REVIEWS

Dooom
Psychonaut

Mescalinum Music Research

Posted: Wednesday, June 04, 2008
By: David E. Flick

It's easy to say that dark ambient music isn't for everyone with its eerie frequencies and unsettling atmospheres. Dark ambient artist Dooom builds a minimalist approach of low rumbling drones and percussive rumbles. Psychonaut, when listened to in its entirety, is one long composition that is broken up into five parts. While it's common in ambient music for the album to have each song flow into the next, Dooom treats this release no differently. The album starts off with "Shadows," which builds up from a dark drone accented with percussion that sounds like a military march in a cavern. The album peaks with the third track "Hope and Fear," which really shifts moods as shimmering bells add a warm texture to the bleak atmosphere that precedes it, a sense of hope perhaps permeating the song. Overall, this album is right up the alley of anyone into Lustmord. However, as the album is entitled Psychonaut, the inlay says of the album, "an imaginary walk through the fields of the mind." It ultimately falls short in really living up to that phrase as it never really goes into any different territory and feeling. You may not be given a ride as complex as the human mind, but if you are looking for stark ambience accompanied by rumbling drums, this release is for you. Perhaps it's Mr. Sick's minimalist approach, which is done very well, but it would be nice to see him explore more varied textures in his future endeavors.