Hybryds - Music For Rituals flac album

Since hearing the single-sided 7" from 3RIO ART, I have hankered for a whole albums worth of the HYBRYDS music. Although two others (at least) are out there, this is the first time my wish has come true. And, judging by the packaging & title, this is much more than a mere album of music - it is also the portal into a state of meditative trance. The CD comes in a 5" × 5" plastic wallet within which is a rough brown booklet dense with images of early religions & ritual ideograms, and also a set of 5 Zenner-like cards which are as the keys to unlock the inner self (and are certainly stark enough to emblazen themselves on my visual memory), to be used in conjunction with the music itself, which is what this review will try to describe below. The opening track is "A floor To Perception" a non-beat piece which seem to have vast dimensions, the clattering sound reaching high into the dark roof of the cave while voices; creaking, squeaking sounds muted to dust, barely human, sustain, rise & fall, all creating a disquieting atmosphere of tension. "The Garden At The Sea" opens to the ambient sound of birdsong through which rises a gentle, calming tribal percussive piece, flowing along on a sustained layer of what sounds like harmonic voice. A child-like woman's voice sings along, a song of innocence. "Dark Ages" is a moodier piece - looping structure with a curious double white drum splash, sustained atmosphere, distant female voice, what sounds like harmonica, and an underlying growl of almost didgeridoo-like sound, all moving in slow ceremony creating a sound similar to, yet not as dark as SPK's "In Flagrante Delicto" - calming, yet dark & serious. "Aquahypno" is stranger, leaning more towards Industrial with machine-like hammering over a more tribal drumming between which is heard rumbles of thunder over distant mountains. It's continual rapping changes gradually, but has a low-key cacophony to it, a water-torture repetition. "Maneater" is dark, strange loop appearing out of an insect-infested jungle, a weird voice like mantra repeating, having had neither sight nor taste of our Carpentered Environment. "Apas" climbs out of a mountain spring, called up by the calming loop of monk-chant voice. Other voices join in, creating an interesting layering of voices, all combining together to create a relaxing, hypnotic atmosphere. "Ritual For Quetzalcoatl" is the longest piece on the album at nine minutes exactly. It is more complex & structured, with a more 'synthetic' feel to it - drum machine voices combined with real drums, wheezing sound & synthetics, all combining to create an ever-changing vessel for the distant voices · fantasizing flute. "La Crie D'Enfer" is a short piece, a bright, strange series of rising / sinking loops which create a lighter atmosphere. "La Voix Qui Prononce Mon Propre Nom" comes next, regaining the darker, warmer, more relaxed atmosphere. It is a slowly drifting piece with a restrained undercurrent of beat, ritual drumming like heartbeat, while sounds rise & fall, some human, some percussive, some unidentified string instruments, all combining into a warm & pacifying mood. "The Man With No Shadow" changes the mood to a little more edgy, dark & evil with reaching half-human, half-animal cries, a deep, grizzling voice & a lighter, no less disquieting voice, all follow the simple beat backing. "Agape" is built on what sounds like a clumy metal loop, gradually changing until the end where it transmutes into something wholly different & strange. "Vayu" is a strange, disturbing piece, an abstract series of rumbles, windy noises & rattles, all combining into a film-soundtrack- like piece of tension with breathy flute acting as lead instrument. Not evil, but descriptive of the darker side of life. "Drifting Moons" is a vast, cavern-filling sound, seeming on the tense edge of exploding into incandescent life. Huge sounds are held almost static in the nil-G atmosphere like great floating bodies, maybe airborn whales or dirigibles, alive with potential yet almost motionless, It reminds a little of music from "Blade Runner" & "Nosferatu". "Introspection" is a shortish piece - maybe Middle Eastern street celebrations heard from across the dry town, echoing it's free abandon through the listener's Death Cell. "Ros Caelestis" is another ritualistic piece, with wailing voice blending with more harmonic vocals, temple bells, chimes, sounding bowls smashing percussion, all held together be the dark warm tense audio atmosphere. "Coda" by JOSEPH CAMPBELL concludes with a short spoken piece calling ritual a myth, while a percussive loop rises & falls. I guess if I were to compare them to anyone it would be VOICE OF EYE, although each is individual enough to avoid any 'sameiness'. Along similar lines exist such people as VASILISK, O YUKI CONJUGATE even, at a push MUSLIMGAUZE. This is very different from that first record I reviewed - a lot less formal, a more natural, flowing sound. And I'll still be looking for those other albums, except my former hunger has become a ravening ache.Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.