Kauan "Wayhome" (2025)

 

Gently swain by the soothing return of this moving ethereal melancholy, Wayhome's first spin deeply captivated. Shimmering guitar licks revel in dense reverbs as soft atmospheric synths brood, swelling into stunning passage of dreary melody, beautiful yet sullen. Guided by simplistic glacial percussion, a cast of gentle instruments are invited to croon in textural pleasures, as minimal compositions amass in swells of volume. At its most intense, distant guitars distort and crunch metallic chops. This edge melts away into the ever present hum of its cloudy keys. Voices come and go, some harmonious and Folkish, occasionally shouts of a softer nature. In its best strides, ritualistic chanting conjures familiar suggestions of rural nostalgia. Pianos drift in and out of focus too, another tuneful arm to deploy subtle spellbinding arpeggios.

On second and third listens, the magic fades. Kauan have refined their Post-Rock/Metal motif to a mastery but one lacking fresh ideas. The absorbing nature of this aesthetic indulgence always packs a punch after an extended absence. Yet only two tracks had stand out moments with an impactful Black Metal tinged mid track crescendo on Leave / Let Go. With a lull before the storm, Haste / Ascend brought a touch more grove and momentum than the slower songs, giving its opening stretch much gravitas as the back of the song mellows out. Many of the tracks carried heavy moments between quiet stretches. Perhaps speaking to a concept behind its duel track names. Either way, its beautiful nature couldn't mask how routine this felt.

Rating: 6/10

Tineidae & Sole Massif "Remnants Of War" (2024)

 

Although Remnants Of War is themed around the aftermath of AI fulled armageddon, I could not escape its dramatic cover art. Reminiscent of the cult Japanese Cyberpunk flick Tetsuo, I've absorbed this one with metallic body horror in mind. Learning now of its true intention, the cinematic vision locks into place. These desolate soundscapes paint dystopian terror as the unease of soft synths collide with ghostly mechanical buzzes and whirling sparks, echoing on through tainted winds. Worbling electronic voices churn from automated warfare wreckage, a poisoned landscape, terrain now littered with cybernetic corpses. As far as eyes see, an endless sprawl of technological annihilation claims mother nature herself as collateral damage.

Its only tuneful moments stem from brief surges of soulless arpeggio saw-wave cycling. It births intense motion out of lifeless scenery. The tension derived suggests the presence of a surviving robotic killing machine, scanning the area for life, a dangerous prospect for us observers. Otherwise its charm resides in dense atmospheric dark ambience, littered with sound effect design to paint maddening scenarios in the mind of the listener. My favorite moments are the subtle whirls and buzzes, hints of wrecked machines with robotic systems attempting to function. So too, distorted voices add mystery. Seeming like scrambled recordings they possibly hint human life is transmitting from somewhere... or are simply remnants of the war.

Rating: 6/10

Caldon Glover "Metrophagy" (2024)

Here's one from the Dark Ambient vaults, a cinematic venture that's clearly driven by world building through its devastating atmospheres. This is no musical affair but a craft of sound design terror. Devoid of melody and rhythm, a textured layering of sounds brood unsettled tensions that tremor and quake with abandon. Hellishly cold and unforgiving, gentle swells of airy synths breed ambiguity over the creeks, groans and aches of its many murmuring lifeless voices. These are forlorn ghosts, desolate noises wandering an urban graveyard. Visions of an apocalyptic nightmare manifest in a post-life state, a technological nihilism of self-annihilation that's stripped this world of its habitability, leaving behind a scared wasteland of concrete, metal and electronics.

At least, that is the vision that arises for me, perhaps its cover art planted the seed of suggestion for a such a vision to manifest. I see a futuristic cyberpunk metropolis laid to ruins, with the sense of something evil lurking within but the evil is the place itself, like a densely radiated city-scape hostile to life itself, where a gush of wind could yield fatality. This one is hard to assess, enjoyment depends a lot on mood, Accelerated Decay and Liber Spiralis where the most powerful cuts. Paired with a visual movie matching this theme would be utterly intense! One can only dream of such shuddering cinematics.

Rating: 7/10