Rosa Voragine Submersa – Au Creux d’Un Arbre Mort

There is something special about eyes, the mirrors of the soul and infinite wells of wisdom and the eyes on the cover of Au Creux d’Un Arbre Mort are truly enchanting. The wizard behind Rosa Voragine Submersa (FR) is Alaedyna Lavin, a crafty composer and a skilled musician whose material has left me intrigued yet unsated. The album is purely instrumental and consists of 12 tracks of lovely dreamy neoclassical music aimed directly towards the weavers of tales and drinkers of tea.

When I first heard the album I found it to be quite similar to soundtracks of the good old point and click adventure games. There is a certain playfulness to the songs that brings me back to those olden days when I spent hours in front of digital mystical forests and grand adventures. However this works both ways in that the music feels quite limited to this particular envisioning. Even the song called Melancholia does not feel that melancholic, it is just a slightly darker passage in an album of mostly lovely melodies. The songs are light and minimalistic in its composition consisting mostly of a handful of synthetically conjured instruments such as oboes, violins and grand pianos yet works together in ways that appeal to my blackened heart. It is The Adams Family spliced with the mood of Castlevania in a gloomy yet undeniably charming package.

Overall the various tracks on the album tend to become a tad bit repetitive at times even though it never feels boring or overdone. I think that the synthetic quality of the music makes it quite flat, there is little to no variation in the various tones making it sound artificial and this can be both a boon and a curse. If you take for example a track such as An Distro Euz A Vro-Zaoz that stretches on for over 10 minutes it clearly becomes a flaw even if it is a minor one as most of the tracks are more reasonable in length. Apart from that I really enjoyed listening to this album. The music is well defined and follows a style and pattern that creates a hearty atmosphere needed while you dig in on a swashbuckling novel set in some victorian steam punk setting.

I would recommend Au Creux d’Un Arbre Mort to anyone on the hunt for easily absorbed and dreamy neoclassical music that actually sticks out in the crowd. There is a potential in Rosa Voragine Submersa that is hard to ignore, somehow there is something golden to be discovered here if only the music was slightly more refined. Even diamonds start out as coal and the case of Alaedyna Lavin still have plenty of time to sparkle brighter then most.

Rate: 4/5
Written by: Skarsnik
Label: Seventh Crow Records Format: CD – Cat. # SCR010
Genre: ethereal / neoclassical