New realities that arise from listening to sounds that most resemble primordial frequencies peering into our tangle of abysses, drones and blood. The French Dirge are back with this Alma | Baltica, which is a small masterpiece of ambient, noise, drone and more. Take something from Earth, especially the use of guitar, throw in a little post-metal and post-rock, a lot of ambient and a little dark ambient and maybe you will understand. Only through listening can you grasp the breadth of this sound, its grandeur and complex monolithicity. These Frenchmen tell us a story, exploring a wide range of frequencies and emphasising the need to isolate ourselves from our reality in order to try to understand something behind the veil. Dirge began their journey by going into post-metal, but they soon landed on other shores as we can clearly hear: the parts merge and we travel like sound waves, spirits in formation, there is no time, or perhaps it is continuous loops, as if the whole thing came back as nothing. Alma | Baltica is like a glaciation set to music, a skilful and unique use of various musical elements in order to create a new and immanent force, or perhaps just to recall Lovecraft’s ancients. Few records have the sonic and imaginative force of this work, which has within it a background frequency like the earth, for Alma | Baltica is a living organism. Perhaps it would not be correct to speak of music, but rather of what it provokes inside and outside of us. Canonical reviews and genres really work very little here, we must listen with an open mind, different dimensions await us. (M.Argo – MetalEyes 1/2/2018)
2018 – Independent
Mournful Sounds 
You must be logged in to post a comment.