Artist: Drowning The Light / Ghosts Of Oceania
Country: Australia
Label: Dark Adversary Productions
Formats: Split CD
Year: 2023
Those of you who tend to follow Azgorh’s musical steps in general and that of Drowning The Light in particular, will have noticed the Australian musician’s love for the overwhelming power of nature. Recently he took us on a deep dive in the ocean with Drowning The Light’s latest full-length album, ‘Haunter Of The Deep’, now he is actually taking us up the heights. ‘Mountain Of Malevolence’ can be seen a heartfelt musical tribute to a mountain, which is just referred to as “the Mountain”. It is that mountain that we have seen multiple times already, many of the photos taken for Drowning The Light were on or around the area of “the Mountain”. It is said to be a place that possess certain occult and paranormal powers and been of great importance to many individuals. As well as Azgorh himself, being deeply tied to this place spiritually it seemed only a logical choice to finally pay homage to “the Mountain” through this new opus.
The spiritual ties were channelled into music through Azgorh’s trademark Drowning The Light sound as well as through Ghosts Of Oceania, the latter being another project that is usually referred to as being “midnight music”. This already gives away what to expect on these album that clocks just under 40 minutes. It shows Drowning The Light from a smoother side, without the characterizing piercing guitars and with vocals much less on the shrieky-side. Instead it all sounds much warmer and more organic, it has a natural flow that fully embraces the envisioned topic. Although it is not the first time Azgorh is incorporating some experimental elements into his music, but he takes his music up a level this time. When it comes to its balancing act, each track flows so naturally into each other that it is sometimes hard to tell which track is Drowning The Light’s and which are Ghosts Of Oceania, as both musical entities are taking turns and thus weave and entwine their identities through each other.
Besides a good amount of more nature-inspired melodies and some Doom Metal/Doom Rock-like passages, we are also treated on some almost-humming, Pagan-esque clean vocals as well as the angelic female vocals of Strix (from Sic Itur Ad Astra). Together this blends into an overall enchanting piece of music that has a distinct Pagan and Occult character.
Azgorh’s compositional talent should obviously already have been no secret, but on ‘Mountain Of Malevolence’ he has once again provided an argument to silence all naysayers. The songs are woven together in such a beautiful, almost slumbering flow that the state between dream and reality can hardly be pinpointed. The ten-minute closing track consisting only of deeply felt piano music is of a genuine beauty that may only be surpassed by “the Mountain”…
