Finding the delicate balance between ghoulish dark ambience and twisted dungeon synth, Natura Carcerem produces a spectacular album full of twists and turns that will completely enthrall the listener from start to finish. From dazzling soundscapes and massive orchestrations, this is a fabrication of energetic synth music that should not be bound to a single classification. ‘C|E|L|L’ contains nearly thirty six minutes of majestic music spanning five tracks and at the end will have you playing this on auto-repeat, just to see if there are any intricate details that were missed.
“A Tragic Path To Take” launches down a dark, forbidden trail with haunting environmental field recordings and brisk footsteps leading toward a destination of misfortune. Droning keyboards and light melodies ring through on “A History Of Hallucinations”, as this amusing track takes shape like an effervescent glow. Suddenly, keys begin to play out of tune while the background drones seem to become more desolate. Industrial-like shrills forcefully take over and provide a new, darker path for this near ten and a half minute journey. Bludgeoning screams of pain integrate with the bleak instrumentation to represent pure mental suffering. After a brief interlude filled with wind and rain field recordings, slightly distorted keyboards create a malevolent orchestration, which provides the perfect backdrop for a few minutes of Dungeon Synth arrangements. “A Deathmarch Through The Virid Halls” is a majestic Medieval dirge filled with layers of somber melody provided by various keyboard effects that are on a grand scale. Wonderfully produced, this song not only showcases a huge sound, but also a great mix whereas all of the instrumentation can be heard equally without losing any luster. The albums title track, “C|E|L|L” could easily be a theme song for a horror movie (or ones’ nightmares). The dissonant, monotone-like keyboard chop is simple, yet effective in producing a frightful emotion. The mid-song narrations are a great addition as well, as it adds to the fantasy that is being told through these songs. The black metal vocals complete the cycle of tragedy by increasing the penitence being produced by the constant melody. The final track, “A Necessary Act Of Autocannibalism (feat. Lord Grim)”, is another ten plus minute odyssey that represents acts of the heinous. Heavy winds and discordant drones begin this track as peculiar sounds are added in randomness. As that fades away, clean keyboard melodies mixed with a small dose of retro-synth pervade with effective measures. Things take a turn toward the darkness with a brutal overtake of blackened metal, complete with blast beats and terrifying vocal screams and shrills. This bombastic influence continues on for a few minutes and then dissolves into a eerie keyboard pattern that closes out this masterpiece of an album.
I’m really impressed with this album and Natura Carcerem does a great job a including a lot of details that cross multiple genres. This keeps it very interesting and makes these epic song (lengths) seem a lot shorter than what they really are. If you’re like me and are a fan of Dungeon Synth, Dark Ambient and other more extreme music genres that they help influence, then check out ‘C|E|L|L’ and embed yourself in the dark, twisted world conceived by Natura Carcerem. The album can be downloaded from the link below.
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Links:
https://naturacarcerem.bandcamp.com/album/c-e-l-l
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-opinionated-optimist-podcast/id1485260250?i=1000494658460
Dungeon Synth & Dark Ambient Reviews!! 