NEVER KNOWN

— First review of this album —

If under the name AMON, Andrea MARUTTI was at his most lugubrious, menacing or glacially desolate ambiences, NEVER KNOWN shows a much more cinematically spacey and contemplative side of his musical writing. On the Edge to Forever is in the direct vein of albums like Twilight's Last Gleaming with its complex natural / elemental ambience. This is probably NEVER KNOWN's most accessible album. This is quite calm, serene and meditative but without turning cheesy or new age. The atmospheres are ritual if not mystical with a constant evocation to natural images that communicate together within an endless flux (the crystalline water, the sound of echoes among the rock). I think that this album achieves a subtle balance between celestial "ambient" like ventures and concrete micro-experimentations. Naked Time is for instance a ravishing mind-expanding piece, including sound metaphors and cosmic-synth relaxation. Secret Wealth pursues on the same compositional schema but insists on more hypnotic, haunted extended textures. Within a Memory is a fascinating, almost "aquatic" epic electronic with minimal flows, long synth waves, each musical line and motives seem to be enveloped by an angelic, sonic splendor. A very convincing atmospheric exercise and a must have for fans of eerie drones and expanded "macrocosmic" ambient waves.

— First review of this album —

Originally released by Murder Release in 1996, Twilight's Last Gleaming is the third effort published under the name Never Known. Musically it follows the path traced by the previous efforts, subtle and sweet ethereal ambiences that surrond a glacial "cosmic" environment. Slowly moving, circular melodic waves are from time to time suspended below the surface. The album is divided into several pieces but written as a whole, epic "cosmic" composition. The opening track "Scattering the Seeds of Life" is a floating electronic meditation with crystal-like melodies appearing discreetly to the fore. Without a very delicate transition we ride into the strangely abstract and utterly dark "Roth Fall" with its exquisite mix of high monotonous frequencies, doom-like repetitive bass perforations and mytho-poetical flute notes. An impressive ritual through ancient, enigmatic time, celebrating the eternity above each mankind. The two following pieces (Searching For an Ego / Angkor Vat) are strictly focused on a vast array of mysterious sci-fi drones and noises. "Living Waters" concentrates on really low-electronic phases and sequences, driven breathing forces of the Earth. The title track is an ENO-esque dreamy electronic ambient tale floating in dark abstraction. This piece is much more accessible but still very efficient with beautiful and peaceful cloudy melodies. A spacious, delicate and intimate work. Not the most outstanding work from Never Known but a very special, comfortable natural listen in slow moving musical scenes.

— First review of this album —

Live At The Cosmic Egg is a live performance officially released on CDs (Next to Live At Molto and Live in Due Acque were performed around the same period). It has been recently re-issued by Afe Records (Andrea MARUTTI). It remains an important document to appreciating Andrea Marutti's ability to create achieved soundscaping improvisations built on an arsenal of various electronic effects and keyboards. Live At The Cosmic Egg is a fascinating listening experience that takes the listener into a rich spacious environment that articulates the properties of sound movements, of duration and ambient aestheticism. It introduces us into a ravishing, ecstatic world of sounds, natural amplified noises that justify a mystical journey through the unknown. It opens with the fundamental composition Promenade then it carries on as a spiritual-mindscaping electronic piece called Spheres. It features long spacey synthesized lines punctuated by various micro-sounds and electronic scintillations. The music doesn't deliver bleak or desolate ambiences, it's pure cosmic electronics with an enthusiastic feel concomitant to aesthetically religious dimensions. This astral-dreamy like voyage carries on sweet sonic soundscapes, suspenseful drones mixed with haunted electronic transmissions. It evocates the schematic division between equilibrium- foundation and energy-transformation. Some pieces feature sound materials taken from last studio releases (On the Edge of Forever, etc). A real imaginative live performance that tries to extract the best from the spacious context. It experiences music as a "noumenon" or music as a ritualized activity.

— First review of this album —

Once in a Lifetime is the second NEVER KNOWN album, recently re-issued on Afe Records (A. MARUTTI's own label). This album consists of dreamily-ritual excursions through ancient time and primordial elements. It starts with the two trancey-minimalism drones (A Waiting, Through the Gate), introducing us to liminal spaces. Day Two represents the beginning of a voyage through the origins and the primal-ontological foundations of life. It is made of expanded organic chords floating in deep distance. Almost without transition it directly carries on the completely sonic-black mental-scape with its strange metallic "doomy"-like echoes and high-pitch fantom-like frequencies. From dark austerity it passes to a beatific state of ravishement with the intimate and dreamy "On the Beach". This album is in the vein of the previous NEVER KNOWN, continuously beautiful with intensively mythical tellurian symbols.

— First review of this album —

Recorded sometime between 1993 and 1995, Dawn of an era features Andrea Marutti's earliest recordings in micro tonal, primal drone music. It has been recently re-issued on Afe. Despite that it represents the first step of Never Known's experimentations I consider Dawn of an era among the finest works written by Marutti, whatever the project name he decides to use to record his personal materials. This is an impressive musical translation of melancholia-nothingness representational form of creativity. It begins with the grandiose, trancey-like electronic soundscape called Decay. This is really ritualistic but it also make me think about introduction pieces of classical symphonic poems with this kind of heroic-epic grandeur. Ritual of Life and Ruins are aesthetically complex droning musical paintings including lugubrious moving electronic textures. The self title track is a contrasted, powerfully emotional soundscape admitting a lot of micro-variations, strange noises and synthesised floating waves that progress into a dramatic-plaintive elegy. Doors of Perception is certainly an hommage to Aldous Huxley's famous book about liminal states of mind. This is a creepy-extatic soundscaping anthem with moody phrases & melodies in the distance. Absolutely beautiful and unearthy. This piece seems to be touched by a sort of divine entity. Path, Exercice One and 31 songs are electronic weirdness including a lot of noisy-druggy-like effects that surrond us. Stoned vibes for the brain. Dawn of an Era provide "Tears", "veil of sorrows", "lamentations" and "extreme mind states" in bleak electronic ambiences. Music to heaven and "artificial paradises".