Raison D'etre - Metamorphyses

Raison D'etre. Peter Andersson. The cream of the crop. One of the biggest bands in the entire dark ambient scene, on the biggest label, Cold Meat Industries.

" Transformation is the key to the psyche. Breath and feeling intertwined is the given links for the search of inner wisdom and to unlock the hidden inside us", says the press release.

In this, Peter Andersson's 7th full length album, we are treated to our hypnotic subconsciences possessing and cleansing us over 6 phases of 'Metamorphyses'.

Raison D'etre has a knack of cleansing and detoxifying the listener, before polluting the soul and heart with the most flaccid and corrosive noises of tungsten grinding against walls. In fact, the opener here (cunningly entitled 'Metamorphyses' does exactly that : ten minutes of listening to the molten furnace spewing out it's contempt. Hateful as it may sound , this is done with an elegance that is so seldom conquered and delivered, and this has come to be one of the trademark delights of Raison D'etre and Cold Meat Industries.

Immediately after the chaotic and lengthy opener, we are taken to the next extreme, with a deadly quiet, deadly short phase of psychological torment. 90 seconds of the same classic elements, except much more distant.

Amazingly, (and thankfully) the beautiful trademark Raison D'etre sound returns on the 3 rd phase, as we are taken back to the luxurious tranquil sounds, as tempo, frequency, and pace are reduced to a much more meditative atmosphere. Dark Ambient would not be Dark Ambient if this remained the case though, and after a couple of minutes of blissful unawareness, only the most intense listeners would find themselves able to prevent the imminent jumping a mile high and reaching for the volume switch.

Ultimately, after 7 beautiful soundscapes and limitless potential, it seems almost inevitable that time, and concept will stretch itself thin. Even those of you discontent with the fact that this album lacks a lot of the tranquillity and tubular sounds of previous Raison D'etre releases,will find solace in that this echoes the lucid intensity that almost nothing else can compare to. In fact, the closing phase brings us back to reality with 10 minutes of very relaxing sounds.

For a label that has now run for nigh-on twenty years, Cold Meat Industries is far from even beginning to fade out.

Raison D'etre has just given us number 7 in a plethora of almost flawless, ethereal, and above all else timeless ambient releases. I see no better way to close this review then to thank both Peter Andersson and Cold Meat Industries for continuing to deliver material of this calibre.

In closing, if you need to ask if Raison D'etre is worth getting, you're on the wrong site. Sep 26 2006