Search - Main :: Firmament

220 Volt live

loteq | Regensburg | 07/16/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Leaving behind the rock-oriented "Hydra-Calm" and "Dry stone feed", the 22-minute EP "Firmament I" is the first in a series of four records which completely reinvented ambient music in the '90s. The pieces of the "Firmament" series are titled with Roman numerals; the supposedly last track is "XXVI" on the "Firmament IV" album. Instead of the usual ambient approach where airy, sparse, and sometimes melodic textures are the sole principle, Main completely invert the formula, best heard on the opening track "I", unparalleled before or since for its structured storm of noise. The main body consists of high-pitched guitar riffs, but the mysterious, wildly oscillating drones, crackles, blasts, and squeaks take the prize here. As one of my friends used to say, "...as if you were in the middle of a beehive!". "II" and "IV" are much less chaotic and certainly not as amazing, mixing metallic drones and chiming splinters into an alien landscape. "III" is more frightening, with its muffled percussion and looped quasi-melody, it conjures the atmosphere of an approaching thunderstorm. Overall, not as consistently strong and exciting as "Firmament II" or "Deliquescence", but the first track is awesome."