Caged in light…
Out on Ván Records from 28 October 2016 and reviewed by Jason Guest
Caged in light, the blackened heart of this beast beats with a majestic and mighty splendour. Operatic, cinematic, enigmatic, there’s a celestial depth to the darkness that pervades the six meditations that make up Urfaust’s first full length in six years. Droning, doomy, spellbinding and intense, the imposing heft of Empty Space Meditation burns very brightly indeed. Vast in scope, the textural refinement and the inviting openness of the album is enthralling.
Whether shrouding us in mystical wonder with its subtle yet stirring ambient passages, moving our spirits with orchestrated synths over gently pulsing basslines and slowly measured beats, or tearing us asunder with blackened wrath or emotionally-charged surges of passion and power, the album steers us through an immense soundscape painted with an otherworldly and cosmological magnificence. The black metal barrages, the inhuman shrieks, the melancholic and mystical melodies and the unending array of auras and moods are pieced together seamlessly.
Compositionally, Urfaust have travelled far into the beyond and put together an album that is at no point lacking. The disquiet and the tranquil are intertwined in wave after wave of hypnotic and trance-deepening passages that bear both a swirling serenity and an unnerving unease. Mesmeric and captivating, with its numinous glow emerging stronger with every play, Empty Space Meditation is another one for the best of 2016 list. An album to give time to. A lot of it.
9 out of 10
Track list:
- Meditatum I
- Meditatum II
- Meditatum III
- Meditatum IV
- Meditatum V
- Meditatum VI
