March 2nd, 2006
Grade: 4,5/5
It has always been a problem for me to find a dark ambient release that was able to fullfill my needs of darkness. You know, the problem is that with the years I became used to listen drones and mysterious voices coming from dusty closets.
Musterion's first release THE BLACK LODGE fortunately isn't a dark-ambient release that contains tracks made with two sounds with titles that evoke unknown demons. Simon AA Kölle had the idea to ideally describe the voyage of agent Cooper (do you remember Twin Peaks?) through strange lands and situations. Try to imagine the agent Cooper in the red room that was placed in a sort of nowhere land (in this case it is called "The Black Lodge") and then make him visit mystic places where yogi create a Tulpa (a place created by collective immagination) and then place him in a Lovercraft novel.
The fifteen tracks are like soundtracks but they doesn't sound like soundscapes. Fortunately each track, along with the usual drones, have got elements that make them sound different from the usual tracks of the genre. Tracks like "Unknown Kadath", "Tannerhauser Gate" or the following "III - Lost", for example, contain also a piano that duet with violins, vocals and other elements that bring some melodic line that create a sound similar to Autopsia that play darkambient. Also the tracks that are mostly based on sound samples are really convincing because they always have a sound or a sample that help into the creation of the atmosphere.
In my opinion you should try it...
Maurizio Pustianaz