Cassette Review // Ceremonial Abyss "23" (Katabatik)

https://ceremonialabyss.bandcamp.com/album/23

This cassette begins with these really blissed out tones.  They just fill the entire space and feel so relaxing, somewhat futuristic.   A series of notes come through now in a looping pattern which feels like it is picking up and dropping off.  There is something supersonic about this, as it just feels like we're witnessing a story about being in space.   Elements of this sound also make it feel like it could be coming from a planetarium.

In some ways, this music makes me think someone is going to come on and ask me a question, some sort of big existential question.   Some kind of lecture about life and the universe.  And then at the same time I'm reminded of Xena Glas and artists such as that who create beyond the boundaries of space and time.   As the keys come through in this song, they seem to sing and it all just feels so calm.

On the flip side we begin with the ambient tones that feel like they ohm.   It's really like the art of breathing, just going in and out.  Then these synth tones like Knight Rider come in which can combine this sort of calming sense of the sound to a more hectic one.   Those tones slow down and fade, as we're back to this place of tranquility now.   This entire sound just feels like one of a spiritual journey.  

As we get into the next song, the sound is somewhat changed as it still feels like it could be relaxing based on the tempo but the tone grows more serious and even somewhat threatening.  Keys come through in a loop, which bring out this sci-fi aspect of it, but these big waves of sound wash through as well, which makes it sound as if it is a horror movie score.  The way it all comes together with different keys looping over the top of it as well just adds to that eerie level.

The music in the next song drones and shifts around while there is this buzzing behind it.   This really takes on the form of an independent movie soundtrack, something from those early Focus Film days, and I'd love to see what someone could come up with as a film or just any sort of visual stimulation to accompany this sound.  But, in and of itself, the sound of Ceremonial Abyss paints pictures.   It's audio, but the way which you hear it can also make it seem as if you can see the sounds floating around.