A Killer Stalks the Streets of London in Crier's Bane
I would like to open this review with a candid missive, if you would indulge me: this album is brilliant. The timbre of such a tale, one exploring such a time period as Victorian London, as well as the potential for steampunk and dark fantasy inflection within my mind was immediately compelling. This is the type of aural presentation of dark ambient soundscapes and field recordings told with a story narrative that I adore; the use of oblique, yet enticing narrative, field recordings and foley to give life to this world, to usher the listener along a journey.
The UK’s Tom Moore (Dead Melodies) and French artist, Pierre Laplace (Beyond the Ghost), both Cryo Chamber veterans, have joined together to present a melodious, atmospheric tapestry of tension and mystique. Initial impressions with albums are crucial to the reception of the listener, and this album instantly grabbed my attention with its synopsis - Victorian London, a killer loose in the city, and our anchoring perspective are the words of the town crier. The possibilities for story type are myriad - will this be a true period piece? Or perhaps an alternate history with some slight steampunk flourishes? The beauty of this genre is that the short answer is: “yes”. What story does your mind present to you?
The album’s first track, “Message From the Horsemen” opens with horses - the clattering of hooves upon cobblestones, riders, the “clink” of hammer upon a forge, with melodious-yet ominous sound tapestries in the distance, aided by guest musician, Amanda Elledge on French Horn, unfolding a darkened fantasy before the transom of your mind, and this opening track is a mental preparation for the rest of the “tale” this album presents, blending the inimitable styles of the two artists together, as on through the album does the atmosphere tarry; with mixing and mastering handled by Pierre LaPlace, you can hear the influence and ghostly flourishes of Beyond the Ghost, known for his ethereal presentations and proclivities for homage to the Silent Hill franchise; and these mixing techniques blend excellently with the atmospheric touches from Dead Melodies.
Simon Heath provides the cover artwork, and we are presented with an atmospheric tale of dark fantasy that inspires memories of games such as the masterful Thief, or even the more recent Dishonored, transporting the listener back to Victorian London, to a time of murk and grime, of palls of black smoke, and a killer roaming the shadows under the blanket of night.
Check out the precis below, and click the link to go and buy this album:
"Oyez, oyez, oyez!
All good citizens draw near and harken unto these words. For it is grave news this ere night, grave news indeed.
Be it known to all ye, that there has been another murder. A most gruesome murder, and the killer is still on the loose.
So good people ye, lock up your windows, bracen your doors and be safe on this night, for all is not well. All is not well"
The Crier's words hung heavy in the early eve. Shutters were closed and the townsfolk scattered to their homes as empty beggars' hands withdrew to the gutter leaving the once bustling crooked cobblestone streets now but a desolate spiral of gas lit flicker and elongated shadows.
Step back in time to the festering stench and mire of Victorian London courtesy of Dead Melodies and Beyond the Ghost.
credits
releases November 3, 2020
Written, performed and produced by Tom Moore and Pierre Laplace
Mastered by Pierre Laplace
Pierre Laplace / Beyond the Ghost: guitars, keyboards, drums, percussion, melodica, field recordings
Tom Moore / Dead Melodies: guitars, keyboards, synths, harmonica, melodica, percussion, field recordings, foley/sound design
Amanda Elledge: French horn on tracks 1 and 8
Artwork by Simon Heath
Crier’s Bane is available in CD Digipak and digital on the Cryo Chamber Bandcamp page.
Read more within the Museum of Macabre Media on Monsters, Madness and Magic here: Ugasanie Unfolds a Delicate Miasma of Winter Ambience