Lacrimae Mundi is the new album of Croatian dark ambient act Tehôm. Tehôm has quite an interesting history; it was form in 1988 by Siniša Očuršćak and it released 2 albums, in 1996 and 2000, on Douglas Pearce's labelTwilight Command. Sadly, after the second album Očuršćak passed away. However, on said album he worked with Miljenko Rajaković who has decided to continue the project now, some 14 years later. Of course it's always hard to guess at what a project will be like after a gap of so many years, especially when the technology and methodology for making music has changed so drastically. While I was somewhat a fan of the early Tehôm material, this new album absolutely blew me away from the first preview I heard. This album was rightfully picked up by Cyclic Law and features the fantastic artwork of Treha Sektori's Dehn Sora and the always solid mastering of label head Frederic Arbour. That said, Lacrimae Mundi is easily one of my top dark ambient albums of the last few years. Every song is incredibly deep and complex, with many different sounds and layers. It is also wide and "open" which really bolsters its depth. There are brilliantly executed tribal elements (hand drumming, throat singing), elements of the traditional CMI school of ambient: metal clanging, distant sfx, sacral moods, etc. and ritualistic elements. This is pretty much an amalgam of everything that I enjoy about dark ambient, and to top it off the production is pristine. On this album, Tehôm conjures up exceedingly vivid visions of ancient, darkened mountain temples containing seldom explored esoteric wisdom, and the music puts the listener not as a third party observer, but right in the midst of these ethereal places. A must own for fans of dark ambient, especially the more active CMI style (atrium carceri, raison, etc)!
HOMEPAGE
CYCLIC LAW
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