ISON – Inner Space
3 min read
Band: ISON
Title: Inner Space
Label: Avantgarde Music
Release date: 25 August/5 September 2019
Country: Sweden
Format reviewed: High-quality Digital Promo
Music is about feelings. Music is about experiences. Personal experiences. In the past, in the present and even about everything we expect and hope for in the future. Music is a state of mind, state of the heart. Music is a pain in the heart, pain in the soul.
And it is no wonder that I’m going to present you the new ISON album as one whole musical journey, an experience for the heart and the soul. Music evoking bittersweet memories, tunes that hit you in the guts, make your heart beats quicker. It’s not because of a furious tempo of the record. “Inner Space” is the intimate album, touching the darkest corners of the lonely and empty soul. It gives needless hope for the tired heart, for a few more beats, before it crushes it into the painful nothingness of the existence.
ISON was formed in 2015 around Gothenburg, Sweden, and the “two music-like minded souls” in the band – Daniel Anghdede (Crippled Black Phoenix, Hearts of Black Science) and Heike Langhans (Draconian, LOR3L3I), are well known to all who follow the scene. Both influenced by “the vast, infinite nothing”, they describe their music as a Cosmic Drone.
“Inner Space” is the first full-length album of the band and this one hour of music represents the beauty and the magic of the music, as they should be. “Inspired by Drone, Black Metal, Goth & Shoegaze, combined with a deep fascination for the astral planes and the universe”, “Inner Space” draws pictures, visions, memories, creates dreams. It is a sad album, though. It has details and nuances even from the dream dance genre, including the gorgeous vocals of Heike. (ATB is a good reference for example). Indeed the eerie vocals contrast to the ripping through guitars. However, that’s on the first glimpse. The combinations create a massive impact for the whole experience, building upon the total ambient atmosphere. “Inner Space” is an escape and a gateway to something more personal, bigger, essential. Something beyond our inner space – cosmic and ETERNAL tunes.
There is nothing to hope for at the end of the day while listening to Inner Space. It is dark and quiet there, despite all the emotions the album can spark. The eight tracks are a mirror where you can look deep into your soul in order to find all the innumerable missed opportunities and long-gone cravings. It is a contemplation into a black infinite and in the same time self-observance. The blackgaze and shoegaze dominate in the music soundscapes while making the soul small, useless, needless. ALONE, burning on the pyre called life, called existence – something so transient, and always bringing so many questions. We love gazing into the stars of the night sky – it is always magical for us. But we feel the eternal grief. …And it is so tragical for us contemplating this beauty. We, the small pieces of nothing, leaving only nothing after we disappear.
And yes, “Inner Space” features guest vocals by Neige of ALCEST.
Music is about feelings. Music is about experiences. Personal experiences. In the past, in the present and even about everything we expect and hope for in the future. Music is a state of mind, state of the heart. Music is a pain in the inner space. Music is eternal. 8.5/10 Count Vlad
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