Apart from churning out many harsh noise releases as Fire in The Head, Michael Page also has a more drone/ambient type project called Sky Burial. This year a debut cd-r was released by Housepig, followed by a cd on Page’s own label Audio Immolation Industries.

Sky Burial
An untitled cd-r with six tracks which came in a striking canvas pouch, limited to just 150 copies. 46 minutes of somewhat crude but interesting soundscapish music, which is a mixture of swirling drones, processed guitar sounds, some orchestral elements and varying rhythms. The first piece ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ is a quite heavy piece of tribal industrial, while ‘There are Dragonflies at Dawn’ is more of a minimal drone affair. Often the tracks are a too bit chaotic and dissonant to be described as typical ambient. The final and longest piece ‘Frostfire’ is too nervous and irritating for my taste. Overall the compositions are well-crafted on this cd, which has been compared to the likes of Skullflower.

Spectrehorse
Half a year after the debut, Sky Burial released the full-length album Spectrehorse. It contains 9 tracks, including a remix of ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ from the previous album. On the cover is a striking image of a running horse skeleton. Directly on the first (title) track, the sound of Sky Burial comes across as much deeper and more overwhelming than on the debut, more classic dark ambient-like also. Interesting to mention is that Spectrehorse was partly composed using edited field recordings made in temples and caves in Laos. Furthermore Page used guitars, percussion, synth and lots of studio material created in the last ten years. The album is well-produced and convinces me in the varied dark sounds that are used and in the cold ritual mood that is evoked.

Author: HD. Published on: Saturday, October 21st, 2006.
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