Nothing is better than the feeling of being pleasantly surprised by an album that comes from an artist you've never listened to before.
Such is the case with OCCVLTVM ARCANVM's The Tower, which already has me hooked in with the unsettling imagery for the album cover. Then I hit play and "The Shattered Spire" further deepened my concerns.
There's an epic sensibility in their sound, but it's also melodically accessible for being in the dark ambient genre.
I expected drones and harsh sounds that have no form but "The Shattered Spire" really pulled me in.
"Lightning Over Babylon" threatens to become this for over eight minutes before a repetitious keyboard combination comes in and shapes it into something almost danceable.
Then I recalled that for a brief moment, OCCVLTVM ARCANVM was in my line of sight back in March with their Ritual Mechanika release, if only for the striking cover art.
Speaking of repetition, "The Last Foundation" appears to loop repeatedly where you think you might have set a single track to loop but actually, it's almost 10 minutes of that.
This reminds me of some efforts made in music where the artist challenges themselves using a random re-looping effect in order to break the monotony.
Off the top, I think about NIN's "Copy of a" where I noticed the intention to randomize the re-loop.
Not a big deal because "The Broken Pillar" makes up for it. If Heat is your favorite movie, you might think of the bank scene where this track fits in nicely.
When we get to "Specters of War", we have a similar effort as we heard during "The Last Foundation" but it blends and not only flows better, but gradually changes before the end.
To close, "The Wounded Sky" has vocal effects to it, but keeps with what makes for the dark ambient genre which is minimalism.
Zoe Dune
I'm certain this won't be the last time I'll say that this is background music for mood and atmosphere, perhaps something you would put on for ritual mediation.
That it's not always that in this release is a nice surprise and at just under an hour, not unpleasant.
The Concept Behind The Tower
By Pamela Colman Smith - http://muzendo.jp/blog/, Public Domain, Link
From their Bandcamp page:
"The album emerges as a sonic reflection of Arcanum XVI – The Tower, a symbol of collapse, revelation, and the inevitable fall of false foundations, capturing the violence of a sudden uprising and the burning of structures once thought unshakable. In this vision, the Tower is not only an archetype of destruction, but also a mirror of the current era, where wars, conflicts, and crumbling empires echo the prophecy of ruin written in the arcane language. Through walls of sound drenched in darkness, the collapse of civilization in a vast ritual of disintegration where kingdoms fall silent, thrones sink into ash, and humanity faces the storm it created. The Tower rises and falls infinitely within this album, a hymn to chaos, a requiem for what was lost, and a reminder that, from the ruins of destruction, truth is revealed in its most brutal and relentless form."
Going back to the cover art, the man's tumble matches what's going on with the people as depicted in the Tarot card.
I don't know that I've ever felt in life that that we're facing and living out our own destruction as I do now.
Despite that, I enjoy when the effort is made to tell a story or form music around a concept such as this one. I can listen to this album thinking about this concept and have a more immerse experience.
Away from the idea, my preference is to stick to "The Broken Pillar", "The Shattered Spire" & "Lightning Over Babylon" which make The Tower – from what I can tell OCCVLTVM ARCANVM's fourth release, worthwhile.