Hyios – Consuetudines : Dark Ambient

Reviewed by Gird_09

The cover for this thing is simply beautiful. The dark blue depiction of something that I don't really recognize is captivating and mysterious, and once I pop in the CD I realize that the match is 1:1. Upon leafing through the digipack I am even further enthralled. Runes, greek letters, a pyramid and a pharaonic individual and several oblique and mystical references triggers my natural curiosity. The inside cover also contains the words "cultus subterraneus", and this translates well to the images that float around in my head as I listen to the first track "tephra". I can nearly feel the cold granite against my bare feet as I descend a spiral staircase into the bowels of mother earth, dressed only in an acolyte's humble garments.

The element I really want to bring to your attention on this album is the balanced texture of the music. The well crafted soundscapes are rich and saturated with moist tactility. There is so much surface on this music you almost expect to find moss growing on the CD.

When I was a teenager me and some friends used to hang out in an old German bunker from the occupation. It was a dank and mildewed cavern where we lit dozens of candles and torches and set up tree stumps to sit on. The floor was covered in planks, and it was quite comfortable in there, despite the presence of hundreds of spiders, egg pouches in the ceiling and grimy water dripping down from above. We even brought a oiuja board along at some point. That is the place I would like to bring this album. I'm quite certain the sounds would mesh perfectly with the natural ambiance of the place, to the point where you're not certain what's in your head, what's background and what's music. I think I even hear a bat sonar in there, on the track called "Algor".

It's very hard to imagine this as ever having been recorded in a studio, and as I progress through the tracks the album even makes me forget the sun shining outside my window on this spring day. I'm gonna keep that in mind for the bright sweaty horror that is July.

At some point I think I hear some audio artefacts in the reverb, but I mention that only to point out to you that this album is so good I have to pick it apart with tweezers to find something negative. It's excellent. In fact it's so good I wish I had bought it when I was 19 and had the time and concentration to really enjoy an album as much as this one deserves.

2010 – Malignant Records, CD Album.

http://www.myspace.com/malignantrecords
http://www.myspace.com/hyiosinfo

1 Tephra [7:17]
2 Algor [8:54]
3 Teiwaz [5:00]
4 Crater [4:29]
5 Aquila [8:17]
6 Rex [7:55]
7 Nasjoir [7:48]