This is a side project from 5ive's Ben Carr that is described as "an interpretation of depression falling into madness". All of the tracks (seven are printed on the package, but nine appear on the CD itself) consist solely of various guitar riffs, tones, and textures, and the result is pretty interesting, not to mention diverse. From acoustic guitars and ambient hums to doom-laden crunches, sinister drones, and twisted feedback... it's all here. And the tracks range in length from a mere two minutes to nearly 20! So there are definitely a lot of doors being opened and explored. I don't particularly get the "interpretation of depression falling into madness" from the majority of the tracks, though a few of the harsher, darker pieces do have that sort of mood going on. Personally I prefer the more experimental pieces ("Self is Taught (Daemon)" and "(Draem)" for instance - granted I might have those titles wrong since I'm not 100% clear on the tracklist) to those that use more recognizable guitar playing because I find them to be more unique and emotional to some degree. And I do like the recording a lot. The acoustic guitars are very raw, which works out just fine, and everything else sounds pretty damn smooth. There's a ton of texture to the distortion, the low-end coverage is really powerful without muddying anything up, etc. On occasion there are some rough spots performance wise during the more concrete riffs that bother me a little but, but since these instances are rare it's not a real problem overall. Like the 5ive's Continuum Research Project release from Tortuga, this disc also comes in a nice digipack that has two pouches inside to hold the CD and the handwritten insert. Everything is printed in metallic silver ink or foil on matte blue paper, and most of the imagery is abstract (aside from the sunlight diagram inside). Very nice. All in all this project could really come up with some interesting material down the line. At more than 50 minutes this particular release can be a bit tedious as a whole, but the stronger tracks are surely excellent works.
[Odd Halo]
Running time - 51:43, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Is the Dream, Self is Taught (Daemon), (Draem)]
Odd Halo Recordings - http://www.tortugarecordings.com
