CoC : I.A. Serpentor - Onoskelis : Review

I.A. Serpentor - _Onoskelis_
(Insomnya Records, 2008)
by: Quentin Kalis (6.5 out of 10)

Ioannes Aurelius Serpentor, to give his full stage name, returns with the sophomore album to his 2006 debut, _Withering Hopes_. The album is thematically centred on a female satyr luring men to death with the assistance of the infamous absinthe. This is a strange concept for an album of neoclassical tinged dark ambient, as the sparseness of the music is a poor complement for a tale involving symbols of decadent and hedonistic excess. This is an instrumental album, so the Spartan aesthetic has no major impact and, in any case, is not nearly as problematic as the occasional surfacing of feeble "demonic" voices. Although his synths do not sound as cheap and nasty as that of labelmates Aiton, his ambient constructions are too rudimentary, akin to the earliest Mortiis albums. This is the first release on newly formed Polish net-label Insomnya Records and is available to download as an MP3 pack from the address below.

Contact: http://www.via-nocturna.com

(article published 1/9/2008)