Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Byron Metcalf & Steve Roach - The Shaman’s Heart II [Projekt - 2012]

“The Shaman’s Heart II” finds ethnic percussionist Byron Metcalf been joined by US ambient legend Steve Roach, to create a slowly morphing piece of shamanic tribal ethno ambience.

The album takes in just over seventy one minutes worth of ethno/ shamanic rhythms that are flowed under by Steve Roach's mysterious, rising, yet relatively subtle ambient textures. The album is broken up into ten tracks, but these really work as  index points instead of separate tracks as this is one long shifting piece.   On the album Metcalf plays a variety of percussive based elements taking in: Buffalo Drums, Ceremonial Toms, Frame Drums, Clay pots, Medicine rattles, & various ambient percussive elements. In  the sonic supporting role Roach utilizes a mixture of:Didgeridoo, Ocarinas, Analog & digital  hardware syths, Analogue Modula systems, ect.

The album starts in mysterious & mystical manner with a mixture of flute like/ Didgeridoo drifts & shadowy ambient ebbs. Under this is a fairly stripped & eerier ethno percussive backing, which slowly builds in detail & depth as the track goes on. By around the 5th minute the more shadowy/ darker elements have disappeared, and the shifting percussive textures, along with the mysterious yet  now warming ambient textures are in place-  this all feels like the sun has just come up over a timeless desertscape.

Over the next hour or so the track centres around a continual rhythmic ethnic heart beat, and around this Metcalf & Roach build a subtly shifting & shamanic tipped mixture of percussive & ambient elements. All of which creates a rewarding & mind expanding ethno ambient sonic trip. In the tracks last fifteen minutes or so the rhythmic elements slowly but surely strip down to leave just Roach rich, golden  yet mysterious ambient textural swirls ‘n’ ebbs.

So if you enjoy an un-clichéd mixture of  ethno rhythmic texturing & subtle yet heady  ambience “The Shaman’s heart II” is well worth a look.

Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Byron Metcalf & Steve Roach - The...
“The Shaman’s Heart II” finds ethnic percussionist Byron Metcalf been joined by US ambient legend Steve Roach, to create a slowly morphing piece of sha...
160625   Collage - Motel D'amour
160625   Plasma D'arc - Ellipse
060625   Hawkwind - There Is No Space ...
060625   Home Service - A Live Transm...
060625   Fabien Lévy - De l'art d'in...
060625   Evis Sammoutis - Atrapós
050625   Night Of The Felines - Night ...
050625   Bad Channels - Bad Channels( ...
050625   DAS B. - Love
050625   Visceral: Between the Ropes o...
Latest Articles

The Residents - Visits From The N...
2025 sees the release of The Residents' most sonically contrasting release Doctor Dark- the project's forty-seventh studio album.  It blends sad and swo...
280525   The Residents - Visits From T...
090525   Ennaytch - Of walls, abused ...
150425   Dead, Dead Swans interview - ...
110325   Sebastian Tomb - Walls of unb...
040225   Alien Sex Fiend - Possessed B...
231224   Best Of 2024 - Music, Sound &...
191224   Splintered - Somewhere Betwee...
031224   Shane Ryan-Reid - Coerced and...
221024   Whore’s Breath - life’s h...
011024   David Kerekes Interview - Int...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2025. Twenty four years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom