Xerxes The Dark – Soundtrack To The Blind Owl (Album – Zāl Records)

Genre/Influences: Ambient-Noise, Soundtrack.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Morego Dimmer released this imaginary soundtrack during a shot session in 2005. The work is inspired by the Iranian novel “‘The Blind Owl” originally written by Sadegh Hedayat. Blind Owl also is a side-project of Morego Dimmer with whom he released an album back in 2008.

Content: This work sounds pretty different from the usual and familiar dark-Ambient style of the Iranian producer. He composed a Soundtrack made of different noises, creating a rather improvised work. The use of guitar sounds mixed with a waterphone, handy instruments, keys ao create a kind of apocalyptic style.Most of the tracks are pretty long.

+ + + : If you’re into improvisation and you like a rather soft approach of Noise, this album has something to offer. The work also appears to be a true challenge as the artists dares to explore different paths of this project. The experiment with noises resulted in a true apocalyptic atmosphere, which you are going to either like or hate.

– – – : I’ve never been a huge fan of improvised sessions. This work is a kind of ‘Noise jam-session’, which according to me is too far away from what I’ve heard from Xerxes The Dark. 

Conclusion: This is not the album I would recommend to discover this project, which is definitely more exciting when composing its Dark-Ambient style.

Best songs: “Opium & The Bent Old Man”.

Rate: 6.

Artist: www.facebook.com/xerxes.the.dark

Label: www.facebook.com/zaalrecords