Peter Bjärgö and Gustaf Hildebrand are two talented individuals who have carved out a path through the dark ambient scene of Sweden through Cold Meat Industries and beyond. Peter is most commonly associated with the neoclassical powerhouse Arcana and the martial industrial Sophia while Gustaf has been known as Lithivm and nowadays make music under his own name at Cyclic Law. Now they return to reanimate an old album to new life, namely Out Of The Darkling Light, Into The Bright Shadow which was first released way back in the year 2005 and was reviewed on the old Harvest by Malahki Thorn. Now seven years later the album is re-released in a neat limited edition digipak with the addition of one previously unreleased track.
The album is a heavily suggestive mixture of dark ambient atmospheres, ritual percussion and a rhythmic pulse that emanates serenity and the bleak touch of the void. The album creeps into life with the dark and pulsating Desire To Be Initiated, a mixture of distorted whispers and beating blasts welcomes the listener deeper into the surreal structures of the album. Skriptum is more of a skittering creeping song that builds up a sphere of influence around the breathing atmosphere and its pulsating drums. The ambience deepens as the album progresses and after the track Silence and Circumspections sweeping harmonics the Black Codex turns the album into a pitch black void of creeping atmosphere. It grows from there and evolves into Voice of the Silence with its sweeping sensations like and underground river leading to a cavernous lair of an old forgotten god.
Out of the Darkling Light has a sepulchral sensation to it that deepens the more the swirling ambience evolves into darkness. On Into The Bright Shadow the album retains its previous sound with artificial atmospheres and grinding machines on top of an almost ritual rhythm. The Secret Doctrine has a sense of emerging to it with haunting sweeping emotions on top of a brooding ethereal drumming and gentle strings. Perdurabo is quite and experiment and it sticks out from the rest of the album with sampled voices and an electrified atmosphere that hints of strange laboratories and tesla coils bursting with energies.
There is darkness in this album that is hard to describe in words, it is a good darkness and it emanates just the right feelings. Sometimes when I look up at the sky while visiting my place of spawning in the northern parts of Sweden I am greeted by the gentle light of the aurora borealis. Gazing at the pitch black sky aflame with a cosmic fire dancing on its surface makes me realise just how beautiful the darkness on this terrestrial globe really is. However, since I am living in a large sprawling city most of the time that same darkness is plagued by the bleeding light of thousands upon thousands of artificial lights and the magic of the universe is diminished in the presence of the machines of man. Out Of The Darkling Light is an album that brings forth some of those magical shadows inside, that living bubbling muck that really soothes a soul tired of the hectic pace and artificial lights of modern society.
Even though I highly recommend Out Of The Darkling Light there is, from what I can tell, not much is different from the original release aside from a bit more polished sound and the addition of the track Perdurabo. For individuals who have already acquired the earlier release this might not be much to cheer for unless you have a pile of money just waiting to be spent. However if you have yet to acquire an excellent example of Scandinavian darkness distilled into sounds and waves Out Of The Darkling Light is an excellent place to start…
Rating: 4/5
Written by: Skarsnik
Label: Cyclic Law (CA) / Format: CD 4-panel digipak / Cat. # 43rd Cycle
Tracklisting:
01. Desire To Be Initiated
02. Skriptum
03. The Secret Watchers
04. Silence And Circumspection
05. Black Codex
06. Voice Of The Silence
07. Out Of The Darkling Light
08. Into The Bright Shadow
09. The Secret Doctrine
10. Hidden Chambers
11. Perdurabo
