Review:
If there is one thing which is conveyed through Brian Williams’ sonic landscapes, if there is one word to describe what it is like to listen to, it would be 'terror'. Williams’ project Lustmørd is often cited as creating the dark ambient genre, and is still one of the finer examples of minimalistic noise which submerges the listener in droning, almost suffocating bass reverb and eerily unnatural noises. Lustmørd’s 1990 album Heresy is widely renowned as a masterpiece of the dark ambient genre; fusing together instruments and sound to create uncomfortable human emotions. There are places where the music is seemingly the background noise one would hear in a horror film; however, the difference between the laughable horror flick soundtrack and the unsettling ambience of Lustmord is the fact that it really and truly makes you feel uneasy by virtue of sound alone.
Ambient music is quite often difficult to describe, much less critique, because it can be interpreted in any number of ways. Take, for example, the second piece on Heresy, a ten minute saunter through a simple piece of soundscapes which comes across with much the same feeling I would imagine as sleeping alone for a night in a subterranean catacomb. Indeed, Williams has gone to great lengths to illustrate the seriousness and atmospheric qualities of his music. Through such methods as sampling recordings in catacombs, abattoirs, mines, crypts, and places where many people were killed, the music transcends the line between reality and nightmare. The only prominent instrument on the album is a Tibetan horn, awash in a thick cloud of rumbling bass. There is something unnatural and paranormal about Heresy which I simply have not seen replicated.
The album is a compilation of actual recordings from 1985-1989 carried out on site, and then fed through a computer to have sound levels manipulated and recordings mastered to the fullest effect, making the listener feel as if they are sitting next to Williams in whatever desolate and morbid place he chooses as inspiration for his music. The incessant droning of sounds whose origin remain a mystery, plays mind games with the listener, and to spin this album before falling asleep is surely asking to do exactly the opposite, because without a doubt you will be left wide-eyed, staring at the ceiling as this one hour trek through the darkness plays out before your mind’s eye.
Download:
http://www.mediafire.com/?dopjujd2paaxd3i
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