Terra Sancta - Exile

Oh Sacred Earth. You've heard so many prayers and curses. You've witnessed empires rising and falling, tyrants and saints led their nations towards eternity or extinction. You've suffered and continue to suffer the most impudent utilization of its bosom and surface. You've shacked off many millions of creatures that tried to enslave you in their infinite pride, but hordes of others saddled you back. You were always there... sacred... Sacred... Terra Sancta!

Spiritual nature of Earth (Earth as an abstract definition) was inseparable from its physical incarnation in different cults and religions. It had been worshiped for its uncontrollable grace and rage, its fertility and bareness, and of course for its eternal beauty. But in rhythm of the modern world, locked in cages inside urban territories and metropolises, human perception of true valuables was replaced by artificial idols. Yet, if one decides to seek his own way which is free from imposed culture, he will be able to find few glimpses of hope charged by energy of those who have already broken the bonds and understood the real width of surrounding world. Today, it is the turn of Greg Good from Australia to unlock the gate that leads directly into the world of lonely spiritual journeys through vast wastelands where time of mortal being has no meaning compared to tranquil stream of millenniums.

The music of Terra Sancta project has been always dealing with extremely wide spaces from the very beginning of its existence. A pack of four albums was released through the cult label Malignant Records from the first steps around twelve years ago and until today. However, Greg never betrayed the chosen path and continues to follow it in his latest album "Exile" to the delight of his fans while trying his best to polish the shining diamond of creativity. "Exile" is definitely not for collective listening, this is the type of music that has to be absorbed in complete loneliness, the type of music which deals with surrealistic techniques of subconscious manipulation. With the first seconds of "Empire of Ashes", I can feel massive walls of background sound that drift slowly over the dry desert, in the backyard of civilization. If you expect a lot of action inside the musical structure, you should forget about it because Terra Sancta operates with halftones, building the ambience out of meditative state in the first place. "Empire of Ashes" and "Kingdom of Dust" run without any break in between when both of them are quite similar in their mood creating a fifteen minute journey. The accent is always set on this piercing hypnotism and the listener should fully open his mind baring all the neurons and receptors to achieve the maximum effect.

Mr. Good constantly draws a new topography of dreaming Earth through his magnificent compositions. In "Celestial Extinction" the same floating sound entwines a deep bass melody rolling over and over again creating some kind of a movement in a relatively leisurely drift. But "The Desolate Land" erases personality to the bitter end leaving no space for recovery after the massive attack of droning hum layers. No need to struggle with your conscious, just close your eyes and immerse in this slow flux of energy, reunite with the breath of soil, catch a ride on beam of light, take off your mortal shell. I have a long voyage ahead still when "Descent II" swoops up my formless spirit to carry it on the heavy waves of noisy ocean towards "Vanishing Point", a massive dark soundscape with a slow mystical melody over the extremely heavy drones. Terra Sancta finishes its broadcasting with a short track "End Path" that teleports me back safely to my body, somewhere on this planet, but I must admit that my perception of reality was changed irrevocably. Believe me, my dear reader; you cannot stay the same after listening to "Exile" because the whole personality undergoes a serious overload with those hypnotic tunes.

With a pint of good wine that circulates in my blood stream tonight and the great music flowing out of my speakers, I couldn't wish for a better evening. Greg Good returns to business and shows the full power of his talent to create amazingly dense textures. The walls of my room disappear under the pressure of Terra Sancta; there is no future and no past for me anymore, there is no destination and no sense of direction at all, only a slow drift in a soft breath of Sacred Earth. Sep 26 2014