Rating: 9.7

Country: Greece

Release Date: 2007

Record Label: Self Released

Track list:
1. Introitus
2. The Thorns That Guide My Warpath
3. Towards the Great Crossroad
4. Leaving the Stars Far Behind
5. Recoiling Beneath the Waves
6. Through An Infinite Dreamscape
7. To Wither in Silence and Dismay
8. Where Nature Will Not Ever Yield to Man

Total playing time 01:16:54

Band Website: Spectral Lore

Spectral Lore - II

Ayloss - Everything

Ambient black metal. Raise your hand if this makes you think of three or four chord 'riffs' repeating for five to ten minutes 'spiced up' with the occasional keyboard piece consisting of one finger gymnastics on a cheap casio looped for a further ten minutes. As good as Burzum was, Filosofem never really did the genre as such any favours and the following ambient albums did so even less. Well, prepare to drop that preconception for this particular album by the Greek one man project Spectral Lore, which combines black metal and dark ambient in a way that does justice to both genres.

Starting off with an enormously evocative multi-layered acoustic piece, Spectral Lore then effortlessly segues into the monumental opener proper "The Thorns That Guide My Warpath”, a truly epic 24 minute piece of warbling tremolo melodies, triumphant riffs, despairing and nostalgic parts spiced up by sporadic synth backdrops, some of the most uplifting lead guitar work I have ever heard and some amazingly mesmerizing synth and acoustic interludes that outdo most acts active in the ambient and neo-folk genres. And then, after twenty minutes, it morphs into a pure ambient piece that has you floating in an astral sea, lost in multiple, evolving levels of soothing synth. Now I'm going to make a statement that will sound horrendously sappy and sentimental, but damnit it's the truth: this stuff makes me feel genuinely alive! It's a combination of the individual riffs being just that amazing and well composed, the atmosphere being so enveloping and the actual whole being composed in a sublime, linearly narrative manner where each new movement logically flows from the previous one, creating a tapestry that is greater than the already amazing singular parts.

And that was just the first song! This album lasts 77 minutes! Just think about that, I've just described a song that's one of the greatest musical achievements I have ever witnessed and we're not even a third of the way through the album yet. Is it a fluke, or can Spectral Lore maintain the expert composition, the exquisite emotion and above all the range and dynamics of the previous 25 minute piece? Yes, he bloody well can!

Not only are the remaining compositions the equal of the first one, they also employ different moods and atmospheres, using riff-techniques different from the previous material. “Towards the Great Crossroads” starts off with one of those demented, droning Black Legions-esque riffs, creating a far more sinister atmosphere than before, which then shifts to a slightly more despairing mood when the wailing Katatonia leads start playing alongside, followed shortly afterward by a guitar only, classical doom metal interlude, after which the previous part reenters the picture, with the droning riff transformed into a more heavy metal variant. Finally it finishes with a sombre and yet dignified synth piece that would fall somewhere between neo-classical and ambient territory if one really had to categorize it. The first half of the album then ends with the out-of-this-world wholly guitar-based ambient piece “Craving the Stars Far Behind”. Using pseudo-melodious tremolo-lines and expertly applied feedback and echo this thick melange of floaty sounds is generated that perfectly fits the title of the track.

“Recoiling beneath the Waves” combines the previous song's aesthetics with a forward driving drum machine beat and droning, wavy riffs, pretty much showing the former fad Velvet Cacoon how to do this properly. It also only lasts about two and a half minutes before delving deep into Lustmordian subterranean (or in this case deep sea) dark ambient. Knowing perfectly well that ambient has to do with mood and not repetition, Spectral Lore meakes this part too flow in a dynamic, shifting miasma of drones and noises. This is true dark ambient that serves more than a background role, for one can get actively engaged with the music.

The remaining three songs are also of an equally high caliber, with “Through an Infinite Dreamscape” being one half guitar-drone and feedback section (more reminiscent of Abyssic Hate or early Drudkh this time) and one half Mediterranean acoustic segment, that again perfectly captures the mood indicated by the track's title. “To Wither in Silence and Dismay” is another epic only this time employing an atmosphere of gloom and despair more reminiscent of Krohm, with riffs consisting of long drawn out chords, with plenty of counter-point riffs and finger-picked clean guitars before speeding up into multiple dissonant tremolo lines that perfectly compliment each other. The introduction of impressive martial drumming (which, unlike the rest of the drumming, doesn't sound synthetic) shows the tragic finality and doom of this narrative, after which a clean guitar plays some amazingly tragic, improvised-sounding guitar-lines amidst a storm of distortion and white noise, finally quieting down to acoustics and feedback. This then gives way to an intricate, majestic keyboard and guitar piece entitled appropriately enough  “Where Nature Will Not Ever Yield To Man”, which brings to mind Ildjarn's amazing ambient Hardangervidda album (which I urge anyone with a love of stunningly beautiful music to check out as well) and it does not do under for those albums in any way. Again, unlike one-finger gymnasts like Mortiis or later Burzum, this actually has a composition and dynamic, linear, narrative structure. This actually goes somewhere.

What more can be said about this album? I could dissect the instrumental and production portions and discuss their merits as separate pieces, but in something like this, a unified, musical whole, that isn't really necessary. Just know that each instrument is impeccably played (or in the case of the drum-computer, programmed), that the vocals are a ghostly presence in the background and that the production does its part of expertly bringing out the atmospheric qualities inherent in the composition. Spectral Lore pretty much succeeds spectacularly on every level conceivable. The only infinitesimal piece of criticism I could level against it, is that the drumming could perhaps be better handled by a real live drummer, to better bring out the organic sound of the rest of the instruments.

This might just edge out Negura Bunget's Om as best album of 2007, which is amazing considering the youth of this project. This pretty much came out of nowhere. So, hopefully some of you are now wondering where the hell you can get this amazing piece of music. Well, prepare to get back into that underground mindset of yore, because the only legitimate way to get this at the moment is to contact the artist Ayloss directly through spectral_lore@yahoo.gr. And hurry up, because this is limited to fifty copies, which each come within a handmade wooden cd-case! If you miss out, fret not, Haunter of the Dark will release this on tape in the near future and I don't doubt for one second that this will eventually see a cd release. But still, right now you have the chance to be there at the start of a fantastic musical project that still exudes the underground spirit in the positive sense of the word. Support this artist, get his music and spread the word! This is the stuff that the black metal genre was invented for!

June 26th, 2008