tiistai 14. toukokuuta 2013

Mists of Darkness - The Lightless Lands demo 1995


Mists of Darkness - The Lightless Lands demo 1995
1) Act 1 - Journey to the Lightless Lands
2) Act 2 - Encompassed Mystery
3) Act 3 - The First Vision of the Lightless Lands
4) Act 4 - Death of Tranquility
5) Unreleased Track  (bonus)

Yandex / Rusfolder

We must go deeper into non-metal material. Here's another contribution and a quite recent one for change, sent to me by brother Wehrwolf early this month - thank you, appreciated! We're now heading down under and explore Mists of Darkness, a quite obscure synth project who as far as I know released only this one demo and the untitled, unreleased track added as bonus here. As many other such projects, this was a one-man effort, done by a guy called Steve who was an associate of Abyssic Hate's Shane. Speaking of which, included is also an interview from Shane's Eternal Damnation 'zine. And cover scans too!

Music here is gloomy and quite oppressive dark ambient, clearly pointing out the project's connection to the black metal scene. However, some of the tracks have strong similarity to dungeon synth too, mostly the more "active" ones like the first and third for example. Sound is ok, it's all a bit murky but that is a characteristic of the music more than a result of recording conditions and/or equipment methinks. Parts of the recording almost stand still, slowly floating in a black lightless pool, while other parts are more active with percussion, sometimes steadily trudging a winding path downwards with a militant pace yet occasionally getting an almost frantic feel to it, like something indescribable clawing its way out of a pit filled with ragged human remains and yet other parts have a serene yet active quality to them, like the breathing of a dead god, dreaming to the soft chants of insane spirits... looks like I need more coffee or sleep, why don't you take a listen to this now?

9 kommenttia:

Anonyymi kirjoitti...

Excellent dark ambient! Is there any chance you have synth-centric ambient that you haven't posted already? In the Dungeon Synth vein, I suppose.

Velkaarn kirjoitti...

Forgot to answer you, it seems! Yes, I have non-metal items upcoming though some of them will be more industrial-oriented. There's DS-style material too.

pagan14 kirjoitti...

Wow, I'm impressed, this is very good dark ambient. Sometimes these obscure ambient projects come off as cheesy and dated, not this one. Almost a throwback to classic 80s-early 90s dark ambient and industrial projects. What a shame it's the only demo. Thanks for posting!

Velkaarn kirjoitti...

@pagan14:

It is very good, isn't it! You're welcome, I'm glad brother Wehrwolf sent me this rip. I suppose this is everything ever made under this name and it really is a shame.

Andrew Werdna kirjoitti...

Yeah, I'd say this is more dark ambient than dungeon synth, but it's actually quite good dark ambient, which is saying a lot because that stuff tends to be pretty mediocre. Death of Tranquility is particularly good. Thanks.

Velkaarn kirjoitti...

@Andrew:

Glad you enjoyed it too! I like it quite a bit myself and have to agree many of the small projects aren't that good. I wouldn't mind seeing this re-released on disc. There's probably nothing more, at least I think so.

Anonyymi kirjoitti...

He did do other recordings, but none of them were officially released. I have a few tapes of stuff that he did..... very good material.

Coldacre kirjoitti...

he made a 2 song demo before this one, the demo didn't have a title. the music was more industrial and elements were re-used for the Lightless Lands tape.

Velkaarn kirjoitti...

@Coldacre (I presume both comments are yours):

Good to know, if you have ripped these other recordings care to share with me? ascoven at priest.com - I won't upload them here if you say so.