Serbian dungeon synth project Ris has created soundtrack for an Italian TV movie "The Pastoral of Doom". How does this journey into darkness fare as a stand-alone album?
Note: The album is a soundtrack album for the movie "The Pastoral of Doom". This review is written as a stand-alone album review just from the music's point of view.
The album opens up with "Old Watermill lament", which paints dark soundscape with quite minimalistic things going on. The leading synth - which sounds smooth in a foreboding way - plays a simple, somewhat repetitive haunting melody. The melody is accompanied by background synths and noises that add up the creepy atmosphere. Same kind of atmosphere continues in "Mine diggers, grave diggers", which introduces this kind of croaking synth sound which I really like. The loop of it and the dissonance between other sounds reminds me of certain Nintendo 64 game title(s) where the guy from the forest in green clothes goes on a dark adventure with a fairy and so on, in a rather delicious way.
While the first tracks are darker and ominous, the third track "Love with forest mother" changes the tone to a lighter one. This step feels like a haven amongst the sinister journey the listener has been on so far. I enjoy the tranquil synth that leads the song, the droplet-like sounds, and the vibe that the song brings up in general. The synth that plays this sequenced high thing is a little bit annoying though, at least to me, but that doesn't ruin the otherwise decent song.
The journey through the album then continues again with darker tone with "Red rivers flow". In contrast to the previous song, this really gives a feeling that at least someone's, if not of many, blood has been spilled or is being done so at the very moment in a rather violent way. The song's combination of doomy organ synths, samples of water sounds and some sound that reminds me of some kind of ventilation system only lacks gunshots and screams, and it would be a perfect sonic story as such - the song really doesn't lack those things but they are very easily imaginable during listening.
Speaking of screams, the album goes on with tracks "The curse of Vila" and "Forest scream". The former delivers a little breathing space (still keeping the murky tone) after the fairly intense horror of the previous track, bringing in even some detective-like soundscape - just imagine that you're investigating what has happened at the scene of the previous title. The latter, on the other hand, brings in some dreadful action again. It's not hard to imagine being alone deep in a dismal forest surrounded by whatever horrors there might lurk while listening to this one.
The following "From the depths of Torlak hills" gives another breather as it focuses more on just ambient elements, sounding like you'd have a quiet moment before the (yet another) storm that's coming from somewhere deep. And deep is truly the keyword here, since the atmosphere is really same kind that it is while, well, let's say exploring a dungeon or a cave in Skyrim or some other game. "Valley of poison winds" is an exit from this depth, only to find that the exit isn't always the way to safety. This track has some annoying crackling sounds within it, and I can't really catch what those are there for.
Video games being mentioned more than once, let's mention those at least one more time. The second-to-last track "Pandemia Pandemonia" feels like a build up for some intense final battle or struggle. The recent trailer reveal for Alan Wake 2 came out just in time to make me feel that this (as well as other tracks) could indeed fit that game or the prior ones as well. The final that lies ahead in form of "The rising green power" is a bit letdown though if one expects a grande finale. While definitely fitting in with the rest of the album, in the context of being the last song it could use a bit more intensity like in tracks "Red rivers flow" or "Forest scream" though. Now it feels more like a build-up track and even the track's name implies that it could be like such.
In summary, Ris has created an interesting musical journey of a bit over 30 minutes to dark forests and other gloomy places. The album works by itself, so it is really easy to see this working as a soundtrack for a TV show/movie, which it is - it would most likely work with comic books as well. In fact, it could work as background music for pretty much anything if you're into dark and atmospheric music - at least I enjoyed listening to this while doing some writing stuff and some random chores (note: I enjoyed listening to this with full focus as well).
The album mostly succeeds to keep decent pacing within the different styles of the tracks to keep the listener engaged. It loses a bit of its grasp towards the end, and there are some sounds that aren't all pleasant, at least to my ears. It is mainly a decent run for its length though and I would certainly recommend it to fans of dungeon synth, dark ambient and retro style video game music.
Favorite tracks: Love with forest mother & Red rivers flow
Rating: 3,5/5
- Bat
Tracklist:
Old watermill lament
Mine diggers, grave diggers
Love with forest mother
Red rivers flow
The curse of Vila
Forest scream
From the depths of Torlak hills
Valley of poison winds
Pandemia Pandemonia
The rising green power
Ris / Album on Bandcamp:
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