Abstract Spirit - Liquid Dimensions Change (CD)

Review
Metalcrypt
4/5
27.01.2009

Got this fistful of Doom promos from Solitude Productions, though even if I didn't know they were all on the same label I'd have guessed, as there is a common aesthetic at work here. Doom is usually a pretty shallow pond, and it can take a fan to bother with sorting out the fine distinctions between bands. Abstract Spirit are a band from Moscow with their debut album, and I like it.

Funeral Doom is an acquired taste, and the confines of the subgenre are so narrow that bands pretty much succeed or fail based on their ability to get you to partake of the mood. Abstract Spirit are quite good at this, and there is a lot of stuff to like on this disc. I especially dig "To Kiss The Emptiness" and the haunting "Sarabanda", but there are no bad tunes here. This is a long, slow album, and the musical ideas take a long time to develop, but they are worth the effort. Funeral Doom albums don't really have big moments, they build and build over time, with the length of the compositions very much an intentional part of the experience, but I find myself still spinning this after a week, and there is a lot more here than it seems like on first listen. Worthy.

Author: Sargon the Terrible

Review
Metal Rewievs
8/10

Just in time for Halloween, I have the perfect haunting album for you. Russia’s Abstract Spirit debut with Liquid Dimensions Change, one of the creepiest hours of funeral doom you will ever hear. The grouping is actually a combination of members of the Russian black metal group Twilight is Mine and the vocalist/drummer of another Russian funeral doom band, Comatose Vigil. I’ve never previously heard any material from Twilight is Mine but Comatose Vigil are an outstanding band and one of my favorites in the genre, so I expected good things from this album.

The keyboard heavy sound of Abstract Spirit is very reminiscent of Shape of Despair, purveyors of some of the eeriest doom ever put to record. That said, Shape of Despair would love to have a track like the opener, From Behind the Verge, in their catalog. A positively stunning and atmospheric 9 minutes, this is one of the finest examples of keyboard driven funeral doom you will ever hear. Stellarghost weaves chilling keyboard melodies that enhance the guitar and bass of Hater and give an overall vast, expansive sound. À.Ê.’s drums sound cacophonic and hollow, furthering the bottomless feel. His vocals are refreshing in that, where many low growls tend to lack any punch and sound whispery, here they are both extremely low and extremely powerful. Add all these together and you have quite a mesmerizing sound, and one that continues into the second standout track, To Kiss the Emptiness.... In this track a chanting spirit choir sound is introduced, once again very similar to Shape of Despair, and it adds another dimension of darkness. This tactic is also utilized well in Sarabanda, and these soft harmonious vocal sounds manage to help even two tracks as evil as these sound somehow beautiful. This high level of quality is not maintained throughout the album, though that is not to say the other tracks are poor. Ruined, for instance, has more of a guitar centered approach and, while the riffing is strong, it just does not have the supremely massive feel of the first two songs. The pace of funeral doom can lull you to sleep without the introduction of atmospherics or other wrinkles, and there were a few times on this album where I found this to be the case.

Russia’s Solitude Productions is building quite the roster of funeral doom bands, and Abstract Spirit have placed themselves at the forefront with Liquid Dimensions Change. Though it is positively haunting, the keyboards and choral effects give it an epic and soothing aura that many funeral doom bands lack, though it cannot avoid some of the pitfalls common to this genre. If it were not for releases by Esoteric and a forthcoming album by Monolithe, I would say this would be the funeral doom album of the year.

Author: Adam

Review
Kronos Mortus
8.5/10
17.09.2008

Az orosz funeral doom trió (A.K.- ének, dob; Hater- gitár, basszusgitár; Stellarghost- szintetizátor, vokál) kétéves múltjának debütanyaga ez a korong. Sötét harmóniák, vontatott, monoton ütemek, mélybe zuhanások a jellemző színek az egész nagy semmit átölelve. Félelem, fájdalom, görcsök az egyik oldalon, felszabadulás, megnyugvás, elfogadás a másikon. Kettősséget próbál kifejezni minden szám a maga nemében, ha nem is tudatosan. Túl sok információt nem találtam a zenekarról, ezért nem is tudom, hogy nem egy project-e csak az egész.

A nyitótétel, a From Behind The Verge intenzív spirituális erővel indul, a témák lassú őrlése, a szintetizátor szőnyege őrjítő, és mindezt fokozza egy elég koszos, zajos sound, ami valami hihetetlenül jól üt. A.K. hangján a legsötétebb bugyrokból üvölt fel a lélek, egy helyen gyengébb csak a gitár, a szám közepe táján… érthető, hogy milyen szálon indulna, de nem szól elég erősen. A kilencperces tétel alap funeral doom, nagyon csekély death metal feelinggel.

A To Kiss To Emptiness… követi a sorban, egy monoton, fájdalmas bolyongás körbe-körbe saját bensőnk mélyén. A szintetizátor harmóniái halotti csendet árasztanak, míg a dob ütemei beverik lassan a szeget a koporsófedélbe, a gitár hangjai pedig a néma sikoly szétfoszló varázsa. Eszméletvesztés és eszmélés egyetlen tömör pillanatban, esőfelhők színezte ég alatt, egy gyászos menet közepén. Az üreg nyitott szája lassan közelít. A zenei szerkezet végig ezt sugallja, a zongorabetét zaklatottsága csak ráadás.

Fájdalmas, de szép képek villannak be, ahogyan a Ruined című dalban is. Vontatott ütemek adják az alapot itt is, monoton hangok kavalkádjává sűrítve az összképet, de ez teljesen rendben van, a funeral doom erről szól. Súlyos hangzás, beteg gitártémák, kipontozott dobrészek… a sötét, komor hangulat egy percig sem enyhül, csak a lelki görcsök kiváltotta szánalmas testi vergődés érződik, a kíntól táncoló hús lüktetése. A szólórész finomsága, precizitása szépen kidolgozott részt eredményezett, és mindenképp karakteressé teszi a számot. A szintetizátor itt kissé a háttérbe szorult néha, a keverés ezen a téren nem a legtökéletesebb, de ha fülel az ember, azért kihallja…

A Sarabanda egy nyugtalan, felkavaró nóta, az elhagyatottság kellős közepén. Felépítése sziklaszilárd vonalvezetésen nyugszik, az ének remekül árnyalt játéka néhol a szinti által egy kis kórussal tetézve elementáris erőket csal elő. Sötétség mindenhol, eső utáni illat, hideg, őszi szél… csak a sötétségnél még komorabb, kopasz, fekete törzsű fák súlyosabbak a vásznon, amit a zene segítségével festenek a zenészek… lehajtott fejek, menekülés az én elől, tagadás. Nem egyszerű leírni, kifejezni a zene által közvetített érzéseket…

Az Apostasy a leghosszabb track az anyagon a maga 13:47-es idejével. Súlyos hangulattal nyit ez is, hasonlóval, mint a From Behind The Verge, szintetizátorharmóniák, melankolikus gitárjáték teszi meghatározóvá, persze Stellarghost vokálja meg egy tébolydává varázsolja a hangulatot… érdekes témavezetés, az biztos, és mennyire kifejező. Ebben a számban fordul elő először, hogy A.K. nem csak hörögve énekel, hanem egy kissé karcosabb hangon úgymond elmondja a szöveget, kissé prózaivá téve ezzel a hatást. Finom témák ötvöződnek ebben a dalban is, a puszta, nyers és eklektikus vonallal. A végén bejön egy effektekkel teli hangzás, egy teljesen más világ, egy teljesen más hangulat. Rezgések az élet és halál mezsgyéjén. Szép és taszító egyben, ez ennek a stílusnak a védjegye, és összessége, és bármilyen fura is, elmondhatatlanul gyönyörű ez a zene…

Az utolsó szám, a címadó Liquid Dimensions Change egy dallamosabb résszel indít, a különböző kis betétek, alapok pedig csak még jobban kiemelik a semmiből ezt a dalt, ahogy a monoton dobtémára felépül a szerkezet. Mialatt bejön az ének, a szintetizátor súlyos hangokat épít be az ütemek alá, és a gitár is torzítottra vált. Egy dallamosabb betét után (persze nem kell azt hinni, hogy a tempó vagy a hangulat nagyot változna) újra visszatérnek a lázállapotba, ahol az ember egyszer magához tér, máskor meg a víziók rabjává válik. Ez mindent kifejez. Ébrenlétet, valóságot, álmokat, reménykedést. Fájdalmas? Mély? Igen. De ugyanabban a pillanatban fel is old. Csak ajánlani tudom a lemezt minden doom kedvelőnek, nem kételkedem benne, hogy a polcukon fog kikötni.

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ENGLISH VERSION:

This is the debut album of the Russian funeral doom trio (A.K.- vocal/drums, Hater - guitar, bass, Stellarghost - synth, vocal), which exists for two years. The characteristic colours are dark harmonies, dragging, monotonous beats and fallings in the depth embracing the whole great-big nothing. Fear, pain, cramps are there on the first side, on the other side however, there is release, solace and acceptation. In its way, every track wants to express ambivalency in a not surely intended way. I have not found too much information about the band, therefore I do not know whether it is a project or not.

The opening track 'From Behind the Verge' starts with an intense, spiritual force. The slow ground of the themes and the synth-carpet are maddening, and the quite dirty, noisy sound, which has a fantastic additional effect, even escalates them. With the voice of A. K. the soul howls from the darkest circles of Hell; the guitar is only weaker in the middle region of the track... It can be understood, which path would be chosen, but its sound is not loud enough. The nine-minute-long track is a basic funeral doom with a very little death metal feeling.

The next in the row is 'To Kiss to Emptiness...', which is a monotonous, painful roaming in a continuous circle in ourselves. The harmonies of the synth spread the dead unbroken silence, while the beats of the drum drive the nails into the cover of the coffin; the voice of the guitar is the fraying magic of a numb scream. It is faint and coming back in a single, brief moment under the sky coloured by watery clouds in the middle of a funeral procession. The mouth of the cave is slowly approaching. The musical structure suggest continuously this approaching, the harassed piano part is only an addition.

Painful but nice pictures come in our minds, in the 'Ruined', as well. Dragging beats give the base in this track, too, densing the image into a cavalcade of the monotonous notes, but it is totally alright, the funeral doom is exactly about this. There are heavy sound, sick guitar themes, dotted drum parts; the dark and gloomy feeling does not ease at all either for a single moment, only the miserable flurry caused by the cramps in the soul and the pulsation of the flesh dancing due to the torment can be felt. The fineness and precisity of the solo part resulted in a well-constructed part making the track really characteristic. The synth is here sometimes in the background; the mixing is not the most perfect in this way, but if one harks, it can be heard.

'Sarabanda' is a restless, unsettling song in the very centre of the desolation. Its construction is based on a rocky tracing, the play of the perfectly shaded vocals together with the choir by the synth reveal elemental forces. There is darkness everywhere, the smell of the landscape after rain and cold, autumn wind; only the bold, black trunks of the trees that are more gloomy than the darkness are heavier on the canvas painted by the musicians by their music. There are turned down heads, escaping from the self, negotion. It is not easy to describe the feelings given by the music...

'Apostasy' is the longest track on the album with its duration of 13:47. It opens with a heavy feeling, similarly with the 'From Behind the Verge'; it gets dominating by synth harmonies and melancholic guitar parts, and the feeling turns into a bedlam owing to the vocals of Stellarghost... It is sure, it has an interesting theme track, and how expressive it is... This is the first track in which A. K. 's vocals are not only growls, but a speech in a bit hard voice saying the lyrics, causing a prosaic effect. Fine themes are alloyed in this song, as well, with a bare, coarse and eclectic path. In the end a sound full of effects comes, which is a totally different world and a totally different feeling. They are vibes on the balk of life and death. It is nice and repelling in one; this is the brand and the whole bulk of this genre, and whatever strange to say, this music is inexpressibly beautiful...

The last, the title track 'Liquid Dimensions Change' starts with a quite melodic part, and the various small insertions, basics emerge the track even better out of the nothing, while the structure is being constructed on the monotonous drum themes. While the vocal comes in, the synth builds heavy tones under the beats and the guitar gets also distorted. After a quite melodic part (of course, you need not think that the tempo and the feeling changes a lot) they return to the state of the fever where one either comes back or gets the prisoner of the visions. This expresses everything: the wake, the reality, the dreams and the hope. Is it painful? Is it deep? Yes, it is. But it releases in the same moment. I can only suggest this album to any doom fans. I do not doubt that it will be soon in their shelves.

Author: Lemezismertetők

Review
Rock Underground
8.5/10

Mais uma banda de Funeral Doom da Rússia. Nos últimos anos, a cena russa do Metal tem finalmente começou a ganhar exposição no mundo ocidental, mas a maioria dos metalheads ainda luta para falar mais do que algumas bandas de qualquer ex-estados soviéticos. Muitos poderão associar o país, com grupos como Arkona e seu Folk Metal, mas o sombrio Funeral de hinos do Abstract Spirit deve ganhar o mundo, com a guerreira gravadora Solitude Productions, a maior gravadora de lá depois da Stygian Cript. Liquid Dimensions Change é puro Funeral Doom, lento, desesperador, bebendo na fonte tipicamente finlandesa (outrora, os ursos soviéticos eram os inimigos maiores o então tranqüilo território finlandês). Hoje, chupinham até nas influências musicais. Cada riff rastreia juntamente terrivelmente lento e cada acorde é tão carregado de dor e desespero, que todas as cores parece ser sugado para fora da sala. As texturas aqui são cinzas e grafites. Não é terrivelmente original, mas o simples esmagamento vigor do presente melancólico empolga. Se o disco der qualquer sinal para sair da Mãe Rússia no futuro, temos alguns deliciosamente depressivos vezes à frente de nós. Se você estiver em Funeral Doom no momento, esta é a horda! Curiosidade, o grupo é projeto paralelo da banda de Black Metal Twilight Is Mine dos subúrbios de Moscou. Outros convidados locais moscovitas da Doom band Comatose Vigil fazem por aqui. Estonteante.