kirchenkampf — Island Of The Dead

Island of the dead is a long form ambient piece lasting near on 50 minutes and as its title suggests takes you on a dammed  sonic trip to an island of the dead or possible even purgatory it’s self.

The piece starts off quite shifting, swirling and harmonically psychedelic with a collection of dread soaked, perching and ghostly yet often bright pitchers of sound tones that have mingled among them the odd burst of calling and massed voice tones- it's almost like hearing distant calls through eerier dream space. Also present are these odd echoed male voice tones that appear as the track seems to reach a calmer harmonic sonic Plato that’s underlined by bubbling up tones.

Then the pace seems to slow and space out and this is when the real feeling of dread and dispair seems to cut in deep as  eerier harmonic boy tones knock against shorting radio tones, hopeless synth drift and bleak string drifts. There really is a very tangible feeling of fear, anxiety and dread- it’s like your walking over a seemingly abounded island but the earth beneath your feet keeps giving and shifting  as if something is trying to crawl its way up to the surface. As you progresses on your journey your sure you can see hands breaking the surface of the earth on the horizon where the grey dead skies meet the barren earth. The feeling that kirchenkampf brings to mind here seems to be from the same sonic air as Xela The dead sea- yet with a  more ambient bent.

With Island of the dead kirchenkampf builds a very heady and tangible feeling of dread, isolation and ultimate bone chilling horror. This is my first taste of Kirchenkampf errier yet often harmonic ambient fruits and I’m positive it won’t be last.