I had no clue what to expect from this at all. Everything about the disc seems very bizarre, and the music is indeed unusual. The compositions seem to be based around an experimental sort of approach using clean guitars and lots of effects, generally creating repetitive tracks that loop drones or hums, melodies, etc. From 25-second tracks consisting of shuffling sounds, to four-minute pieces with a great sense of ethereal ringing, to more than 15 minutes worth of hypnotic arpeggios... and then there are even some pieces like "Jealousy" that are deeper and more abstract, leaning more towards dark ambient. When samples are used I find them to be fairly effective, because not only is the content of the samples applicable to the message of the music, but they're well integrated into the other textures, not feeling out of place or forced or anything like that. On rare occasion some blistering harsh noise textures will come in, and they're insanely painful and hard on the ears, which is a great contrast to how calm and smooth everything else is. The explosive outbreak at the end of "Discourse" literally left my ears in pain. Some of the songs are longer than necessary (the 23-minute "How to Pray Using the Mysteries of Light Theme", for example), but for the most part everything moves nicely. Portions of the packaging look really cool, while other aspects look really crude and thrown together in a somewhat unprofessional manner - which rubs me the wrong way and honestly made me really apprehensive to even listen to this CD, mainly because the front and back covers look pretty shoddy and suggest nothing of worth. However, the inner booklet is much more well put together. All of the packaging combines photos related to war on some level, and included is a large amount of text, much of which has been lifted from "The Project For the New American Century", indicating that there's a definite message here. I like this far more than the visual presentation had me anticipating. It could be better on a musical level, but what they've got going now is already quite promising. I wouldn't mind hearing the more musical side and the more abstract side fused together more often, as opposed to being somewhat separated into their own compositions, but this is good work.
[TBTMO]
Running time - 72:27, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: In Rancoqeaux Woods, Jealousy, Discourse]
TBTMO Records - http://www.tbtmo.com
