Fanum & Karna - Something Else

It is frequently believed that no human mind is able to explore the truth of the other world unaided, but on the basis of revelation and faith. But I am sure that there are lots of other ways to reach otherworldly besides being intoxicated with anything connected to faith. Any strong emotional stress or near-death experience can be useful to reach the same effect. Though, there are some ingredients that could possibly help to encompass detachment from the body, feelings of levitation, total serenity or absolute dissolution without stepping on the fragile ground of dangerous and unpleasant situations. I firmly believe that music can become this sort of guiding light that connects person with his hidden abilities giving him an opportunity to obtain spiritual maturity or to sink in immensity of other world.

So, today it is the turn of two Russian based dark ambient / drone projects to make an attempt of setting this connection between me and something that lurks in the shadows. Fanum and Karna are quite famous on post-soviet industrial scene with a pack of releases in different formats, but with this specific record they meet together on the playground of one of the most famous Russian labels under a code name Zhelezobeton.

Fanum hails from Moscow and starts this record with his track called "Final" presenting 25 minutes of mechanical manipulations. Opening with a slow hum of some working mechanism, our resident begins to fill it with all sorts of special effects. Whether it is an electronic pulsation or wavy beat, all of them are rooted deeply inside this slow droning composition bringing some diversity into quite monotonous sound. The atmosphere becomes sharper after 8-9 minutes when the background generates rougher scratches, but the stress is relieved very soon falling into more hypnotic, even almost static drift. But don't be fooled by this quiet part, an impression of something cosmic, alien and anxious will not leave you for sure. The composition continues its run, different patterns alternate each other with some transitions in between, until it reaches its end with a darker and gloomier piece of dark ambient music.

Almost half-an-hour of Fanum's sound processing ... and the time comes for Mr. Karna to enter the gate of Afterworld. I will try to play up to this Russian comrade in his attempt to demolish the entire world to gain this access. The track begins with a siren that is usually associated with some kind of cataclysm, whether it is natural or artificial, but something that always brings all sorts of disasters. After such a preface, the track rolls forward very slowly drawing cold and lifeless land shafts. This composition is less active then the first part made by Fanum, concentrating attention on less visible fluctuations of mood, steadily developing cobwebs of drones. A soft melody joins this slender shape on 16 minutes while the hum of working mechanism (or a rocket engine maybe) has now been put on the back burner. The same pace is being kept during the whole 28 minutes run, fading away with deliberation, becoming almost hypnotic before dissolving.

After initial hesitation and dozen cycles of continuous spinning, I imbued enough with the spirit of this material to be able to claim that it is quite professional and well crafted. I am not sure that it is the best stuff that I've ever heard before; there were few certain moments when I lost connection with the music, few parts were definitely overextended without any reason. But in general, the vision that is presented through "Something Else" has enough content to offer receiving my positive assessment.
Apr 14 2015