Par-Antra II: TAA is the first album of new material from Finish dark ritual ambient collective Halo Manash in eight years, as well as a sequel/follow-up to one of their early albums 2004’s  Par-Antra I: Vir. The CD release features five tracks.

The CD comes presented in a matt black card fold-out sleeve- this features texts and occult symbols in white screen-printed inks- with the texts detailing the album's concepts, and a few lines about the themes of each of the five tracks. The release is ltd to just four hundred and fifty copies, and can be ordered direct here from the label.
 
The five tracks featured have runtimes between nine and nineteen minutes- with a few elements/ themes repeated- so this plays very much like a sonic ritual in five parts. We open with the track "Varjo"( which is the Finish word for shadow/ shade)- it rolls in at the sixteen-and-a-half minute mark, and felt a little different from what we usually expect from the project. It’s a building- then receding track which brings together a purring ‘n’ hovering retro synth tone (this rather brought to mind darker-hued Boards Of Canda), spectral ambient harmonics, layers of tone brood/ low key feedback,  haunting low-end string bass drifts, and the occasion pared back percussion detail. 
 
As we move through the album we come to the just under ten minutes of "Voima"(Force in English). Here we find grim doom bass drone- over drifted by creepy tone chiming, eerier drift and ebb, and chilling simmer. With moments of pared-back for chilling retro synth tone drifts, whistles, and brooding death drum pulses.
 
The album plays out with "Juuri"(Just in English) and this comes in at just over the nineteen-minute mark. It opens with a mixture of forlorn sweep ‘n’ swell, gloomy pitch swim, and shadowy hover. As it progresses a more swirling and ebbing feel appears- which seems to under glow by darkly a malevolent string glow.

It’s certainly nice to have a new Halo Manash release out, and I’d say that Par-Antra II: TAA blends the project's familiar sound world with a few new creepy twists 'n' turns.  All in all, making for an engagingly chilling trip back into the sonic catacombs and gloomy star lite woods of Finish dark ritual ambience..