Black Tribe / The Silence

I am not, in general, a fan of ambient music. This isn't to say that I dislike it by nature, just that I am not an ambient fan. However, I think that ambient music is full of... potential. I say this not to insult those who love ambient music as it is, but more to preface a review about a release that I feel is a good example of the forefront of the genre now and crooks a finger to where it might go.

Going to say this flat-out before we go any further: if you like dark ambient, chances are you will dig this track. VileRancour's review is accurate, and if you would rather avoid what promises to be a rather...different sort of review you've my word that this thing is worth your time if you like the genre.

So, let's have an experiment you and I. I'm going to try to write this review while listening to the Black Tribe side of this split (I'll cover The Silence afterward), commenting on the music as it evokes images and emotions which is probably one of the only fair ways to judge the music. I will also be commenting on where I feel the artist could've gone somewhere truly new with this music, and I hope to provide an entertaining read as well as a good piece of constructive criticism for the artist. So, here we go kids.

The track opens with a chorus of groans and arcane chants. It is possible this is meant to evoke a druidic feel in the listener, but the chanting is too dissonant and alien to come from some frost-bound castle in Europe. Rather, this brings to mind a tribe hidden in the forests of deepest India, or the wild forests of the dark continent, black savages flecked with white paint and chicken bones dancing around the fire and summoning forth life from the realms of death. Its voodoo, man.

The groans are quickly pushed into the background by crackling static, and I'm totally getting this vibe of listening to something going horribly wrong over the radio, perhaps the increasingly nervous white researchers observing the event suddenly realizing they're way over their heads, now too late as they are overwhelmed by evil juju and holistic poison. Surprisingly full and realistic sounding symphonic key patches underscore the tragedy of the situation, a busy drum loop crashing away in the misty background as clean MIDI-sounding keyboards enter the mix.

As "Shambala Serrano" moves along we seem to drift away from the African tribal motif, the keyboards and drum loop being far too harsh and grey for that climate, now causing grizzly images of the worlds of Silent Hill to protrude from the ether, all grey fog obscuring the distances, all static shrieking the presence of some nearby mutant monstrosity from the wells of an overripe subconscious. The snarls in the background begin taking on an undeniably hideous snarling quality around 6:30 in which is one of the highlights of the song, the main keyboard line plodding endlessly onward over the ashes of some forgotten war. Interestingly, we are often treated to simultaneous keyboard lines (the melody and atmospheric plinking) which is somewhat of a rarity in ambient which tends to somewhat forego texture in favour of being sparse.

It is around this time that I recall that I claimed I would offer some constructive criticism, so I'll do that now. This track is fairly dense as we usually have a layer of static overlaying a loop of moans and chants, a drum track in the distance, and a keyboard line or two on the top of the thing. This leads me to actually begin to sink my mind into the music, and I find that while there is some underlying pattern to the music, it isn't nearly as narrative as it could be.

Yes, narrative. See, this song almost seems to be telling a story of things falling apart, almost a soundtrack to some sort of zombie holocaust or some poor soul sinking into dementia after witnessing some sort of Lovecraftian ritual invoking Cthulu or the blind fiddler Nyarlathotep. But this story doesn't seem to go any place after the first three minutes. It has seemingly done its entire arc in three minutes. There is a progression here, which I would've liked to see continued throughout the fifteen minute running time which seems wholly unjustified considering the content here.

I can't imagine that the artist didn't put thought into every instant of this track, but it becomes almost wrote in the middle, an established mood simply carried on and on and on in the name of ambience. The crackling static makes the listener want to prick up their ears and try to discern some meaning from the white noise within, some sort of Electronic Voice Phenomena, some cry from the other side, some message of grave importance trying to get through. It’s like Black Tribe has created this incredible world but neglected to fill it in. I think that the band's next project ought to begin to go further with this concept, snatches of screams or radio broadcasts, a piece of a tribal beat or some ominous noise. It is obvious that this is meant to be dark, but it isn't unsettling enough. Black Tribe has to hook the listener, use the tools of ambient to rivet them to their seats and make their flesh crawl up their back until its stretched taut and there's a bundle of the stuff quivering at the base of the skull. Terrify me, connect with me, show me that you care as much about your art as I do... go deeper.

It seems like nothing is more of a buzzkill to ambient music (note: the track just ended, I'll have to rewind it to continue writing about the song as it is) than complexity, but there is complex and there is... ornate. Layered. What "Shambala Serrano" suggests to me is a skilled musician writing thought-provoking stuff, and that's why I want to see it go further. You won't lose atmosphere by weaving together more melodies and thickening up the sound. The changes should be gradual but definite as we see at the three, eight, and eleven minute marks of "Shambala", but more common, slowly implemented so that it takes some time for it to dawn on the listener that the song has craftily changed on them and my oh my but how its gotten interesting. In point of fact, the best way I can put this is to take the works of ChromaKey/Kevin Moore (or even the recurring riffs and dense musical connections found within Dream Theater's Awake LP) and combine them with this marvellous depressive oogly-boogly evil that the band already has in spades.

In other words, more should be going on. The groans should change more throughout, their garbled words approximating words, this impression of studying something huge and eldritch and beyond comprehension... and realizing that maybe its studying you back.

Back to the song. Around 10:30 in we're mysteriously attacked by wind chimes as the song beings to peter out... its difficult to justify leaving the listener hanging here as there are still four minutes to go. The chanting begins to sound less ominous and more silly when its unaccompanied, but that weird droning guitar noise... very creepy, I'd like to hear more of it. The drums return along with bursts of static, cool effect, ought to be if anything louder and more abrasive given that Black Tribe is obviously willing to batter the listener rather than go so ambient that the listener wants to succumb to sleep. The static seems to be forming into shrieks of a sort, and I detect a slight sound of thunder. This is the sound of the seven plagues of Egypt in action, the hand of God almighty travelling through the streets, swarms of locusts, and Azrael the Angel of Death at the door, come to take your life. And then we suddenly switch into a rather conventional drone metal riff to end the track.

Wow, that was a long strange trip. "Shambala Serrano" is a highly thought-provoking track like the best ambient, and as I said earlier represents ambient's present and the possibility of its future. It is a confident, fairly effective piece of work, and would make a hell of a soundtrack to a Halloween party. Is up to the artist to decide whether to reconsider his work and, in my opinion, truly reach another level, or to decide that he's happy where he is and to hell with me. It is his muse to follow, and I expect good quality work from him in any case.

76/100
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The Silence's "Journey Through Arianni Cosmos" is a far more dissonant and noisy work, opening with a cacophony of shrieking electronics over half-heartedly strummed guitars and sloppier-than-sloppy drums. It abruptly changes into a very sparse echo-drenched vocal over various noise and crashes and goes on like this for about eight minutes. Unlike "Shambala Serrano", this song doesn't seem to imply any deep concept, and also unlike "Shambala Serrano" is refuses to cough up much of anything that could be considered music. The signal-to-noise ratio here is, rather awful. I have images of spiralling around the darkness of space and going more than slightly mad, but this simply isn't enjoyable to listen to for the most part. Sort of like the movie Event Horizon in that regard.

The song does however, manage to turn somewhat interesting around ten minutes in when the vocals finally stop and we open up into a dissonant Pink Floyd-inspired section featuring lazy guitars and some slightly groovy and primal drumming in the background. We are then treated to a shivery vocal performance (he's actually singing) that verges on scary, the sound of a madman soothing himself with a guitar in an echo chamber, screaming at the black as if to say "Here I am goddammit!". Followed by a strange distorted Patrick Stewart sample. God, I'm getting tired now, it doesn't make any more sense to me than it does you. And then... noise.

Maybe The Silence is simply the kind of ambient I don't 'get', but it sure did bore me. Most of it was just noise, and the parts I liked I probably only enjoyed because they... weren't noise you know? It ain't as bad as The Ethereal, but if I were you I would only download for curiosity's sake. Stick with the Black Tribe portion of this thing.

23/100
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Well, that was interesting. Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing.

EDIT: I've added scores for each side of the split. The overall score is not an average. I'm weighing the Black Tribe side of the split more heavily as its why I came to the dance so to speak. The Silence side of the split is however too irritating to completely ignore, thus 69%.