Raison D'être — Prospectus I (Sublime Edition)
First released in the year 1993 Prospectus I is a key and important record for several reasons. It defined the project's distinctive take on dark ambient, as well as helped create/ form that genre. It helped put the then up-and-coming Swedish label Cold Meat Industry on the map. And it’s gone on to not only deeply influence the underground ambient genres, but it’s made a sizable impact on wider ambient & atmospheric music. Here is the 30th-anniversary edition of the album- which appears as a joint release from Cyclic Law & Yantra Atmospheres- been presented as a four-CD boxset.
The four discs each have their own card slips and come presented in an oversized rigid box with matt lamination. Also, inside we find a fold-out 12-page booklet- this features early photos, reproduction of original cassette sleeves & letters from the label.
Raison d'être were formed in the year 1991 by Peter Andersson- who was born in 1973 in Boxholm, Sweden. Since then, it’s gone on to release thirty albums- which take in both new studio efforts, re-recordings of albums, collabs, etc. With the project's last studio album been 2021’s Daemonum.
The first disc in the set features a newly re-recording of the original album made in 2022. With seemingly Andersson rebuilding the album from the ground up- utilizing the same samples & elements. This re-recording adds more depth & detail to the original album- but it also helps clarify and define some of the track’s elements better. I’m not going to side-by-side comparison here, as I feel that would be somewhat dull & largely pointless. But if you know the original album and have lived with it since it was first released, you’ll certainly hear the difference- with most of these being subtle, and subdued.
The second disc takes in new re-recordings of a selection of thirteen tracks that Andersson created during 1992 & 1993. And once again he’s seemingly rebuilt/ recorded these from the ground up. And these have been once again subtle polished up.
The third disc in the set is the original album. We move from “Ordeal In The Chapel” where dark synth simmer meets a blend of eerier tolling metal tones, wavering monk chants, and subtle-yet-atmospheric noise scape. Onto the brooding synth, bass hover meets darting monk charting opening of “Mourning” which opens up into a blend of grand-yet-sombre ambient drift, distant industrial percussive hits, and sudden risers of mournful soldier chant.
In the second half of the album we move from “Cenotaphium” with it's steady-yet-muffled gunning armour percussion, moments of climbing synth string melody sweeps, distant chants & warbling choirs’ detail, and regal electro-tone loops. Onto the galloping lo-fi industrial textures, thick synth horn climbs, and lightly martial percussive pomp of “Anathema/Apotheosis” which in its last moments switches to a blend of urgent monk chant & regal synth tone stab.
As an original album Prospectus I- largely sounds surprisingly undated, and really out of time for its age. Throughout there is a sense of rewarding detail/ depth to the tracks, meaning there is a reward with each replay. Andersson’s compositions have melody, atmosphere, and general sonic flair/ moody invention. The entire album has a runtime of fifty-four minutes, and there are no moments of lag/ or disappointment to be found- with a relative variation in both the pace & elements used.
The fourth and final disc in the boxset presents us with a selection of twelve extra tracks from between 1992 & 1993. And while there certainly isn’t quite the level of consistency and flow to these tracks (there are quite a few different versions of the same tracks)- we certainly have some great moments. We have the murky drum roll, low-key industrial knock ‘n’ wash, meets pathology and religious dialogue samples of “Dissection I” which later adds in looped moans, and martial synth/ percussive elements. There’s “Cornification II” with its mix of locked crashing ethnic cymbal hits, organic rolling stone & similar murky tone detail, and rising synth horn piping. We have the steady gunning-yet-hazed percussion hits, moody synth tone hover, warbling choir tone dramatics, and drifting/ creative sample detail of “Synopsis II” be it elephant-like horn tones or muffled dialogue samples.
I know Prospectus I has had more than a few reissues over the years- but this is certainly worthy, well done, and nicely presented four-CD set of this very important genre-defining classic. So, whether you are thinking of upgrading your old/ overplayed version of the album, or want to see how dark ambient started- this is a must!