Curious to hear more of Blood Incantation's fresh and exciting take on the tired Death Metal genre, Timewave Zero shocked me with its radical shift to a sound I'm fond of, perhaps even obsessed with! Comprised of two songs, both split into four movements, It wasn't to long into Io's dramatic shadowy tensions, did I realize this was no gradual build up to an eruption extreme metallic aggression. This was in fact an Ambient piece of work, dialed to a gravitational degree between the dark, eerie side of the genre and my beloved Cosmic Ambience. I knew immediately I would enjoy this record.
Devoid of any vivid animations, both halves play adrift of dramatic event or suggestive theatrics. The music stay resolute in a gentle journeying through its tensions and suggestions. To my ears, both Io and Ea explore similar deviations from their original impressions. Subtle arpeggios drone with a touch of Berlin School, swells of brooding ambiguity emerge and sullen synth strings yearn within its lengthy progressions.
Io feels like the "spacier" half, capturing a mystique devoid of intent yet both dangerous and mesmerizing, the strange allure of cosmic wonders visible only where no eyes wander. I find this sentiment mirrored in its fantastic cover art. A inhospitable landscape orbiting a giant red sun. Ea feels a touch more animated, as if observing similar places which have a history of failed life. Its touches of murmuring voices, Dungeon Synth and acoustic guitar give a sense of cultural echo to the astral sight seeing, Its fourth and final movement melting all this suggestion into a dense swell. This record fits perfectly into my growing collection of ambient works.
Rating: 7/10