CoC : Raison d'Être - Reflections From the Time of Opening : Review

Raison d'Être - _Reflections From the Time of Opening_
(Cold Meat Industry, 2005)
by: Quentin Kalis (9.5 out of 10)

This was a nice surprise to receive in my post-box: the early work of Raison d'Être re-released, re-packaged and re-mastered with extra songs. It's impossible to select a single song as a highlight; this is an album which demands your full attention from the first note right through to the end -- no easy feat for a CD with a playing length of some 77 minutes. The songs are considerably varied, tossing in drums, choirs and other kinds of effects, yet never straying far from the path of ethereal gloominess that is, if you excuse the expression, the raison d'être of Raison d'Être. Combined with a wide array of effects and a general lack of the droning ambience that Andersson later indulged in, this is the most accessible of all Raison d'Être releases -- though not his best; that honour is accorded to _The Empty Hollow Within_. It is a cliché to mention this, but _RFtToO_ really is a must for all fans of dark ambient (who should already be familiar with earlier versions of this CD in any case) and a good starting point for those whose only exposure so far to this underrated genre has been through the key thumping of various black metal side projects. Highly recommended.

Contact: http://www.coldmeat.se

(article published 6/9/2005)

ALBUMS
14/10/2006	Q Kalis	8.5	Raison d'Être - Metamorphyses
1/1/1998	A Bromley	7	Raison d'Être - In Sadness, Silence and Solitude