Richard A.Ingram returns with an engrossing, desolate and cinematic suite of recordings that expand his vision of mildewed and mottled doom ambience after last years excellent debut album 'Consolamentum'. Like its predecessor, the machinations of Ingram's underworld are left to the imagination; there's no clear origin to his sounds, everything is obfuscated in a murk, creating that palpable feeling of fear one might find when waking up in the middle of the night, before your eyes adjust to the darkness. The first instance of 'Agile Drone' slowly rises through murky tape noise to pass through unseen acousmatics and filtered piano until a booming bass shocks us into a sort of paralysis, the fear intensified by immobility while uncontrollable apparitions swirl at the peripheries. Next 'Truncheon Tree' slightly dissipates the unease with an ethereal passage of almost Rhythm & Sound-like dub delays and piano peering out of misty atmospheres, the expert mastering from Taylor Deupree evidently enhancing the parameters of this illusory space. The final tracks, entitled 'Chaos Fortifier' and 'Retro Morph', venture into realms of aural perversity akin to the compelling yet disturbing visuals of Gaspar Noe ('Enter The Void' and 'Irreversible'), also recalling the soundtrack by Jean-Claude Eloy or BJ Nilsen & Stillupsteypa with chilling precision. There's so much of this sort of doomed ambience around these days - but Ingram really does slot into the top tier. Recommended.
