All the way from Novosibirsk comes the dark ambient / neo-classical project Liholesie. After a demo in 2002 this one man project by Sever now has made an album. It’s released by Stygian Crypt, known till now as a metal label. On this cd you can find 12 moody tracks. It’s dedicated to the concept of the Wheel of Time, the mystery of death and birth, rise and fall.
Stylewise I have to think of an instrumental version of Dargaard or Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, though a little more tranquil. The music of Liholesie is quite accessible and not very complicated. The keyboard melodies are adorned by sounds of nature. There are also some (Slavic) folky elements present. Because the songs are rather simple and synthetic the cd gets a little monotonous after a while. Luckily there are a few songs present with more variation, like the acoustic instruments on ‘Early storms’ or the horns and percussion on ‘The Storms’, which comes a little in the direction of Sopor Aeternus.
In general this album by Liholesie is pleasant and relaxing to listen to, but not innovative and perhaps a bit too smooth.
