seven

azure skies is a new project comprised of members of mental destruction and sanctum, and if you are familiar enough with both projects, you will be able to see traces of each in the music of azure skies. yet another project that immediately came up to my mind is parca pace, the music of the latter is yet another stylistically similar output of sanctum.

azure skies is a pleasant surprise on today’s noise scene that seems to be overrun by those that are finally jumping on the bandwagon, exploiting similar ideas again and again. azure skies provides a refreshing sound collage, intensely dark, layered atmosphere somewhere in between heavy dark ambient and saturated rhythmic textures.

azure skies is one of those projects that is able to make a step beyond simple sound manipulation, carefully composing the music that actually takes you somewhere. I was thoroughly impressed by the way the tracks are structured on this cd – these constant transitions, when suffocating layers of dark ambient are replaced by churning and grinding percussion that steadily develops into crunchy, aggressive workout, only later to be replaced by moments of tranquility filled with strings and small static bursts. this contrast of fragility and dark aggression is never corny or artificial-sounding, the flaw that often plagues many newcomers in the genre.

take opening “crater,” an absolute favorite of mine. it opens with incredible atmospheric interlude where simple melancholic string progressions are contrasted by dark corroded rumbling on the background. fading vocal samples, little hisses of static and myriad of other elements add a nice touch of eerie uneasiness and chaos to the track. it steadily develops alternating between dense aural soundscapes, almost monumental in their composition, it strikes with layered percussion textures, never losing this peculiar sense of melancholy and abandonment.

yet another excellent track, “hydrazine,” is an example of exceptional composition, as it flows from pulsating, nightmarish layered chaos of dark ambient to more rhythmic and aggressive nature. mechanized hydraulic noises, distant processed voice samples, a keyboard line, at first startling, and then perfectly fitting – all those elements work out perfectly, creating this strange haunting mix of structured atmospheric music.

what attracts me the most on this cd is its heaviness, that is achieved without overusing percussion. bass-saturated textures are overlaid with frequencies, strings, samples, slowly evolving percussion textures that vary from crunchy and aggressive ons to hollow, carefully placed beats, building almost hypnotic mysterious atmosphere. at the same time the music is very emotional, an effect that is rarely achieved in the genre.

it took me some time to get over the initial feel that I always had about sanctum – this raw nature of sound that makes you think it’s underproduced, muddied. I guess once I got used to that, and got over the vocals, that at times was way too prominent for me, I was able to truly enjoy the diversity and style of this release.

all in all, I would definitely recommend this to anyone that has an appreciation for dark orchestrated post-industrial soundscapes – be it heavily layered dark ambient, or aggressive rhythmic textures.