By design, Dark Ambient represents a sort of frigid, ominous variance of meditative music. A genre that soothes the mind and haunts the soul, dismal drones and soundscapes empowers the listener to drift in (mostly) apocalyptic settings and advance on portentous endeavors in – what seems like – slow motion. However, not all sub-genres of Dark Ambient follow that narrative as industrialized ambience presents a bleak side of this obscurity, producing more of an angst-like approach to audible reasoning. One such artist that excels at this approach is Cementation Anxiety. On latest album, ‘Prospects Of Dissolution’, three long tracks create a particular madness that corrupts the soul with harsh tones and a maddening approach to perilous drones. Meant to be heard as a single instance of mayhem, this is nearly twenty four minutes of rigid ambience with an outcome of severe proportions.
Opening track, simply titled “I”, commences with a malevolent commotion, as if saying Welcome to the industrial wasteland, where pollution-heavy skies and abandoned factories set a desolate scene. Looping drone of mechanized strength don’t let up for over ten minutes, while viscous soundscapes bear down on the listener at full force. Random tones and samples create a menacing plot full of negativity and resilient evil. This song is like an endless maze of torment, creating suffrage through apprehension and dread. As the track increases its modulating output, it morphs into the second track “II” rather than drifting off into obscurity. Pressurized drones reek havoc on the senses as the unknown lurks around every corner. Not knowing what to expect, tensions increase while assorted soundscapes and tones seem slightly buried in the mix before slowly ascending into audial darkness. The main drone accelerates with unabridged rancor, dragging the lister further into the abyss of uncharted terror. Just as the maniacal endeavor seems to be at its peak, it partly abolishes some of the harshness before leading into the third and final track, “III”. This final plight of audial terror presents over eight minutes of minimalistic modulations that act as a rigid recovery of the previous tracks as the deafening chaos suggests that there is no escape from the impending doom that awaits. The final few minutes dies down into a less modulated drone with reverberated soundscapes that drift in the background. This shows the collapse of civilization and ruins the chance of any return to a stable environment.
Cementation Anxiety produces top notch industrialized ambience and excels at telling a darkened stories of futuristic worlds and unexplored settings of demise. Although ‘Prospects Of Dissolution’ is an entertaining and important recording for the genre, I truly wish that this album was about an hour long. It’s so easy to get lost in the discord, but as soon as you do it seems like it’s over not soon after it begins. I highly recommend checking out this album, especially if the harsher side of Dark Ambient is your thing. Please click on the link below and support this exceptional artist.
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Links:
https://cementationanxiety.bandcamp.com/album/prospects-of-dissolution
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