
With this review I'd like to pay my respects to Roman Mozharov and his work with the 'Build Your House Underground' project. Roman works with people with severe mental and physical impairments.. He literally brings music to these people's life as he helps them express their emotions through sound.
Solomon's Keys is the musical project of Konstantin, who is paralyzed and can only move his head. With the aid of Roman Mozharov and computers, Konstantin creates dark drones and eerie soundscapes, but also manages to add rhythm and and electronic sequences. The result is a fascinating trip, immersive dark ambient with an impending atmosphere. I'm really fond of this release, not only because of the story behind it but also - and perhaps mostly - because this is a deeply emotional high quality dark ambient album.
When I listen to the tracks on this album, Zoviet France comes to mind, but also Lustmord, Raison D'être and numerous other classics in this genre. Here and there the whole thing nudges towards the noise scene but it never gets too harsh or chaotic. Some passages might be somewhat to creepy or spooky for the average listener but then again, that's what dark ambient is supposed to sound like. So obviously, I can only recommend this gem to all dark ambient fans out there. Download, donate, enjoy.
Serge
p.s. Roman's 'Build Your House Underground' project has also released a compilation last year. You can download that here.