Band: Re: dux tion

Album: A Disordered Imagination

Album Year: 2005

Label: Sleepy:verse (www.sleepyverse.net)

Genre(s): Ambient, Dark Ambient

Band Website: www.myspace.com/reduxtion

Review Date: 01/07

Rating: 9/10

Track list:

1. Far From Refuge

2. What is War?

3. The End Result

4. Unjust

5. Forewarning

6. Fluid

7. Indifference

8. Deeper

9. Unwilling

10. Three Lillies

‘A Disordered Imagination’ is the first thing I have ever heard from the dark ambient project Re: dux tion. It’s hard to know what to expect going into an ambient album, because there are so many possibilities yet so many potential pitfalls. I can honestly say that I am surprised with this album, as it took me somewhere that I had never experienced through music.

‘A Disordered Imagination’ sounds to me like the soundtrack to a dead alien world. The entire album carries a peculiar vibe and deep, empty ambiance which is both amazing and hauntingly unique. Each track sounds similar enough to continue to push and develop the atmosphere, but different enough not to become boring. The entire album sounds extremely cohesive and flows very well, almost as if it were just one very long track (although the tracks do not carry over to the next  and are set up as distinct pieces). The tracks here are genuinely haunting and desolate, but unlike any other dark ambient I have heard, they have a futuristic and spacey feel to them.

Like I previously mentioned, this album IS the soundtrack to a dead alien world. When I listen to it my mind cannot help but conjure up vivid images of ruined factories, underground labyrinths, space stations, and dilapidated cities, all once home to advanced technology and knowledge, now covered with forgotten age, dust and rock. The tracks utilize a number of features to bring together and create this other-worldly atmosphere, from very subtle pads, to the clicks and beeps you would hear floating around in a dead space station. Tracks like “Fluid” include soft synth lines which blend perfectly with the other sounds to really boost the atmospheric quality of the track.  Other tracks employ the use of cut up and effected vocal samples which are also incredibly well used and quite disturbing. Every element that the album contains is placed perfectly amongst its peers. The use of repetition on this album is done exactly how it should be in dark ambient; just enough to produce mood and atmosphere, but not enough to become vapid and soporific. At first the album sounds kind of empty and hollow, but you quickly realize that this is key in producing the peculiar and drifting ambiance.

The only negative thing I can find about this album is that some of the songs are a bit short and end rather abruptly, which is rarely the case with ambient music. The album itself ends much too soon, but I suppose I would rather it be done well than go on forever.

The bottom line is that this is some of the best and most well crafted dark ambient music I have heard in a very long time and I encourage any fans of the genre to check it out immediately. If you enjoy extremely dark (though not in the conventional sense), empty and haunting atmospheres, especially those that sound like dead alien planets, this CD will absolutely deliver.

-[.d4n b4rr3tt.]