Asleep In The Lake — Maze Of Forgotten Ghosts
The CDR features six tracks in all, & these each last between two & twenty two minute mark- I guess you’d say what’s on offer here moves between HNW & ANW. Opening up the release we have the just over two minutes of “ The Mantle Of Cronehood”- this mixers together a constant yet distant murky galloping/billowing, which is ebbed by sways of eerier slow-mo grating.
Next up we have “Ghastly Ancestor Portraits”, and this is the longest track here at the twenty two minute mark. It mixes together two( or possible three) layers of constant galloping/ raining like tone- these are all backed with a distant & set cold rumble. This track very much brings to mind bleak & barren landscapes( either marsh land or stark grave yard), which are continually lashed by bitter sways of winter showers. As the track processes the layers of cold galloping/ raining subtle shift in their patterns- but it stays fairly similar/ set through-out.
Track three comes in the form of the wonderfully entitled "Flying Ointment Smeared Under Her Armpits”, and this comes in at just over the eleven minute mark. The track brings together a constant organic rumble with a layer of fixed, semi pelting, juddering/ crisp rain like texture. This track is much more firm/fixed than the previous track, though again it brings to mind bleak/ creepy landscapes battered by winter storms.
Track four comes in the form of “The Grove Of The He-Goat”, and this is another twenty minute affair. Over it’s length this track alternates between lashing/raging haze of cold rain/ rolling thunder textures, and tauter more galloping/ pelting meshes of two or three tones. I rather enjoyed this track, finding the contrast between the two textural settings quite satisfying.
Next is “Balefires Of Samhain”, and this comes in at just over the thirteen minute mark. The ‘wall’ brings together a mesh of chopping/ jittering electro textures, which are weaved with slight higher pitched helicopter blade like hoverings. The whole thing has a quite effective woozy & unbalancing feel about it, and I’d say I guess this heads more towards the taut ANW side of things.
Last up we have the track “ Traveller Of The Windswept Barrens”, and this comes in just over the eleven minute mark. The first half of this tracks feels like it's created from a very morph, melted, and noise-up piece of music- as you get a slowly shifting canvas of: warbled (once)harmonic tones, battering & buffeting textures, and hissing & seared horn like rushers. Then at the five minute mark we move into a taut mesh of galloping static, which is underfed by a distant organic hum. I can’t say this track did'nt do that much for me- as the morphed/ mangled music elements weren’t too reward, and the second part of the track just seemed to reliving the same textures from early in the release.
So in summing up there are certainly some effective moments here were Asleep In The Lake mangers to capture chilling & gothic horror fed atmospherics well in the HNW/ ANW medium. Though on the downside quite a few of the tracks utlizer fair simlar tones & textures. I’d as first releases go this isn’t half bad, and there certainly is some promise on display.