Glenn Danzig Black Aria- One of the first "metal" musicians to develop an ambient/darkwave project. Similar in style and compares favorably to Varg's first "keyboard" album.
8/10
Robert Fripp The Gates of Paradise- This is the most focused and consciously developed of Fripp's ambient works I've encountered to date. In fact, though the approach and aesthetic are within the boundaries of ambient music, this is symphonic music at its core.
10/10
Nile Annihilation of the Wicked- Heh, there was already a copy in the used bin, so I picked it up. The talent and vision have always been there (see "To Dream of Ur"), but the band long held themselves back by being too wedded to their schtick and too solicitous of the expectations of brutal death metal fans. The soundtrack elements have been toned down to serve the music, rather than than serving as a distraction, and of the 10 tracks, only "Cast Down the Heretic," "Sacrifice Unto Sebek" and the sixth track (which has some ridiculously long title I'm not going to bother writing out) fall into that generic Incantation meets Morbid Angel meets Suffocation pit that ensnared so much of their past offerings. The rest of the material is complex, epic, innovative and, for the first time, consistently coherent. "User-Maat-Re" alone is worth the price of admission, and ranks among the better extreme metal pieces ever written.
9.5/10
Striborg Misanthropic Isolation/In the Heart of the Rainforest- This sits somewhere between Volkurah and Ildjarn. Bizarre, beautiful black metal that is as much ambient distortion as anything else (though quite melodic in the space between the noise). An arcane ritual glimpsed through night and fog.
10/10
8/10
Robert Fripp The Gates of Paradise- This is the most focused and consciously developed of Fripp's ambient works I've encountered to date. In fact, though the approach and aesthetic are within the boundaries of ambient music, this is symphonic music at its core.
10/10
Nile Annihilation of the Wicked- Heh, there was already a copy in the used bin, so I picked it up. The talent and vision have always been there (see "To Dream of Ur"), but the band long held themselves back by being too wedded to their schtick and too solicitous of the expectations of brutal death metal fans. The soundtrack elements have been toned down to serve the music, rather than than serving as a distraction, and of the 10 tracks, only "Cast Down the Heretic," "Sacrifice Unto Sebek" and the sixth track (which has some ridiculously long title I'm not going to bother writing out) fall into that generic Incantation meets Morbid Angel meets Suffocation pit that ensnared so much of their past offerings. The rest of the material is complex, epic, innovative and, for the first time, consistently coherent. "User-Maat-Re" alone is worth the price of admission, and ranks among the better extreme metal pieces ever written.
9.5/10
Striborg Misanthropic Isolation/In the Heart of the Rainforest- This sits somewhere between Volkurah and Ildjarn. Bizarre, beautiful black metal that is as much ambient distortion as anything else (though quite melodic in the space between the noise). An arcane ritual glimpsed through night and fog.
10/10