But hark! There, in the corner - a misty, cold light enters through a crack in the wall - it alights upon the moss-strewn, crumbling walls and, for a moment - simultaneously an eternity - it glows with an unfathomable, clear, energy, and is a thing of pure poetry and beauty; virgin hope amongst eternal entropy. You will spend an inordinate amount of time in this palace of tortured spirits and weird dreams, but it is a thrilling, lithe experience full of stone-dead dread but also odd, sublime desires. You will stay, strangely contented, one day to return to the world of the living....

This is the only way I can describe this brilliant album of what otherwise would be called 'Dark Ambient' or 'Experimental Black Metal'. Unfortunately words or terms as these do no justice to the ethereal, thick swathes of sound and atmospheres contained therein. A few facts, as much as we know: 'Athanor', otherwise known as Todd Watson, from Texas, was part of the band Homunculus, and this is his  fourth full-album, amongst a few side collaborations, and that's about it. The rest is a mystery. And that's fine. This music doesn't need the subtle iniquities of a worded explanation. Like all of the best sounds, you can't fully define this art-piece using words - you just have to hear it talk to you in its own unique way.

But for your sakes, I will say this: if you listen closely, you can hear, amongst the sweltering, thuddering dronescapes and minimalistic, melancholic lyricism, the multifaceted, inspirational echoes of such seminal industrial/psychedelic rock/electronica outfits such as Throbbing Gristle, Coil, Lustmord, Faust, Non, Tangerine Dream, The Residents, Whitehouse and a host of other, newer, Dark Ambient and Power Electronic outfits.

Track 1 is the Apocalypse -  the beautiful end times. Track 2 is a subdued longing for a lost love amongst the weeds and mist. Track 4 is a ghostly, other-worldly journey, with echoing vocal laments and  guitars. Track 6 is a slowed down alien Viking funeral on Asgard. Track 7 comes from inside a black hole, with a just audible, cracked voice in the background, reciting bizarre incantations. Track 8 is a futuristic super-highway of faster than light travel through a dark wormhole. Track 11 is a boat ride on the river Styx, amongst the twilight fog, undead spirits and humming insects, a distant church organ serenading your path. That is all.

This is a multi-levelled masterpiece of visionary, phantasmagorical sound and poetry.