August 14, 2007 • Students of Decay
In my enthusiasm for dark ambient and quest to build my collection, I've run into more than a few albums that exploit the genre's natural production simplicity—or what people seem to believe is simplicity. Uninteresting music is easy to make, and Procer Veneficus' millionth album showed promise but ultimately does little for me.
If The Cold Gloaming is anything, it's consistent: very low, subdued drones, processed guitars, and machine noises, all drenched in reverb, creating a very dark yet simple atmosphere. Each track is different in its texture; some are a bit noisier, some are more subtle. It sounds good in theory, and I did like this album at first, but its execution isn't great. The music just sits around, looping its drones without building any sort of tension or mood, as good dark ambient should. The music is definitely "cold", as advertised, but it stops there. It doesn't evoke any other emotion—it's not sad, it's not gloomy, it's not hopeful... it just sits there.
That's not to say the sounds aren't all bad; I really enjoyed the prominent bass frequencies on "Subcurrents" and "Deadmoon Summoning" (probably my favorite track) and headphones can't do them justice; they really should be listened to on good speakers. The glitchy atmospheric noise in "Everpale Mourn" is pretty nice too.
Sadly there isn't much else to say about this album; it is fairly uninteresting and while it happily doesn't drag itself on long, neither is it memorable in the slightest. As background music, it's alright, but it absolutely cannot hold itself up.
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