Alt3r3d Stat3 - Dubbed in Black

Dubbed in Black is an album written and produced by England based artist Terry Holifield. Using dark ambience to design horror-esque sounds, this album is described to be "...for fans of Silent Hill." As he does view writing music more so as film making, he crafted a nine track album released via Cryo Chamber titled Dubbed in Black.

Track one is Room 333, and is pretty simple in itself. The beginning line echoes out a very low synth with deep hums in the far off distance; whispers reap and noises are heard, like a copy machine. Water runs here and there, but, in all honesty, this track wasn't all too capturing. The first seven minutes were pretty stale, and it wasn't really until around the seven and a half minute mark that I really caught on to the song. Static, a panicked voice, moans of inhuman nature, and little electronic tidbits helped end off the final three minutes of this track.

Patient did much better in comparison, able to spread out echoing samples that reminded of a flashback sequence; the breathing that occurred made me feel as if whoever was having this flashbacks was on the verge of death. While there was one long drone note underneath it all, the synths and water drops, and other little effects pushed this song forward even more.

Next up came the title track of the album, Dubbed in Black. Most of it was pretty standard to be found in the dark ambient genre; drones, randomly placed sound effects, as well as what sounded like a fire raging. A horn bellows at certain points, at least what sounds like a horn, along with some piano chords being struck here and there, and it sounded good. Perhaps a bit bland, but, still, the sound was nice.

And, Born kind of fell flat. It had a sort of beat to it, what sounded like a heart beat, along with some metallic clangs, but, for the most part, the looping aspect of the song was all too noticeable and drug me out of the music and back into reality.

R.A.I.N. translated the effects of rain into song well enough, but, as it were, the sound of the cold drops hitting the ground were overpowering to the rest of the music. And, if I wanted to listen to rain, I would really just go outside during a storm. However, at about the half way mark, the rain starts to fade, birds chirp, and a sample is played along. A simple outro, but one that managed to fix what was broken.

Wash was a decent effort on the musician's part. A pretty static overdose combined with the hallowed screeches of the long dead in the form of layered and chaotic synths. A phone rings for whatever reason, and that noise takes up much of the second half of the song. It was alright.

A bit heavier than most, Ending was not truly the end of the album. Scratchier, higher pitched notes rang in among heavier static and the sound of someone just banging against a wall. It also sounds like a subway train at one point passes through, but the sound of it is just so lurid that it almost makes a ghost train type of feel. Nicely done.

Some glitchy electronics, not harsh glitchy, took over in Prayer on top of more samples. A little messy and all over the place it was, but it still was well put and fit the overall theme of the album. Lastly, The Practice hit as the final song, surging out changing drones every now and then with more noise lurking every so often. I think my favorite part of the song was about two thirds of the way through; as you hear footsteps walking, someone flatlines. Death is not too far away in this song.

And, there we have Dubbed in Black. It definitely isn't the most intriguing dark ambient album that I've heard in quite some time, and it does need work sometimes in the form of balancing sound levels to get the best listening experience, and sometimes in just organizing the noise properly in order to get better noise surging through. However, when the songs are done right, such as Patient, this guy excels heavily, and shows a talent that isn't all too present on this album. I do wish to hear more from his next release so long as everything is tightened up just that much more. Aug 29 2014