So I bought this album on a whim the other day while perusing for new and interesting dark ambient. I bought this because it met enough criteria on my checklist: dark ambient, on Malignant, on sale, and because the blurb made several comparisons to two of my favorite ambient groups: Inade and Herbst9. Upon first look, this has all the bearing of a solid dark ambient album: pictures of statues, stones, a guy in a pyramid hat and some random evil sounding occult/philosophic phrases. Anything that says “CVLTVS SVBTERRANVS” scores a few points in my book. Also, everything has a dark blue tinge which oddly gives it a cold and subterranean feel. Hyios appears to be a quite mysterious (and therefore intriguing) project; I can’t locate any substantial information beyond a myspace and discogs page, both with no semblance of a bio. So the actual music itself – despite my doubts, it is surprisingly similar to Inade. It is a mix of sounding like the great, crushing void of space and the deep abandoned subterranean lairs of an ancient race. It utilizes a lot of cavernous drones and whooshing / rising sounds, but also employs some sfx and what sound like field samples to fill out the mixes. It’s not noisey or abrasive which is paramount for me. It’s a bit samey, but stays interesting throughout its duration. I’ve had it on in the background most of the day at work and I’m still digging it. So, while it’s not as good as Incarnation of the Solar Architects, if you’re a fan of Inade / Loki Foundation style dark ambient I wouldn’t pass this up. Especially since Malignant is selling it for only $7.
http://www.malignantrecords.com
http://www.myspace.com/hyiosinfo
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