Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Continuum - Continuum 2 [Soleilmoon Recordings - 2007]

Continuum is  the dark joining of Steve Willson, guitarist  with modern prog rock band Porcupine Tree & Belgium-born ambient artist Dirk Serries. The projects specializes  in stretched out Sunn0))) like doom, drone, horror filled soudscaping and dark ambience.

Two things that got me very excited by this project were; firstly the thought it could be on par with Wilson’s excellent aged and creepy ambient project Bass Communion which released one of the hi-lights of last year in Loss. Secondly it comes in a very nice dvd size case with a set of three post cards which like the cover are adorned with disturbing root or hellish dark animal photos or pictures, yes I’m a real sucker for packaging. Sadly the music found  inside doesn’t live up to my expectations, the three long tracks here go from being  effective to sadly over stretched and a little clichéd. Prime example of the lack luster side of this album comes in the form of first track constructed IV that starts off darkly inviting enough with looped eerier and hopeless synth & guitar weaving out a subdued melody brings to mind a slow stumble towards eminent doom. At about the four minuet mark heavy,slowed & crawling doom guitar riff kicks in  &  initially it’s interesting if a little clichéd, but as the track drags on and on for a total a 22 minutes with little or no change or building of atmosphere one patient runs thin, instead of been crushing and  atmospheric it’s just boring and rather annoying.

On the plus side the other two tracks are more rewarding through not total successful theres still the feeling of ideas being   stretched a little too thin in places. Track two construct V starts with deep droning throb, weird and layered whispered voices that are eerier moved around the audio channels. As more drone textures, guitar elements and ominous bell like tones are gradual added to the sinister sound soup before around the 10 minute mark really kicking in with noisy guitar feed back roar that turns quite darkly  harmonic with almost a slowed dark shoe gazing meets black metal tone. Lastly we have Construct VI  that starts with cymbal hits,chilling bass wonderings and dark cinematic ambience- rather bringing to mind a more post rock  take on one of the main themes for the Morricone/ Carpenter soundtrack to the Thing. Around the four minute mark it drops in doomy post rock patterns & over time the track becomes brighter and more hopeful like ones crawling out of the darkness into a hopeful resting spot in the suns golden rays.

All in all a passable if flawed effort in doomy and atmospheric guitar craft mixed with drone textures & horror sound tracking.

Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Continuum - Continuum 2
Continuum is  the dark joining of Steve Willson, guitarist  with modern prog rock band Porcupine Tree & Belgium-born ambien...
250424   Hot Spur - Hot Spur( Blu Ray)
250424   Happy End - Happy End( Blu Ray)
250424   Electronicat - Saturation
240424   Soma - Me Dais Mucho Asco
240424   Koobaatoo Asparagus - Onna-musha
240424   Magda - And Suddenly, Just L...
230424   Andrea Taeggi - Nattdett
230424   Seedpeople - SeedPeople(Blu Ray)
220424   Shiver - Shiver Meets Matthew...
220424   Elegant Beast - Elegant Beast...
Latest Articles

The Music of Clay Ruby & Burial H...
Over the last couple of decades Wisconsin native, Clay Ruby has been creating some of the world’s finest dark electronic music under the Burial Hex mon...
280324   The Music of Clay Ruby & Buri...
290224   Sutcliffe No More - Normal Ev...
100124   Occlusion - The Operation Is...
181223   Best Of 2023 - Music, Sound &...
051223   Powerhouse Films - Of Magic, ...
181023   IO - Of Sound, Of Art, Of Exp...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom