Taphephobia - Escape From The Mundane Self

Cyclic Law label conquered a lot of territory of dark ambient genre for past few years keeping it alive and kicking when it seemed that this musical style is almost dead. With releasing albums from their regular circle of bands, this Canadian based label doesn't forget about signing those that are not always associated with them and amongst those names is Ketil Soraker aka Taphephobia, a Norwegian resident releasing his sixth album called 'Escape from Mundane Self'. I can tell that it was quite expected to happen one sunny (in this case rainy or even snowy) day because the guy had already stepped into the family of Cyclic Law with his previous projects like Mulm and Northhaunt, so it was just a matter of time when Taphephobia would have joined this glorious pantheon. To be honest, I am unfamiliar with the previous records of the comrade, though I've heard some of his splits on Kalpamantra net label. Anyway, here is "Mundane Self" and I have to deal with it diving into the right spiritual mood while everyday life demands me to do that on a daily matter.

When you feel that you're mundane and your mortal shell loses its shine, this is the right time to put Taphephobia in your CD player. Creeping darkness permeates your silent house during the early morning hours and the night is still powerful in its overwhelming wilderness; your insomnia is right there to strengthen your deepest fears.

The album starts to tell its story of eternal sadness and sorrow in each and every sound from the very first tunes of "Into the Night he disappears". The ghosts of the past haunt a chilly house when no one is there to warm it up with love and passion. Dead are the feelings and dead is the sanity, because Taphephobia leaves no space for any possible hope or illusion. A very depressive atmosphere continues to capture my imagination with a slow composition "My Worthless Self", filling my inner world with a perception of an unavoidable nuisance and insanity. Even those rare beams of the sun that reach the depth of the album are only weak reflections of a dying star. Sometimes insinuating and gently flirting like in "White Chamber", sad and lonely like in "Stranger in This Century", but the record remains invariably mystical even in its softer parts.

Drama is also an integral part of the whole creation; it fills the certain compositions with a tragedy of evaporating moments which we try to hold vainly for the last time in our frozen hands. This magical hypnotism carries a perishable body with every single breath far beyond the horizon where Charon stretches his hand to welcome a tired traveler crawling forward with his last ounce.

In "Earthbound Spirit" the artist steps into the field of deep droning ambient where movements of substance are ultra-slow and the entire world around sinks in one huge lake of still fog. The same mood is driven also in "Leave their Sinking Ship" being even deeper, though remaining with elements of tragedy and drama. The soil becomes totally frozen, each step seems to slow down to the lowest speed while all senses collapse until reaching a completely steady state.

As usually, Cyclic Law succeeds in choosing the right material to be released under it's banner and puts its quality signature on it. Despite some scattering in compositions, the whole material retains the unique face of the composer in its basic characteristics being dramatic and mystical in each sound. The whole outcome is depressive and demands a specific state of mind to sense deeply its message, to emerge in its ambience full of bleak and grey tones. I am not sure that it is the best product that I would have possibly heard in this genre, but what is clear is that the album will continue to flow out of my speakers from time to time. Anyhow, this set of abstract visions calls for his listeners that will be able to feel its true value. Mar 18 2014