ALBUM REVIEW: Ambiance – ØLTEN

Swiss trio ØLTEN return with their second LP Ambiance. Following on from 2015’s Mode, this album is promising more oppressive and terrifying presence, with an emphasis on industrial, deconstructed soundscapes. with such a demonic task ahead, how spine-chilling will this album be? Will ØLTEN be able to live up to the namesake of this sophomore record?

Igelkott begins as distant and quiet as the wind. A hollow guitar chimes in, and the uneasy stomp of a drum pushes the melodrama forward. Things feel out of place, guitars not quite in tune, strings bending just out of range. The military shuffle of the drum never stops, it’s not erratic but so consistent under the noise that it grates just as much as the overpowering maliciousness of the melody. Things build into a beast of no reflection, a colossus stomping low and purposefully.

Raus takes a more direct start with its stripped back sludge. Droning, both melodic and hypnotising, the sharp tang of the symbol and the murk of the guitars works perfectly. ØLTEN manage to create great amount of unease without being able to really put a finger on what’s so wrong; everything is intentionally just a fraction away from the comfortable norms, a decent into the uncanny valley. After a while, that circular lull of a trance snaps into something with a real bite, as if you’ve walked too far down into a trap with no means of escape.

It has to be said, Marc Theurilla’s drums on this record are a real stand out point. Klark’s battering death march is the driving force of the scale that builds and surrounds it on the strings. The sharp jut of the snare and boom of the tom has a naturalistic thunk that is often overlooked in modern playing. The result is complete command over the direction of everything around it. Truly, it takes the primal feel back across the ages to when we remembered what we feared in the dark. As the buzzing guitars shape themselves into a doom, post-metal atmosphere the final crash of the symbols signals the grinding halt.

It appears that ØLTEN are becoming masters of the slow burn. Lied is another journey that begins down the road of a simple tune, that somehow takes you off the beaten path and into the dark and dangerous. It’s hard to describe the command ØLTEN have over the pure hatred in their soundscapes. As a three piece, they manage to convey dread without turning to obvious tactics like blast beats and blistering licks, but wait in the ambience that the album is named for. It’s evocative of places of old, of forests and caves, cold and lonely places. The quick grabs at a higher tempo physically increases the heart rate, the choral menace, barely audible, all blooms into a satanic summoning of ØLTEN’s darkest nature.

Gover starts steady and low in the bass, a wavering note while the mood changes drastically as the distant drums create a level of dynamic. A deeper and even more menacing sub bass lingers in the air, calling out low and thrillingly. As per the formula, the final moments of the track are all a pay off for the atmosphere. There’s been some comparison to bands like RUSSIAN CIRLCES and CULT OF LUNA, and even in some instances it’s as if bands like SPURV and HERJA took movements into the occult. However, it’s all so naturalistic; ØLTEN has a much more stripped back feel. This album looks in no way to emulate or imitate others in the instrumental scene. Rather, they’re approach to recording this album as one unit, all in one room and producing this as a collective, live sound has a distinct

Sludge is a pretty self-explanatory title, and weights in heavily into ØLTEN’s sludge tendencies. It’s grimy, thundering and thick. The bass rattles and rumbles, the guitars twang a ghostly dirge. There’s less of the trademark growth into a menacing creature here, it bares its ugly soul from the off.

Popotro is exactly how you would imagine a theme for any horror film sounds. Dissonance coming out of every orifice, it’s creepy little start opens up a sinking tone. There’s barely any music much to note, it’s all a tone and a feeling. Giving way to Pope, that previously mentioned creepy melody is expanded upon and turned over and over into a more complex, growling beast. There’s been much audible comparison to monsters on this record, and simple ØLTEN have managed to convey the hollow, mangled feeling that things that creep in the night puts into your stomach. Pope is no exception, and rewards you by leaving you in a cold sweat, filled with paranoia.

For those looking for some genuine atmospheric in their post-sludge, a place to revel in the slow places of the earth and the menace in the spaces you don’t want to look, Ambiance is the perfect record for you. ØLTEN have stayed true to form, and while the formula itself is predictable, the hairs standing on end with each track is proof enough that this is terrible atmosphere at its best.

Rating: 8/10

Ambiance is out now via Hummus Records.

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