In space no one can hear you scream but Darkspace belong to a more terrifying galaxy, a dark space that moans and creaks for light years in all directions. Their music deals with space, the cosmic void, and the mystical mysteries of the vast dark universe. Their music is dense and smothering and incessant, a neutron star crushing inwards. Formed in 1999 in Switzerland by Wrothe of Paysage d'Hiver and Zhaaral of Sun of the Blind, they've released four full-lengths - the equally ambiguous Darkspace 1, Darkspace II, Darkspace III and Darkspace III I. Everything about their sound seeps darkness.
The keyboard ambiance is key to their cinematic sound and the movie sample of Hal 9000 from 2010 in '1.1' intensifies the atmosphere that is created throughout their first album and the three albums - pretty much direct continuations - that follow. Darkspace are a difficult band and there isn't a vast amount of differentiation or jarring change in their sound; their music is purposely incessant and repetitive, yet there are subtleties in most songs that, although maybe hard to notice, are captivating - from a change in tone or key of the keyboard to a slight riff-change, from moments of completely suffocating noise to airy transitions into ambient dark-wave. I suppose it's the ambient black-metal equivalent of funeral doom yet there are more than a fair share of great riffs - from the expected black-metal tremolo riffing to blocks and chugs of reverberating noise. Their music really rewards close listening. It does ask a lot of its listeners but their music creates a stifling atmosphere like no other.
No comments:
Post a Comment