Abandoned Asylum - Derelicts Of Distant Hope

I am sure that many of us who involved in the scene of industrial music have special feelings for abandoned places like old houses, factories etc. Sometimes they continue to live their hidden lives dreaming of memories long gone and breathing with a pungent stagnant air. Those places have a huge inspirational potential to create different kinds of art, music, poetry or whatever. Poland resident Lukasz Czajka actually found his Abandoned Asylum and joined the Malignant Records family during 2013 with his first official release 'Derelicts of Distant Hope'.

When I take this digipack in my hands and start to examine it carefully, I find the typical dark ambient art full of black, grey or deep green colors and mysterious textures. I also discover the track names which are really common for a typical dark ambient album. So, what is hiding behind all those signs that actually scream out the right answer? Of course, you will be definitely right if you give the answer: "another dark ambient album". But, even when I can draw some parallels between Abandoned Asylum and different artists from the past and present, "Derelicts" presents enough bright moments to keep me awake and concentrated on its content.

I've heard a lot of bands recently with a concept that is built around space themes. You can take for example the stuff that comes out the gates of Cryo Chamber label or Aliens Productions or whatever. Unlike the quite boring records that made me fall asleep, Lukasz generates a much thicker structure which is based not only on some monotonous drone with a minimum of action, but adds more special effects, samples and loops. Opening track "Interstellar Transmissions" is based on a dense background hum which is filled with various additions like manipulation with metal and glass that reminds me a little bit of Raison D'etre works. In "Shades of Nebular Images" the atmosphere is changed to be dreamier and more mysterious, where wavy melody slowly drifts around guided by soft touches of a distant percussion. "Drifting in Constant Eclipse" takes more ritualistic approach with a choral chanting that is presented as a main component of that composition.

Here I would like to mention two tracks that I think are weaker that the others in the album. "Among Shapes Unknown to Man" is all about a deep drone that constantly grows thicker and thicker to gain an annoying screaming alarming effect somewhere in the middle which in my opinion ruined all the structure. And "Pathway through Nothingness" has the same alarming effect, but of more quiet origin, though it rolls over and over again with a relatively monotonous drone.

"Echoes of Forgotten Origin" returns the strength of the music with dark layers of space drones and lots of special effects of gentle scratching, a distant percussive beats, radio signals and the atmosphere of extreme desolation. While the album finishes with "Storms in the Endless Void", I am hypnotized with the ambience that gains a lot of airy effect receiving the highest tension by the end of its running.

Despite few parts that I felt a kind of disconnection from the music during the listening, the album keeps the standards quite high. Sometimes it reminds a little bit of a mixture between Atrium Carceri and Raison D'etre, but those influences are really minor, when Lukasz presents his own sound and vision. Abandoned Asylum proves to be a decent new act in the family of Malignant Records and I hope to hear more albums from him in the future. Jul 10 2013