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Attrition
In the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts

Two Gods

Posted: Tuesday, December 02, 2008
By: Claire Morrison

In the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts is full of surrealism, tangled with phantasmal ethereality, much like the group The Changelings. Both bands understand the meaning of reverie and really dedicate their music to the Romanic era of music. "Virgil" has the ambience of a gothic game of Clue with its charmingly suspenseful theme; it toys with the ears in a macabre game of audio. "Marianne's Dream" plunges into the brain's nighttime imagination. It hinges on the playfulness and bizarre world of Alice in Wonderland, while the Wonderland's drug-induced psychedelia is replaced with the mystery of a midnight journey. Children can be heard giggling, almost as if they are ghostly toddlers playing a wee-hour's game of tag. It's delightfully spooky. "Into the Waves" feels like it was a collaboration with Enya. It's very beautiful, almost as if it's a mashup with her track "Watermark" combined with other blends of Attrition's songs. It's nearly gentle enough for a baby to fall asleep to, and would be a perfect backdrop for a ballet performance; this is an astounding piece of music. The author of this review confesses that she fell asleep while listening to this album... in a positive way; it's smothered in reverie and is just lovely. In the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts seems to have influence from Gregorian monks, with the echoing drone of monophonic chant in the corners of a cob-webbed abbey. It makes listeners take a step out of their busy worlds and just reflect on the music. One just listens.