"solid job of introducing the novice or first-timer to Psicodreamic’s music [...] the CD is recommended"
Salva Moreno (Psicodreamics) creates music steeped in several influences, including (but not limited to) classical, cinematic, sacred music in the medieval tradition, and new age, with trace elements of ambient and ethic-tribal. He’s thematically preoccupied with mythology, fantasy (e.g. vampirism), and religion/spirituality (in particular life after death and the concepts of heaven and hell). Obviously a real fun guy, huh?
His albums flow with a dark yet melodic undertone (the music isn’t what most would label “dark ambient” though) and his compositions can contain gothic qualities folded into classical/sacred music motifs. Two exceptions to these defining characteristics are Theatre Des Vampires and The Unknown Frontier of which I wrote … “eschews the more dramatic, neo-classical/neo-romanticism of [other] releases and heads straight into floating electronic waves of music of the cosmos.” Theatre Des Vampires had Moreno occasionally veering into a bombastic electric-guitar fueled rock/EM fusion, the result being more than a little overwrought. His other releases (The Garden, Mythomusic, Eternal Angel, Azhdark Passion) hew to a formula (albeit varied album to album) of orchestral strings, church-like choirs, sweeping synth washes and pads, now and then rhythms or rhythmic elements. Gothic underpinnings dominate the affairs, i.e. while the music is melodic and flowing, its nature is dark, somber and haunting in a classical sense. His albums are always meticulously engineering and produced and feature excellent synthesized instrumentation.
For Ambiethernum, Moreno culled his most atmospheric ambient-like tracks (to his ears, that is) from the six albums mentioned above. Since there is no new music here, it’s an individual choice on whether owning some of the above CDs precludes adding this to your collection. The track sequencing and selection may merit consideration if you prefer the artist’s floating darkly ethereal works, since even the two selections from Theatre Des Vampires (“The Crypt of Despair” and “Stakes and Garlics”) are more on the atmospheric side rather than other tracks on that album. While there is guitar on the former, it’s restrained and sets the emotional tone of the piece nicely. The latter features waves of somber moody electronic sounds, played on textural guitar and synths I think.
Among the remaining ten tracks are two from The Unknown Frontier (“Luminous” floats on darkly tinted currents of synth pads, what may be glissando guitar, reverberating bell-like tones, and haunting choral effects while eight-and-a-half minute “The Beyond” falls squarely into the spacemusic genre, darker in nature than Serrie, being more like Telomere’s “wall of sound” approach, heard via layers of keyboards, including some analogue ones. I particularly like the warm rich romantic/classical type of music which may be Moreno’s strongest suit (he shines brightest here) as exemplified on “A Heaven in Your Eyes” (from Eternal Angel) and “Song of the Living Night” (from Azhdark Passion). I disagree with his decision to include several louder dramatic pieces on this CD, though. “The Garden” starts off with overt Gamelan influences but evolves into a kind of bizarre/abstract quasi-cacophony and “Labyrinth of Seduction” introduces strong ethnic percussion elements, decidedly un-ambient compared to the rest of the CD.
I’m not always a fan of career retrospectives, sometimes seeing them solely as money-making opportunities pure and simple. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Ambiethernum, though. It does a solid job of introducing the novice or first-timer to Psicodreamic’s music and also stands as a relatively cohesive musical statement, too. As a reflection of the six albums which make up this recording, it does the trick nicely. But, if you’re a hard core ambientphile, watch out for the louder more rhythmic pieces. On the whole, the CD is recommended.
Rating: Good +
by Bill Binkelman (New Age Reporter e-zine)
