ALTER (COLLABORATION WITH KARIN PARK)

Welsh composer Lustmord is someone I've been familiar of for quite some time, largely because of his work with Graeme Revell (firstly as part of seminal industrial, noise and ambient outfit SPK and then for his work with Revell on soundtracks for films such as The Crow) and Tool (for whom he remixed songs from Lateralus and provided atmospherics for 10,000 Days). Yet, though he is someone whose work I've always meant to investigate, ALTER is the first Lustmord album I've ever heard. And, typically, I suppose given my history with Lustmord, I came to it because of Karin Park's involvement more than anything else. But regardless of how I came to it, I'm glad I did as it's a spectacularly great album, albeit spectacular is perhaps an odd choice of word when the music is so understated. But then, Lustmord is somewhat a master of this form, and generally recognised as one of the originators and pioneers of what has become known as dark ambient.

It is unsurprising, then, that much of this album has the kind of cinematic qualities that draw comparisons to a film soundtrack, in particular of the horror variety. Karin Park (probably best known from Årabrot, but with a solo career as well) provides an additional layer and texture of sound that is incorporated in different ways, rather than simply soaring over the top, as I admit I had expected them to. I also didn't expect an album of, let's face it, such bleak, oppressive, dark and minimal music to be so compelling. While it is dark, and at times desolate in its minimalism and introversion, there is a surprising amount of variation within a theme, and this is fairly evenly split between the contributions of Lustmord and Karin Park. I guess that isn't surprising, given that this is a release credited to Lustmord and Park, rather than Lustmord with Park, and yet I'm still impressed by how much Park adds to proceedings. As well as vocals, Karin also plays keyboards (most notably and impactfully on Kindred).

I mentioned The Crow, as a soundtrack that Lustmord worked with Revell on, and there are moments on ALTER that I find reminiscent of that film - even if they don't necessarily sound anything like the incidental music from The Crow. Rather, the aesthetic and the aural pictures the sounds paint make me think of The Crow. It is something about the colour and texture of the music, rather than the sound. The Void Between, the second track and one of my favourites here, is one that make me dream a crow-black dream. The thing is, I say one of my favourites, but it would almost be easier to say which tracks are not favourites, as each flows into something that seems as great, if not greater, than what preceded it. As Perihelion follows The Void Between, and Twin Flames follows Perihelion, I reconsider favourites, and then reconcile myself to the fact that they're all favourites. Each track is greatly similar, and vastly different from the last. There is both contrast and consistency within each piece, holding the attention until the last note fades.