J G THIRLWELL & SIMON STEENSLAND: OSCILLOSPIRA

A stretch of foreboding instrumental prog with a flood of sludgy, Lovecraftian grooves. If you like that dark-for-dark's- sake early Univers Zero feel, this will be a comfy bed to curl up in. Demonic bass lines, macabre counterpoint, wordless soprano in long note values, and the occasional arcane whisper. You get the idea. For the first half of the album I admittedly found myself a little jaded with some of the more predictable conventions of the style and a couple of repetitive riff stretches that didn't quite bear fruit. Then about half way through, deeper atmospheres settled in, with the interesting instrumental detail and crisp snare drum work in "Heresy Flank," the more subdued "Mare," and the emotive violin of "Crystal Night." Make no mistake thought - they're really good at this.