Comments, reviews, interviews

old man — Ego Depths / Dispersive Light “Follow the Skua” (Split)

If it seems to you that this winter has ended too early, and you haven’t had enough time to enjoy the full the gloom and emptiness of the dead nature, these feelings can be prolonged by simple sound devices that, in the last years, are delivered to the market with uninterrupted operation of the conveyor. And, these are for all tastes: here one may find an ice black-metal blizzard, an infinity of a funeral-metal night, lifelessness of an ambient desert, and many, many, many others... So a lonely soul has enough space to unfold in search of darkness and cold. However, sometimes it is possible to receive, for relatively little money, two or more freezing means at once, for example, offerings from the “Endless Winter” label, that produced, under one cover, the mini releases of two Ukrainian projects, one of which plays funeral-doom, and another that creates drone and noisy landscapes. It is convenient — at first, you are accurately packed into a cozy ice sarcophagus, and then thrown out into the black emptiness of infinite Space. Smart funerals!

EGO DEPTHS:

So, the first stage of sacral action is given in the order of the Donetsk formation EGO DEPTHS, consisting of one person, masquerading under the nickname Stigmateist. Actually, if you believe the projects website, two compositions presented on the record were to become part of one big album, but it didn't work out. And now a listener has to deal with something like draught sketches of a novel, which were somehow turned into a short story and put into print. But, I still failed to get rid of the feeling of understatement and reticence. The instrumental composition (very good, with interesting passages and a real catch in the form of acoustic guitar) sounds like an excellent prologue after which chapter 1 follows, then everything cuts off. However, this chapter (“Let Us Prey ...”) doesn't sound that intriguing, as to demand continuation from its author. Funeral-metal by Donetsk man has turned out to be quite serving to its purposes and objectives: to wrap a listener in funeral veils of heavy riffs as densely as possible and to press him down with a lid of mournful melodies, but it is hardly capable to distract you from the search of corresponding analogies. Though, it is necessary to do justice to Stigmateist, he really tries to create his own sound, having passed (as we may put it) between melodious Finnish Stsilla and gloomy-ascetic American Haribda. Keyboard linings in his music remain linings, without being in the foreground, but nevertheless they soften the severity of riffs and smooth austerity of the lines. The guitar parts are moderately heavy and quite traditional for the genre. The musician doesn't specifically emphasize the vocals, content with accurate growls, which can be easily left unnoticed in the general background. However, to estimate this music only on the basis of two tracks, which should have, but didn't, become part of a single entity, is well known to be a thankless job. Well, the task to prepare a listener for the solemn funerals of his perishing carcass in space, funeral bureau EGO DEPTHS manages it quite confidently.

DISPERSIVE LIGHT:

Now just one small thing remains: to ship the frozen body aboard a spaceship and send it to wander in Black Space. This matter is taken up by Kiev duet (?) DISPERSIVE LIGHT with a debut full-length album, which Moscow label “BadMoodMan” acquainted to the world not so long ago. I will say, after that infinite travel across the depths of Black Holes and infernal formations of our Universe, I was not eager to use the sightseeing services of this company again. But this time, all has not appeared so hopeless (in a direct and figurative sense). Instead of two dimensionless hypnotic trips, the Kievlans offer five short (for the genre) and quite concrete plays. No, the drone-noise basis of their music hasn't gone anywhere, it is still drone-ambient in all its ugly beauty, but the compositions have gained form and their meaning isn't reduced to replacing the swinging pendulum in the hands of a hypnotist anymore. The first two compositions, despite their rather short duration, are still able to be built into the structure of this debut album, but the three subsequent tracks are already a cause for an completely different conversation. In them, you will find emotions, alarm, and reflections, along with (what is absolutely unexpected) broken, painful, but quite distinct melodic patterns. That is, space remains space, but in its infinite Blackness, some obscure monsters come to light all of a sudden, and they make a listener, who is going to completely pass into his eternal rest, to impatiently spin in the shroud, getting confused in the veils more and more densely. And whether he will get out of them or not, is a mystery.

P.S. Curiously enough, only two teams of different genres have combined their material on one split quite successfully, even if it happened by chance. Astral travel through the worlds of EGO DEPTHS and DISPERSIVE LIGHT, though a little discount, nevertheless, is quite capable of delivering some pleasant minutes to those who like pastime, such as that. And who will refuse a discount in these modern days?

6/10

Darkside Apr. 2010

Mourning — Ego Depths / Dispersive Light “Follow the Skua” (Split)

La label russa Endless Winter rilascia l'ennesimo lavoro adatto agli amanti delle atmosfere tetre e claustrofobiche, la scelta di accoppiare in soluzione unica le due formazioni ucraine, Ego Depths e Dispersive Light, frutta uno split dal titolo “Follow The Skua”, contenente sessanta minuti devoti a un trascorrere lento e greve.

Le due tracce iniziali “Henceforth I Suffer (Ego D.)” e “Let Us Prey For their Worthless Life (Ego D.)” a opera degli Ego ci regalano complessivamente quasi mezz'ora di musica, allungate, pesanti, cariche di pathos si slanciano, il lavoro svolto dai synth nel creare una forte pressione malinconica e quietamente triste fa sì che l'artista non nuovo alla scena e con alle spalle un album di tutto rispetto come “Equilibrium Sickness” riesca a confermarsi esponendo materiale della stessa pasta e capace di tener testa ai rivali nel genere spesso provenienti dalla stessa zona geografica.

Le composizioni sono istintive, stringenti, una morsa dolorosa che si trascina sin dalla nota iniziale avviluppando l'ascoltatore e trascinandolo per vie dove la luce è fioca.

Tocca quindi ai Dispersive Light entrare in scena e si cambia totalmente musica, l'ambient/drone proposto è alienante, misantropico, un'ossessione continua che si sviluppa fra ridondanze forti, un teatro d'orrore che fra sensazioni industrial martellanti e noise riesce a evocare incubi e infondere una schizofrenica voglia di distruzione che ha una sola reale pausa in cui il ricordo sembra essere dolcemente amaro, incastonato nell'acustico discernere di “Purple Twilights”.

Rimembrare che verrà annientato dalla violenza di “Incest Autumn Winds” rimarcando ancora una volta quanto la musica di questo progetto possa essere lobotomizzante.

“Follow The Skua” si attesta come produzione relegata a un target preciso, gli amanti dei due stili si troveranno di fronte un platter che sia col funeral doom degli Ego Depths sia con la musica dei Dispersive Ligth potrà viaggiare attraverso sinistre lande.

Se è ciò che ascoltate abitualmente non fatevi mancare occasione per mettere su questo disco e chissà che non vi scatti la voglia d'acquisto.

Aristocrazia Webzine Jun. 2010

Aleks Evdokimov — Ego Depths / Dispersive Light “Follow the Skua” (Split)

The same old story! Endless Winter should be more attentive to contemporary tendencies in the doom-metal underground, concerning the album cover art: plotless “dark” indistinctness through the whole booklet is a bad form. Moreover, the one would seem that there was no place found to mention at least bands contacts. I understand that it is “true” and that it is dark objectiveness of reality or asceticism, oh yes! Why I should go to MySpace and do the phishing of information when it was possible to reflect the minor required info in the booklet? But well - to the matter of this review.

Edo Depths is a one-man band from Donetsk (Ukraine). And what I've remembered due to the name of the project: according to some ideas, the man has an immortal, pure and unchangeable individuality, what is a kin for all men. Also, there is an Ego — superficial side product of man's being in a material world. Ego counts itself as real and asks for satisfaction, persists and subjugates and that's why there is a great sense to strict and differentiate your desires while trying to identify their origin… but that is philosophy… And Ego Depths is just a musical project where the author gravitates to weird and merciless funeral doom metal. Ego Depths represented here by two tracks with the total length about 30 minutes and both of them are, literally speaking, choking, destroying, and mutilating your consciousness... Surprisingly, both tracks possess quite well and strong record (this is not first experience of author in the art of musical researches, though). Moreover, the author had not been failed by his intuition — some tunes and vocal lines sound really intriguing. Perhaps, there is no rival of this work on the territory of Russian Federation for now, which would be able to compete… but I did not listen to last album of Abstract Spirit, maybe they could fight for a first place of most effective burial organization here. However, that is not the main thing… the present work is really strong and convincing in its sound, not only in "the best tradition" but also with an atmospheric zest… if there won't be that pathos, the amount of which on the official MySpace page is more than sufficient (this is Ego!), the whole impression would be better.

Dispersive Light is a project from Kiev and, frankly, “gladdens” my ears with its unkind drone/noise/ambient mixture, it's like a rough balm which you need to drink to overcome disease or surround in it's slimy embraces. When you're writing about the band like this, thoughts about violence, rusted iron and misanthropy come on mind unintentionally. “Sure Mrod” shows mystical, industrial drone which is hypnotic and at the same time obnoxious. This music is impossible to enrapture and simultaneously cannot be rejected. It obduces and clings; this obscure and weird inhuman ambient treat you to go deep into his nightmare, but all your attempts will be useless — it is hardly to make out this technical spell. “Baal” — is a tacit emptiness, it is an apogee of the terse expression and schizophrenia, it is a complete devastation of the country-side town “Silent Hill” and where all inhabitant creatures were fully eradicated suffering disgrace from a purer form of evil... “Purple Twilight” is a big pure ravishment — deep acoustic ambient, which dwells in weird but at least three dimensions. It does not oppress but also does not calm down… It slightly disturbs, trying to imply about something ahead, alarms… Maybe, that was about devastating “Incest Autumn Winds” which reminds the freakiest experiments of the last musical experiments of Vir band… Short “Little Owl” is as good as “Purple Twilight” — the silent and simple, but amazingly drastic track. I am very happy that I hold this release even due to these two tracks! Moreover, the present project can be familiar to those who follow the news from Solitude Productions — Dispersive Light appeared there a year ago with self-entitled album, but they were caught by Endless Winter, well, that is normal…

Here, something should be said to sum up all what had been written above… ok! “Follow the Skua” presents two not new projects, which are different but quite attractive for followers of extremal doom genres. Their material is made in time even if it is brutal funeral or spooky drone-like lobotomy. As it follows, the album is dedicated to the admirers of both styles only, who hold the stainless nerves. I would not recommend this release to a wide auditory, but certain good aftertaste has been left anyway…

Doommantia.com Jul. 2010

Goebbels — Ego Depths / Dispersive Light “Follow the Skua” (Split)

Ego Depths continue son œuvre…

Après un premier album très bien accueilli, le jeune hongrois tend sa main à une nouvelle expérience, et cette fois-ci sous l’angle d’un Split avec son compatriote Dispersive Light. Rien qu’à lire ces deux noms les décors sont campés…Mais ça reste tout de même insignifiant si on comptera le nombre de groupes qui cachent leurs niaiseries derrière des patronymes tirant un taureau par les cornes…

Sachez-le donc ! Chacun a besoin d’évolutions voire de changements radicaux comme les généraux ont besoin de soldats. Ego Depths n’en fait pas l’exception. Quid de ses longues ivresses Death/Doom.

Elles se font défrayées par un Doom plus mélodieux certes, mais moins artificiel et conventionnel. Rien n’est plus représentatif à cet égard que cette intro instrumentale assez inattendue. En d’autres termes, le combo a fort à faire et prend tout le temps nécessaire pour étaler ses ambiances. Des notes clean mettent l’esprit dans un niveau très terre-à-terre avant de le trancher dans une louche bien lente teintée d’une bonne dose mélodique. Je dirais même qu’il s’agit d’un clin d’œil à quelques Worship. Précisons tout de même qu’on a accès pour la première fois à ce genre de tonalités et ce n’est pas pour nous déplaire. Le retour des notes clean au milieu du titre installe un aspect feeling romantique insoupçonnable. L’agencement de l’ensemble est bien soigné grâce à une fluidité assez remarquable.

Le deuxième titre remonte le niveau avec ses 17 minutes…une longueur qui confère un impact certain à la globalité du travail. Le clavier s’introduit en guise d’intro tout en oscillant entre l’atmosphérique et l’épique. L’ambiance est campée : le renvoi à Sunn O))) en tant que référence est inévitable. La rupture se fait au bout de la quatrième minute avec un growl qui pourrait sonner kitsch pour quelques uns mais son bon emplacement demeure au-dessus de tous les mécontentements. Puis, on assiste à l’émergence de deux guitares, l’une pour submerger le riff, l’autre pour le salir. Un jeu typiquement Sol sur Let There Be A Massacre mais moins propre et hétéroclite. Le chant caverneux prend toute son ampleur au seuil de 10 minutes avec quelques parties légèrement Death/Metal qui sautent à l’oreille ici et là. Bref, avec ces deux titres, Ego Depths a montré un changement de voie bien considérable. Je ne sais pas s’il s’agit véritablement d’une continuité mais en tout cas j’espère que le nouveau chemin sera fait sous le feu des projecteurs…

Venons à Dispersive Light. Une découverte que ce split a permis…mais s’agit-il d’une bonne ? Après une vingtaine d’écoutes, mon jugement se trouve toujours devant une impasse. Un style minimaliste. Si vous utilisez un casque, impossible de ne pas diminuer le volume. Un seul élément sonore. Un bruit électronico-industriel à la Sunn O))), mais sans âme. Est-ce bien ? Je ne sais pas. Pour moi, pas vraiment. Pour un esprit dérangé, peut être. Ambient et Drone sont là. Leur inclusion demeure néanmoins bancale et réside à toute appréciation explicite. Question d’humeur. Je ne sais pas. Le troisième titre est le plus facile d’accès grâce à un son plus ou moins clair et correctement placé. D’ailleurs l’ombre de We Wait for the Snow déferle perpétuellement, juste un peu plus mou. Le dernier titre n’est pas franchement mal, et son aspect Ambient explicitement exprimé renoue avec le bon "son" et nous permet de finir l’écoute de façon beaucoup plus sereine voire cathartique. De toute façon, les fans de Permafrost ne resteront jamais indifférents.

Au final, je serai très balzacien face à ces cinq titres. En d’autres termes, La critique est une brosse qui ne peut pas s'employer sur les étoffes légères, où elle emporterait tout. Dispersive Light est léger, trop même. A prendre ou à laisser.

16.5/20 pour Ego Depths.

09.5/20 pour Dispersive Light.

Sombre Arcane Sep. 2010

Sergio Evans — Ego Depths / Dispersive Light “Follow the Skua” (Split)

Endless Winter es una discográfica con base en Rusia y que debe ofrecer el metal más sombrío del catálogo actual. En el split “Follow The Skua”, por ejemplo, reúne las creaciones de dos bandas originarias de Ucrania, en un trabajo de casi una hora de duración.

Ego Depths tiene a su cargo la apertura del disco y lo hace con un intro de guitarra acústica que rememora el sonido clásico del funeral doom. La sección eléctrica recrea una melodía sepulcral que me recuerda la primera vez que escuché a Thergothon. Esta extensa marcha fúnebre emplea la característica percusión densa y parsimoniosa del funeral doom como un presagio de algo terrible. La alternancia de hi-hat, bombo y caja actúa como antesala de los angustiosos leads de la primera guitarra, que al comienzo y en los minutos 7 y 11 irrumpen en la forma de un arpegio.

A diferencia del inicio, en el segundo corte predominan los sonidos electrónicos. En el minuto 4 sobreviene el quiebre de la sección eléctrica con una guitarra rítmica que conserva la atmósfera inquietante de la melodía orquestada por los teclados, en tanto al minuto 6 da un paso al fragmento más memorable de esta banda, gracias a la incorporación de susurros y voces de ultratumba, junto a una espléndida melodía. Empleando sintetizadores, Ego Depths emula con éxito el sonido vernáculo del género. Si hubiese una percusión más definida, hablaríamos de un excelente material.

Dispersive Light aporta cinco temas a la obra, todos más afines al drone que al doom. En lo personal, y como amante del funeral, el uso exagerado de la electrónica no me satisface en lo absoluto. “Purple Twilights”, donde guitarra y bajo construyen una polifonía, es uno de los tracks fuertes de esta banda, pues elabora una atmósfera coherente y emotiva en algunos tramos. Lo demás: todo demasiado etéreo y ambiental. “Little Owl” es mi juicio la mejor contribución de esta banda, aunque se extraña la arremetida de las guitarras.

“Follow The Skua” constituye un esfuerzo plausible de parte de Endless Winter y vaticina un interesante futuro para ambas agrupaciones.

Ciudad Metal Sep. 2010

Gabriele Frontini — Ego Depths / Dispersive Light “Follow the Skua” (Split)

Split by Endless Winter Records that shows two almost unknown bands: Ego Depths (recently moved from Ukraine to Canada) for the first two tracks and mysterious Dispersive Light for the remaining five. Unfortunately, the best part of this 'Follow The Skua' is the Ego Depths one, being the first two songs (of which the first being an instrumental). Interesting mix of sad guitars, claustrophobic mood. guttural growl and eerie synths, this could be called funeral doom as we know it today. Very atmospheric music indeed, and the two songs included in the split cover about half an hour, giving a pretty idea of the skills of the band (a one-man band). A little bit monotonous for their lenghts, this is my actual and only remark, waiting to hear soon something more complete by this band to have a better overview.

Let's go on to the second part. Dispersive Light do not play any kind of metal, doom especially since there are no guitars, no drums, no vocals at all: their production is instead more into ambient/drone style.

As mentioned before there are only synths here, and the first thing I thought as I was going on with the listening was that they could have been easily featured as composer for such games as Silent Hill (with all the respect due to Akira Yamaoka) because that would be the perfect match for such music. Sick, thrilling and painful, but maybe boring in the long run, just because music like should need a "visual" counterpart to go along with (like a movie, for instance).

I wish you all a joyful and safe Happy New Year.

Obscura Webzine Dec. 2010

Ego Depths / Dispersive Light “Follow the Skua” (Split)

Split contendo duas bandas não tão novas, mas também não muito reconhecidas no cenário: Ego Depths e Dispersive Light.

Ego Depths: Projeto de Stigmatheist e responsável por todos os instrumentos e nos traz logo de cara uma faixa instrumental para abrir essa missa fúnebre com pouco menos de 12 minutos e mostrando-nos o que está por vir. Na seqüência Let us Prey for the Worthless Life nos mostra um funeral doom vigoroso nos melhores moldes de Skepticism, ou seja, muito depressivo e lento. Se ao menos tivesse mais um som para nos dar um parâmetro melhor ou mesmo para nos brindar com mais uma bela canção…

Dispersive Light: banda estadunidense de Drone, possui 5 faixas nesse split com a maior dela beirando os 8 minutos. Sura Mrod e Baal seguem a mesma linha com barulhos e uma atmosfera caótica, já Purple Twilights da uma animada por ser “diferente” e ser tocada com baixo e piano. Incest Autumn Winds é a melhor dessa banda, com um baixo ultra distorcido mostrando uma certa melodia em meio ao caos. E para terminar o cd uma viagem de piano chamada Little Owl. Se toda a participação do Dispersive Light seguisse a linha dessas duas últimas músicas com certeza mereceria os 5 depressivos de pontuação.

Funeral Wedding 2011