the drone in the opening track "descent" slumbers like a beast, constant, almost menacing and it is well placed within the mix allowing for the madness of the 'descent'. the songs can seem a little cluttered at times (though there is nothing there that doesn't belong)...there are 'tribal' beats that give the illusion of tempo, disembodied voices to accompany you on the perilous journey to the 'dark rift' as well as the nameless faceless creature of the drones; it does make you feel as though you are taken on a journey...perhaps there are too many ideas at times which make the songs feel cluttered...
"rattling of the cold" is the penultimate stage of our journey and makes you feel as though you are trapped at the bottom of an immense arctic cavern but for me, while the 'dripping' keeps a nice 'tempo', it is too uniform and unvaried and almost a little overused - and there are other instances of overuse in the other tracks as well, mainly with the disembodied voices...
this is a well mixed/produced album with only a few little problems - fades outs could use a little bit of a tidy and a few of the levels sorted out - but the musicality/musicianship is top class. in places i am reminded of the soundtrack to '30 days of night'. it has interesting cover art - more sci-fi than arctic exploration but i feel like it takes me into the world rather than above it. i, for one, am looking forward to hearing more from ascetic hedonism...
Source - Funereal Drone