I’ve written about the somewhat abusive relationship between Black Metal and Dark Ambient before – on the one hand a perfect marriage of aesthetics, on the other an awkward combination of dynamics. Metal is about stuff “happening”, runs the argument against – beats blast, riffs grind, stuff is undeniably occurring in an active and confrontational way; Ambient music, conversely, is deliberately passive and restrained. Nothing happens, to put it crudely, generally on purpose.
Michigan three-piece Empire Auriga’s contribution to this debate is to muddy the waters further, playing an equal-parts hybrid of Black Metal and Dark Ambient in which nothing happens, yet manages to do with a sense of drama. Majestically slow guitars and synths trace out barren, sparsely instrumented abstract shapes, around which echoing vocals and flickering static call out like transmissions from a long-dead star.
One of the first things to notice about Ascending The Solarthrone (Moribund Records) is how beautiful it sounds – the guitars in particular are unbearably fragile and ethereal, calling to mind crystalline structures drifting endlessly in the gulfs between stars. Their sound is pitched perfectly for the atmosphere they’re conjuring, and there are moments of genuine hypnotic beauty. Maintaining a sense of drama and engagement with such deliberately passive music is no easy task, however, and unfortunately they don’t entirely pull it off – over the course of these eight tracks your attention will wander, and for everyone moment that draws you in to its fragile sparsity, there are another two that will just float into the background.
Overall, Ascending The Solarthrone is one of those frustrating albums that’s so close to brilliance, but not entirely there yet. The tone and aesthetics are perfect, it’s bold and distinctive and they’re very much forging their own direction, but ultimately it comes down to a question of style against substance – at present they have bags of the former but not quite enough of the latter. Their masterpiece lies in their future, I think, but until they get there this is an engaging if not entirely satisfying taste of their potential.
7/10
RICHIE H-R