Artist: Caerdroia
Title: The Awakening Of Pan
Type: Album
Label: Digital/Self Released
I was very much taken by the debut release from this Caerdroia project from IM (Electric Dragon, Vallenfyre) so I just took an educated punt, so to speak, on this the follow up. That debut, ‘The Old Labyrinth’ was very much a dark, subterranean crawl and just the way I like it. Deft, oozing musicality and foreboding. With a title including Pan, I was wondering if this would but a lighter exploration, sun and trees, sylvanian style. But a little peek at the cover nudged me that it probably wasn’t, and I also reminded myself of an album long ago by Endvra, ‘The Great God Pan’ which was… hardly a sunny skip through fields.
The tile track begins. This opens with delicate harp like sounds but slowly, inevitably the synth sounds in the background darken, the timpani drum enters and the choral sounds spread a rich, velvet layer of mystery and awe. Still that light melody persists but little by little it is like being led astray and you travel deeper away from the light. Perhaps the night closes in the winds pick up and the landscape is, before you notice it, more primal. Darker. That lightness fades back further until utterly eclipsed. Voices gabble in the shadows. The music drifts into more ritual beat, a call. Somehow this is not malevolent. More it is inspiring respect, and reminding you that things that are ancient and draped in mystery, will always be so. Older than you know, deeper than your world can recall. And when the melody returns, your faith and devotion has been rewarded.
‘Can Yr Ysbrydion’ (which features Ysbrydnos) has a different ritual feel for me. Snarling distorted chanting to a steady beat. It is genuinely something to prickle the hairs on your arms. ‘The Secret In The Glade’ is pure mystery; stealth leads you into it and you hold your breath as things perhaps just beyond your comprehension emerge from the shade and blossom with sunlight. Once more it is that balance between the dread that awe brings and the hypnotic beauty of the unknown.
The music is beautiful on this album. There’s a layering and an arrangement that is several steps above the norm for me. It brings a richness to the whole and a need to let your mind wander through the land you find yourself in. We get moments that remind me of distant Tangerine Dream and the medieval touch of some Dead Can Dance but these are more like tendrils of memory. Caerdroia have already blossomed into their individual self.
‘Of Dryads And The Long Forgotten’ is earthy. Inhuman voices almost sneering or snapping, the crackle of wood bending, but the melody of deep life weaves around it. Pipes and horns, steady steps on the drum, the voices leading us in the ritual.
‘Sacred Home Fire’ is a warm welcome, but most definitely one that leaves no doubt of the honour conferred on you. This is the ritual of welcoming and offering shelter and sustenance, protection, and it is neither given nor received lightly.
‘Shadows Cast By Unseen Hands’ is the more fearsome side of these moments. Here the awe tilte much further into fear. The darkness here feels not just deeper but riddled with omens and that feeling, slowly crawling up your spine that feels so exposed now, which could be called malevolent. Whether your presence here is a misstep or a brave choice remains to be seen. But as the final moments open up at least you see what you have allowed entry.
This is a dark wonder of a collection. It seems to offer different sides to the unknown, the occult lore of folk tales and old places. All inspire awe, but awe is itself multifaceted as it can be felt in the face of wild nature, gentle beauty and dark ill-will. Caerdroia here have created and conjured a fascinating, skin tingling and mesmerising world. A blend of dark ambient, ritual and dungeon synth it is for me a must buy.
Give it a go, please. But don’t blame me for what storms the doors you have allowed entry through.
Gizmo
Walking The Liminal Space 