ISON: Inner-space (DOOM): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Draconian in hibernation for five years, there is fortunately ISON to console all the lovers of his current singer Heike Langhans, whose beauty is equalled only by her talent. Associated with the Swede Daniel Änghede, singer and guitarist of Crippled Black Phoenix, the beautiful girl finds in this project the ideal setting to spread like an evanescent shroud her crystalline voice whose quilted tessitura brings her closer to the funeral murmur.

Presented as their first official opus, "Inner-Space" slips into the same corridor as "Cosmic Drone" (2015) and "Andromeda Skyline" (2017). Those who have rightly succumbed to the charms distilled by these drafts will neither be surprised nor disappointed by a content that is in every way in line with what we expected from it, the receptacle of a doom that is more spatial than atmospheric.

The work has only one (relative) defect, it starts too strong. A perfect synthesis of a music that looks like a stellar pastel, the title track shines with such brilliance, melancholic and ethereal at the same time, that it does not allow the rest of the menu to sustain comparison. "Inner-Space" would only last these eight minutes, which it would still be indispensable, a real gem carved in a rock from the depths of space.

If the couple formed by Heike with Neige (Alcest), the time of a pulsating and stormy 'Radiance', catches the attention, the following tracks leave at first only a vague memory, that of a resucée, always as magical as ever, of the eponymous track. But like the so particular - and therefore so precious - identity of its creators, these songs only reveal themselves through small pointillist touches. In the folds of their black hole vibrates their intimacy, elusive, almost vaporous. The stroke is never pressed, letting the spectral brush of the South African woman rock us like a soft but fatal melody. Attempts to harden the tone ('Equals') are quickly aborted, swallowed by a ghostly vortex.

Lying on an electronic ('ISAE') or hypnotic bed ('The Fifth World', which is swamped by distant drone fragrances), the beautiful covers the entire album with a nebulous dome. Her vocal lines act like the wail of sirens guiding the listener in a strange universe stuck between several dimensions ('Everything's About To Change Forever'). The rustle of his voice is enough to express an immense sadness. The drums seem to be erased, the guitar reduced to skeletal chords in favour of a carpet of cosmic atmospheres sown by Daniel Änghede. Only 'A Golden Force' doesn't include the singer, for a less notable result.

Certainly too long, perhaps repetitive, "Inner-Space" remains no less seductive, a (un)inhabited flight in remote and inaccessible regions, perfectly revealing a unique personality that combines the lethargy of doom and the silky wandering of atmospheric rock, all haloed by a space shroud. In any case, how can one resist Heike Langhans' vocal softness which gives these compositions an almost immaterial aspect. Her timbre has something of a limpid and bewitching halo, pale light coming from the abysses of the galaxy, which caresses us before falling asleep for an eternal sleep... - Official website

ISON

INNER-SPACE

AVANTGARDE MUSIC

DOOM