REVIEWS

The Unquiet Void
The Shadow-Haunted Outside

Middle Pillar Presents

Posted: Monday, November 20, 2006
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor

In the blunt opinion of this reviewer, sequels tend to generally suck. There always seems to be a need to capitalize on the success of a work by creating a sequel, whether it is in the medium of film, music, or literature. While the intent may be to expand the mythos of the original, it inevitably leads to a franchise situation where the only benefit, by definition, is financial. There have been those rare times when the sequel not only did justice, but even surpassed the original work, though one would be hard pressed to name many outside of Terminator 2 and Aliens. Even in the realm of music, sequels have been a mixed bag; from Queensrÿche's Operation: Mindcrime II, to Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell series (now up to its third installment), to King Diamond's Abigail story, sequels seem to be a hot commodity for artists to pursue, either to cash in on their past successes, or to expand their writing abilities. In the case of The Unquiet Void, the dark ambient project by Jason Wallach, The Shadow-Haunted Outside definitely qualifies as an impressive sequel.

Like his previous album, Poisoned Dreams, The Shadow-Haunted Outside is part of a trilogy of albums based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft, specifically the Cthulhu Mythos. While Poisoned Dreams dealt with events leading up to the subjugation of the human race prior to the awakening of "The Outer Gods," this second entry into Wallach's audio/literary soundtrack plunges listeners into the maelstrom, taking us into Lovecraft's demonic universe where the very knowledge of such horrors can drive one to insanity, with death the only release. In the first track, "The Resonance of Magicks (Piercing Membranes Between Worlds)," we begin with layers of Bryin Dall's chants from Poisoned Dreams, making a nice tie-in to the previous album, acting as a bridge from one part of the journey to the next. Such can also be said of "Him Who Shall Not Be Named," in which a cacophony of dissonant vocal discord builds up over a dark synth refrain similar to the closing track on Poisoned Dreams, as if facing Cthulhu himself at the gates of the lost city of R'lyeh. Lycia's Mike Vanportfleet and Tara Vanflower appear on The Shadow-Haunted Outside, with their contributions to "The Dark Mother" being particularly noteworthy. This track possess a mournful tone, with echoing rhythms amidst swirling ambience of steely synth sounds like the aftereffects of a howl and moaning vocal textures that will have the listener cringing in the corner crying.

If Poisoned Dreams had any traces of humanity in it, those traces are steadily being wiped away on The Shadow-Haunted Outside. In "Devourer," we are lost among random cries and torturous screeches, like the cries of the damned on a ship lost in the guttural bowels of some monstrous sea creature, with the sounds of scampering insects on the surface of the water acting as a rhythm. "Sleep of N'Kai" is also full of chant-like textures and rolling cadences of sounds ranging from ethnic echoes to ominous croaking, while "Cthuga" layers effects like scraping steel and skittering legs overtop what almost sounds like voices on a radio skipping stations. The true centerpiece of the album is "The Lurker at the Threshold," featuring the incredible Bryin Dall yet again; a track full of epic progressions of varrying degrees of dark ambient energies. Reverberating tones like huge bells move onto encompassing waves of unidentifiable sound, lost somewhere between electricity and magick, giving way to distorted percussive stomps and voices that seem to neither speak nor groan. Closing this decrepit voyage into the realms of ancient horrors is "Reclaiming the Old World (Despairing the New World)." As the title suggests, there is a melodic sadness, almost acting as a requiem or a lament as we realize that there is no turning back, that all we thought we knew is now over, reclaimed by the cosmic alien deities of old.

Jason Wallach deserves much praise for his work in The Unquiet Void, for yet again, he has taken the atmosphere and the essence of Lovecraft's work and transmuted it into a symphony of dark ambient magnificence. His sounds are as alien and as terrifying as anything described in "The Call of Cthulhu" or "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," making this as much an appropriate audio accompaniment to the literary icon's works as the previous album was, as if Wallach were a conduit for us to enter the sound of Lovecraft's world. Like Poisoned Dreams, The Shadow-Haunted Outside possesses a focus and longevity that much of dark ambient music lacks. The music is sparse but present, and the noise is beautiful and haunting, full of subtle rhythm and vitality. The appearance of certain motifs and themes from the previous album gives the series a cohesive and continuous feel, but without sounding rehashed and standing on its own, making The Shadow-Haunted Outside a wonderful follow-up. You might want to have a fresh supply of candles lest you lose yourself in the abysmal void.