black-metal-turned-ambient artists
these days.
However, it is not without its flaws. A major distracting factor which comes
into play throughout the latter part of the album is the use of distorted
spoken-word vocals, made to sound ædemonicÆ through a vocoder, which
immediately brought to mind the absolute lamest aspects of black metal. This
jibbering broke the immersive hypnotic mood the previous tracks had instilled
by being needlessly loud, clumsy, and overt. If you can forgive this particular
blotch, Far Beyond, Before the Time is a solid dark ambient album which
reminded me of the truly old-school, back when the dark and unsettling aspects
of the synthesizer were being coaxed out for the purposes of horror-film
soundtracks and more enterprising, creative minds were discovering the deeply
evocative potential of the then-fledgling genre.