Judging from the number of projects and bands he's been involved in, New Zealand based Exiled From Light's sole member Mort either loves variety or gets bored easily. After listening to this 'Best Of/Compilation' I'm none the wiser as to which it is. Coming a year after his début, it might seem a bit previous producing a double CD retrospective, but that's what Hypnotic Dirge Records have done.
Not being a band I'd heard of, what genre is this? Well the record label name is a fairly heavy hint and song titles like 'The Essence Of Hope, Drained' seal the deal. This is Depressive Black Metal of an ambient inclination: Long musical pieces of often simple construction that if done well wrap you in a dark cocoon and let you drift easily further into the quiet dark. I am a bit of a sucker for this style, I know, but Exiled From Light do this so well and are an easy band to slip away to. Mort has a skilful touch to the drawn out, keyboard draped looping riff and the howling voice. I know it sounds strange but these pieces are easy to relax into if you are in a darker mood. This is real mood music here.
There are nine tracks on offer and, despite not being an album, the first three songs and the last three seemingly come from similar projects with the remaining three sliding in easily between. Overall it flows better than some albums I've heard but, in a way that can be the nature of more ambient Black Metal works.
Starting out with a delicate bit of guitar, 'We Writhe As Worms' soon settles into its hypnotic, returning riff and keyboard refrain. Not as far out on a limb as, say, Norrt this is closer to a somewhat gentle mid period Burzum once it finds its path and with some neat drumming rounding it out for a change. Nothing you haven't heard before but done in a way that shows thought and vision rather than aimless musical wandering until fade out.
The title track begins with a soft, gentle tune before being swallowed by one of those cold, roiling riffs spilling frost across the dark. There is an almost gentle touch to this dark ambience throughout. It is sombre, yes, unrelentingly so, but even though this perhaps says more about me I find this collection comforting and relaxing in its slow keyboard sounds. Like drifting in warm, dark waters as the vocals remind you of the harshness you're safe from and take from you the anger you have been feeling.
'Faded Are My Memories' brings to the fore the way Mort chooses to sway tempo and atmosphere through the drums: the keyboard melody repeats untouched, ethereal, but shifts in the drum patterns and occasionally in the tempo too bring a subtle ebb and flow to the piece. A small variation but within this world it is often the ripples that matter most.
And it should not be imagined that Exiled From Light do not have their harsh edge. The final trilogy, 'Funereal' may have the string and piano sounds in passages, but the guitar hisses and buzzes nicely and the voice and drums are occasionally allowed to tear through.
It should be perhaps looked on as three pieces not nine, as these passages are not really to be taken individually. They are parts of a greater whole. At 2CDs of around an hour and forty minutes of music this may be a lot to you-time needed but, hey, you're worth it, right?
The problem is that if you haven't liked this style in the past can I think of anything here that will change your mind and convince you that this is atmospheric and hypnotic rather than boring and repetitive? A lot of people would say that it's all too simple, that even a non-musician could play those keyboards. So how can I convince you? Well firstly don’t confuse simple with simplistic: Not every piece of jewellery has to be an intricate weave of different textured wires, Sometimes a simple curve of silver is as beautiful. The skill in creating this music is conceiving and composing these shapes, recognising which can carry the piece and which are to be laid on them. With the use and the detail of the drums and the rich atmospherics this is anything but simplistic or crudely hacked. So if you do have a soft spot for the odd hypnotic dirge, then Exiled From Light are a rich texture to explore.
I also note that Hypnotic Dirge have managed to get a digital download deal which means you can even pick this up on some of the bigger online sites when the small run of CDs have gone.
http://www.myspace.com/exiledfromlight
http://www.myspace.com/hypnoticdirgerecords
