Dark Ambient Review: My House Is Full of Faces

Review by Casey Douglass

Sometimes, it’s the most innocuous things that we focus on. Maybe you notice the sound of a blackbird singing in the garden while you are vomiting into the toilet, or maybe someone is insulting you and all you can notice is the dried skin on the side of their nose. It feels surreal, to me anyway. Mutestare’s My House is Full of Faces is a dark, ambient experimental album that, pleasingly, left me feeling the same way.

Mutestare describes the album in his email to me: “It fits into the broadness of the ambient genre but never really settles into it: There's electroacoustic, noise, modern classical and electro influences throughout. The tone is generally surreal and emotionally, it's got something to do with memory, intimacy, sexuality, regret, and the feeling of being bound to a situation that's inescapable. It runs through the path of darkness and recovery and light.” I have to admit that the mention of feeling stuck in a situation is what really spoke to me, as I often feel quite futile about my own life.

Broadly, upon listening to the album, I found a pleasing blend of tones and drones, from plucked guitar strings to fuzzy vibrating low tones, with plenty of warping and echoing for good measure. Certain of the tracks also included field-recorded sounds that helped give the soundscapes a feeling of depth and distance, whether snippets of bird song seemingly caught through an open window, or the more visceral and central use of the sounds of crowds and applause. What all of the tracks seem to share is a dose of the surreal, and it was fun to ponder what was actually happening during each one.

One of my favourite tracks is the opening track Golden Furniture in a Fading Room. It features guitar notes and other twisting and warping tones. There is a squeaky floorboard aesthetic too, with various beeps and crackles creating a charged but heavy atmosphere. Towards the end of the track, there are snatches of voice and birdsong, along with echoing footsteps. This track really did bring to mind the atmosphere in a room, with snatches of outside life wafting in through the open window.

Predicament is also a track that stood out as, once again, it seemed to deftly embody the track title. A low growing drone gets things started, with higher tones becoming apparent at the edges. A faint jitter and whisper-like vibration dances around plucked notes, creating an airy but dark feeling. There are echoes and a metallic clink, and a sudden buffeting feeling. Things get screechy and distorted, like a storm is brewing, and after a while, a male and female voice can be heard. For me, this track felt like two people who live together having a big row, and the anger and calm that ebbs and flows as a consequence. This track seems to contain a whole host of feelings and moods, and this adds a tension that feels like a maelstrom of peace and frenzy.

Another track that I really liked was Faces. It begins with horn-like tones. These are soon joined by the sounds of clapping and whistles. This track feels like the curtain call at the end of some kind of show, but one in which a hint of dark discord begins to grow. After the midpoint of the track, the notes begin to distort into a kind of self parody. There is a topsy-turvy feeling, a low metallic vibration, and a harsher high pitched tone that chimes and warps and makes everything seem to waver. To me, this track had a number of moods, from the way that our self critic berates us when we make mistakes, to the folly of trying to gain approval from other people and how quickly it can be taken away for no reason. The track ends with a pounding beat that merges with the following track, which I will talk about next.

Feels the Same in the Crimson Room creates the soundscape of sitting in a nightclub, the babble of voices, music and the tinkling of glasses. There is a slight warpy feeling and things halt around sudden laughter. There is a distorted mic thump and a feeling of isolation and anxiety that feels similar to the previous track Faces. This track felt like trying to get away from your mental demons by going out and meeting people, only to find, as always, that you can’t get away from yourself or your shitty mental health. I enjoyed the way that this track was a total departure from the others in the way of being a beaty, dancy affair, but one corrupted by a darkness that still keeps it in line with the general tone of the album. A pleasant surprise.

The final track that I wanted to mention was Imp. Twisting, tinny electronic tones rise and fall, soon joined by piano-like notes that feature a bit of a lumping “spang” at the fringes. A high buzz joins a while later, with a higher tone sitting above everything. For me, this was a track of creeping shadows, of sitting in a dark room with the door opened a crack and a narrow dart of light highlighting the bare floorboards. Later, there are scuffing motions and warbling, twisty plucked notes. A flute-like tone also joins the fun. This track felt like a peaceful exploration of numbness, of that nothing feeling where you and the world both feel like nothing, and all there is, is the light cast on the bare wooden floorboards.

My House Is Full of Faces is a dark ambient album that does a fine job of creating moods that sit at the more subtle end of the spectrum. While it might be easier to give audible voice to more clear-cut and extreme emotions, this album nestles languidly in the grey areas, seemingly presenting those moments of pre or post-emotional numbness and despair that are easy to miss when more overt feelings of doom dominate. If you enjoy music that explores feelings of stagnation, ennui and disconnection, you might like to check out My House Is Full of Faces on Bandcamp.

 

I was given a review copy of this album

Album Title: My House Is Full of Faces

Album Artist: Mutestare

Released: 23 March 2025

Dark Ambient Review: Pit Fiend

 Dark Ambient Review: Pit Fiend

Review by Casey Douglass

I’m always interested when dark ambient music situates its concept in Hell. Whether it's a brooding rumbling hellscape or a wider theme of good versus evil, there’s just something primal and ominous about music that bathes itself in brimstone and murk. Insectarium’s Pit Fiend released a week ago, and is an album that tells a Hell-backed tale of pride and ruin.

Pit Fiend follows the story of a mighty paladin, one who is very successful in eradicating evil in the land. That is, mostly successful. There was one encounter that saw him bested by a pit fiend, and as time passed, this loss ate away at him, making him foolish and prideful. One day, he decides that only he can beat this creature, and so against all advice, he braves the infernal realms to snuff out the evil at its source. There, he is tripped up by over-estimations of his own power, and lets just say that he meets a mucky, yet eternal end.

The Paladin’s Journey opens proceedings, its low, echocardiogram-like beats echoing in space. A small chime and a metallic resonance sound, and are shortly joined by lone male chanting. The track feels meditative in this phase, and gave me the impression of dust motes catching the sunlight in some kind of stone temple. It’s also pleasing how the lighter elements in the track make a fine balance for the ominous deep beat. Low string-like notes appear off to the right, and as the midpoint nears, piped-notes suddenly set the soundscape agitating. Things gain a rough and pleasing texture, with a raspy quality. After the midpoint, the track quietens into a susurrating static space. It felt windy with low buzzing notes and eddies of power swirling. Sharper grinding tones zither and abrade the air, but there are some peaceful tones that nestle beneath the perturbations. As the end of the track nears, things quieten to a chant-based space once more, but with the added difference that, at times, there seems like a second voice mirroring the first. It occurred to me that it could be some kind of spirit or demon making a mockery of whichever ritual is being performed. This is a great track, full of texture and atmosphere.

Pit Fiend is the next track, and it's a very different beast. It opens with blaring horns and trumpets, and is a clashing jittery jiving space, one that is carried along by a rattling beat. It settles down into snippet of choral chanting, with low plucked notes, echoes and gentle gong reverberations. A juddery swirl builds and dies. Tinny high pitched notes begin to buzz. The coral chant returns and around the midpoint, things quieten to beats and wavering insectoid horns. The second half of the track feels like a squelchy scratchy gurgling thing, gnat-like horns and vibrations creating a soundscape that feels like an angered-up bee-hive, or the festering wriggling of maggots on a corpse. You can almost smell the stench of demonic rot.

Track three is Unearthed Arcana, and I think it’s my favourite track on the album. It begins with muted clinking echoes in a breath-laced space. This track also feels insectoid and hive-like, a background buzz and rumble making the listener feel like they are surrounded by millions of creatures. Whisper-like scratches and chitters begin, a deep single beat their companion at times. A growing drone begins, with more beat-like rasps and squealing electronic tones sitting in the high places. There is a trundling droplet kind of feeling off to the right of the soundscape. The space that this track creates feels pregnant and brooding. As the track continues, there are hints of voices amidst the buzz. A delicate high tone begins to insinuate itself, a little like a fairy flying through the abyss. Geiger counter-like clicks rattle and echo, and the drone, beat and vibrations of the soundscape envelop the listener in a steam engine whistle-like pressure of arcane energy.

Crooked Messiah is up next. It starts with a low watery echo and beat. There is a growing low drone, one that is sandwiched between companion tones a little higher and lower than itself. There is a chant effect and swells of large numbers of singers singing choral music. The soundscape feels large yet corrupted, maybe a dark cathedral with blood red clouds roiling in the arches of the impossibly high roof. There is a slow single beat and a repeating clopping sound. There are scuffling snatches of music in the right ear. Things begin to warp more, a little like an old vinyl record slowly melting in infernal heat. They also feel like they get stuck, yet they unstick a little later when a variety of drumbeats begin to sound. This is a fun track, a sinister hymn to a bleak religion, and the snatches of choral voices create a fine feeling of a dark voyeuristic space.

Sharpening The Vorpal Blade is another track that I’d say is one of my favourites. It features a growing string-like quivering tone, with hints of other notes at the periphery. The drone takes on a voice-like aspect, muddying the waters as to whether you are listening to chanting or a purely synthetic tone. There are rushes and hisses of air that bring to mind the pumping of bellows. A metallic grinding tone appears shortly after. Things then quieten to a relaxed drumbeat accompanied by a pure piped-tone. The second half of the track escalates things further, and features breathy clicks and echoes, swells of chant-like vocals, and even more instances of rasping metallic scrapings and sharpenings. This track is aptly named as the soundscape really does seem to depict many of the sounds that might come with the sharpening of a blade.

Sermon on The Mount is a vibrating, reedy track that hints of wind and whirring. There are also tones that add some sparkling and whining, giving the soundscape a mechanical feeling. A wah-wah-ing beat sets the soundscape pulsing, and high, light tones dance at the edges of things. A whistling tone emerges and lower vibrating notes. A low, distorted broadcast-style voice begins, intoning words about sacrifice, God and desire. This sermon continues until the end of the track. 

The 10 of Swords is the penultimate track, one that gets started with a juddery tone that is accompanied by hollow, vibrating notes that whistle and grind into echoes. There is a low beat at times and also a variety of knocking and some chanting. As the midpoint approaches, a low droning note vibrates the soundscape, a shimmering metallic jitter its companion. For me, this track felt a little like Lovecraft’s The Colour Out of Space mixed with the calls of some deep sea leviathan, which is quite a mixture!

It Came To An End is aptly, the last track of the album. It opens with a lighter yet sad feeling, a mid range drone mixing with wispy higher notes, echoes and a shimmering feeling. There is a knocking metallic rhythm and a little later, low sweeping string notes that add to the melancholy feeling. Some of the tones seem to gain a raspier edge after the halfway point, and others intensify, but the track does stay largely peaceful for the duration. It is very much the kind of music which you’d watch behind the scrolling credits at the end of a good horror film, and a fine track to round off the album.

Pit Fiend is an atmospheric journey into the depths of Hell, with each track painting some lovely vivid impressions of various locations along the way. As I mentioned above, Unearthed Arcana and Sharpening The Vorpal Blade were two tracks that I felt really excelled at this, but there were certainly others that deftly created a wonderful impression of ominous events; Crooked Messiah for example. If you like your dark ambient music to be Hell-themed, deep, and to take you on a journey through dark spaces, you’d do well to check out Pit Fiend on Bandcamp.

I was given a review copy of this album

Album Title: Pit Fiend

Album Artist: Insectarium

Label: Befalling Silence Productions

Released: 25th Feb 2025

 

Dark Review: Space Marines: Infernus Marines + Paints Set

Review by Casey Douglass

One day, I was browsing a depressing subreddit for people who have given up on life and love, when I saw a response to a post that caught my attention. I can’t remember the exact words but it was something along the lines of “I just find peace painting my miniatures.” I then thought to myself: “You know what, there are worse ways to spend your time!” I then used some leftover Xmas money to order the Warhammer 40K Space Marines: Infernus Marines + Paints Set, which is the subject of this review.

Before saying anything more though, I want to make it clear that I don’t view miniature painters as depressed people who have given up on life. It just so happened that while feeling very low, I found someone else who’d found solace in the hobby and so I decided to pick up a kit to see if I could enjoy it too. I had no intention of building an army of miniatures or playing the table-top game. I just wanted to connect with the bleak 40K universe that I enjoy via the Black Library novels, and to find some small sense of satisfaction in painting something physical that was born from that universe.

The Warhammer 40K Space Marines: Infernus Marines + Paints Set contains three push-fit Infernus Marines (so no glue required), a Citadel Starter brush, three bases, and six pots of the various paints needed to paint said marines in the same fashion as pictured on the box. The marine models come on a single sprue (plastic framework), their various disembodied heads, legs, weapons, arms and torsos held in suspended animation by the grey plastic. Initially, I was going to use a craft knife to cut them free but I soon decided to pick up some cheap craft snips from Ebay as it felt safer, and as it turned out, was the best choice for trimming any stray bits of plastic away. It’s a bit of a shame that there weren’t any snips included in the kit, but it’s not a big deal.

The models themselves all take on a different posture, and the push-fit nature of each means that they all fit together in slightly different ways. It was easy to see how they needed to be assembled, and, upon beginning the paint job, it was easy to remove the odd arm or weapon again to aid in the painting process. Once pushed together firmly, the models feel solid enough, and I have no fears about them falling apart as gravity and time take their toll.

The most important step that I decided to take was to see if there were any suitable beginner videos on YouTube that might help me with the painting. As it happens, the official Warhammer channel has their own tutorial video for this very kit, and I’m very pleased that I watched it as it contains all sorts of tips that are extremely useful.

The video does a good job of explaining how to use each type of paint, how to use the Macragge Blue to base coat, how to thin your paints, and how you shouldn’t use your brush in the technical paint because it will ruin the bristles. I don’t mind admitting that I would totally have done that if I hadn’t watched the video, as I didn’t realise that the technical paint was a gritty sandy nightmare for a paintbrush. The only thing that I didn’t like about the video was the way that some of the advice seemed to be geared towards getting your miniatures painted in no time, the cynic in me filling in the end of certain sentences with “and then you can buy more!”

I found the painting process itself to be very satisfying. Building up the base coat layers until the covering is smooth and pleasing. Using the different colours to paint in the small details. Being mindful of how thin I want the paint to be, or of the shape of the brush head, and learning to hold and turn the miniature in ways that best let me paint as cleanly and neatly as possible. Also the unending dance with perfectionism and frustration, and seeing every misstep as just part of the fun rather than something to swear about. I could also see how my abilities improved from one miniature to the next, with the second one progressing a little easier; with less repainting required to touch up any mistakes I’d made.

One thing that I did find quite surprising was that I didn’t really reflect on my link to the 40K universe, the lore, or anything like that, while I was painting. I guess I went into things thinking that I’d be pleasantly lost in reveries about hive worlds and power armour while gently flicking a brush over the moulded plastic, but in actuality, the painting monopolised all of my concentration. The reveries simply came before or after a painting session, when I was happy to ponder all things 40K in my quieter moments. I prefer it this way and I do feel that it has added another dimension to my love of the 40K universe.

An element that I also enjoyed was how long it takes to paint a miniature. Even if you ignore the time that it takes the paint to dry between coats, I didn’t realise the degree to which you layer colours or brush in shades. This was particularly gratifying when you bring the price of miniature painting to mind, as for me, the longer it takes to paint one, the more I’m getting out of the hobby. I think that this kit is priced very nicely, but looking around at the general cost of the miniatures, and of course, the paints that you’d need to paint them, the prices can become pretty eye-watering. I understand that the design and manufacture of such things has a lot of costs involved, but when you are paying £20+ for one small plastic disassembled figure in a box, it’s hard to shake the feeling that it feels a bit much.

If you are anything like me and have enjoyed the Warhammer 40K universe in other forms, but have never picked up the model painting side of things, I think that this kit is a brilliant way to see how you might get on. It gives you pretty much everything that you need to paint your first space marines, and the tutorial video that I already mentioned will show you what to do. I found it really satisfying to paint my own miniatures, and I picked up a further five Infernus Marine sprues on Ebay so that I can continue practicing on figures that don’t cost that much. Beyond that, I don’t know what I’ll do next. I may pick up one of the more expensive characters that appeals to me, but at this moment in time, I’m quite content with my little blue friends.

Item: Space Marines: Infernus Marines + Paints Set

Contents: 3 push-fit Infernus Marines, Citadel Starter Brush, 6 X Paints, 3 bases.

Age Limit: 12+

Manufacturer: Games Workshop Ltd

RRP: £22.50

My Dark Ambient Album Winding Down At The Edge Of Oblivion Is Out Now

I just released my ninth dark ambient album on Bandcamp: Winding Down At The Edge Of Oblivion.

It is themed around an android slowly losing function, sitting at the end of civilization, surrounded by ruin.

I tried to make a slowly building, subtle album, one to listen to with a nice comfy pair of headphones and a comfy bed to drift off into imagination on. I'm quite pleased with it.

If you'd like to check it out, you can find it on Bandcamp for £1.95. If you decide to pick it up, many thanks :)

Casey aka Reality Scruncher.

 Dark Ambient Review: Nephilim

Review by Casey Douglass

Myths are an endearing and enticing source for creative inspiration; the way that some of their elements seem shared by disparate cultures being an added tasty enticement for minds that are happy to ponder such things. The Nephilim fall into this category, and they are the subject of Nephilim, a dark ambient album from the Spanish music project Hiemis.

I’d heard the word “nephilim” before, but beyond some vague notion that it was a biblical thing, I knew little else about them. The album description relates how these beings are “fallen”, and also mentions that they liked to share forbidden wisdom, when they weren’t too busy boffing eligible women who were game for a bit of fun. The result of these couplings happened to be the birth of a race of giants, which caused a fair bit of a ruckus before things settled down again. Sorry, I don’t know why I went all “British 60’s seaside postcard humour” in this paragraph. I guess I`ll never know.

The Watchers is the opening track, one with fuzzy vibrating tones, dense echoes and a light shimmering that wafts through the soundscape. The space seems to throb and thrum, and it put me in mind of some kind of a dark temple fizzling with energetic manifestations. Around the midpoint the track quietens into a smoother pulsing space, with hollow chiming tones resonating into the perceived darkness.

The second track, The Decent, begins with a low, rough drone and an echoing space. Tension begins to grow, and it begins to feel like sensing the sound through your skull rather than with your ears. Hints of other tones insinuate and then burst into life, soon joined by low, string-like notes.There is a buffeting feeling at the edge of things, and distortions that pick at the threads of the soundscape. This track is a fun excursion into an energetic and wind-blasted realm of low bassy turbulence, and is one of my favourites as a consequence.

Track three, Forbidden Wisdom, opens with light plucked notes and a vibrating drone. An airy static hiss comes and goes, and the drone evolves into a meditative Om-like sound. The various elements begin to build into a busier soundscape, hinting at energies collecting. The static is harsher, sharper and more distorted as time passes, almost as if it is abrading something. Things stop suddenly around the halfway mark and the listener is left in a smoother, larger space. I wonder if this track depicts the way that we might take in forbidden wisdom, the way that the mind churns as it digests something new, and the sensation of horizons expanding once we have integrated our understanding. This was another track that I really enjoyed and would call it a favourite.

The next track, Heavenly Lineage, opens in a more abrupt way. There is a kind of ricochet-like pop of wind sound, which then goes on to settle into a distorted vibrating space with drones and lighter tones as the backdrop. Vibrating electronic tones judder and arc away, sometimes taking on the mantle of screams, in my own ears anyway. The second half of the track quietens into a calmer, more peaceful space.

Track five, Abyss, is another track that starts with an echoing, windy feeling. This one also features a feeling of movement or tension by way of a low rhythm that gently agitates the space. Small swells of hissing air or voice punctuate the fringes, and help to create a pleasing impression of the soundscape throbbing with some kind of pregnant presence or potential. As the midpoint approaches, the soundscape feels like it begins to whir and shimmer, and a female chant-like vocal seems to appear at times. 

Chaos is a track that opens with a slowly growing drone. There is a subtle impression of air currents that soon fill with beguiling high tones that throb and nestle. A short time later, a bassiness gently pumps the ears, accompanied by a wailing-like tone. Things quieten for a while and then a hint of whispering emerges at the edge of hearing. High tones impinge again, bringing a ghostly choral vocal effect along with them. The second half of the track quietens and then swells into life again in a similar way to the first half.

The penultimate track, Darkness, sees a return of the string-like notes. A low drone is their companion, and everything pulses and distorts in a bouncing, throbbing manner. Things become quiet and then as they build again, clearer notes begin to describe a brief, slow melody. After further periods of quiet and swelling, and after the halfway point, chiming notes coming from the right of the audio field set the soundscape reverberating. There is a subtle falling cluster of tones in the centre of the space, a bassial throb and a falling hissing sound. For me, this track had a sad, hopeless feeling, and the various effects made me think of something gently imploding.

The final track, Apocalypse, opens with a horn-like blare, one backed with a low drone and a shimmering throb. This is a juddery, echoing soundscape, with a chime-like quality that softens the harder effects. The track reverberates and increases in tension, the pulsing pressure intensifying as the horn-like blares repeat at intervals. This feels like a desolate space, one wiped clean of anything that might come close to warmth or kindness.

Nephilim is a dark ambient album that is full of restful, yet interesting, droning spaces. Each track felt like it made a great use of busyness and quiet periods, and the soundscapes themselves had plenty of subtle details and textures for the listener’s mind to focus on and to explore. Nephilim is an ominous yet peaceful trip into myth, and if you like your dark ambient on the more soothing end of the spectrum, you might like to take a look at Nephilim on Bandcamp.

I was given a review copy of this album

Album Title: Nephilim

Album Artist: Hiemis

Label: Noctivagant

Released: 22 September, 2024

 

Dark Ambient Review: City of Tethers

Review by Casey Douglass

City of Tethers is an ambient and glitch-based experimental album from guitarist and sound artist Corrado Maria De Santis. The album description says that it was inspired by part of Italo Calvino’s book Invisible Cities, which makes mention of a city hanging over an abyss, with a net the only thing stopping it from falling in. What I found really interesting is that the people who live in the city know that the net will break one day, but that this makes their life less uncertain than the lives of people who live in other, less precarious cities.

Upon reading this, I found myself quite enchanted with the concept. Is it really better to live with a looming threat that is pretty certain, than to live in some kind of miasma of intangible yet almost infinite fears or concerns? Is it possible to be at peace on the edge of ruin? Do you appreciate life more? Does everyone who lives there feel this way or are there plenty who envy the citizens in the next city, the ones who don’t have a vertigo inducing view from their bedroom windows?

To be fair, the album description also relates how the theme of City of Tethers is all about the tensions between the systems that we rely on in our daily lives, how they affect the environment etc. but I don’t mind admitting that I mainly stuck to the “Holy shit, a city over an abyss!” point of view. There’s depth here if you want it, pun partially intended. Just be thankful it wasn’t a double entendre! Anyway, onto the music itself…

The opening track, City of Tethers, begins with a low drone that has a hiss at the fringes. Wavering tones appear and hover, a low distorted heartbeat-like pulsing underpinning things. Gentle, flakey distortions bring falling pebbles and soil to mind, with echoing rattlings, a distant shimmer, and ahh-like vocal effects joining the soundscape. For me, the overall mood and feeling of this track was of the last rallying trumpet call of a civilization that is about to be lost.

The next track, Entangled Uncertainties, opens with echoing muted mechanical trundling sounds. Electronic tones sway into the soundscape and there is another hint of those ahh-like vocals. The tones seem to align at times and to pull each other along. They feel melancholy. Organ-like notes and crackles emerge as the track’s halfway point nears. There is also a slow, deep breath-like hiss that flows and ebbs at the edges. This track, particularly once the organ-like notes began, had a worshipful, grateful feeling, like the last ever service in a church that would be gone the next day.

The Ravine is up next, a track that gets going with a chiming, pulsing space, backed by a low, wavering drone. There are more falling pebble type sounds, and vibrating flares of deep tone. There is a pervasive juddery feeling, and more of the gentle vocal-like sounds. This track resonates and rings with feelings of vertigo and of being haunted. This is further reinforced later when some of the sounds seem to take on the aspect of the shrieking of a flock of carrion birds; but the sound is soft and not harsh.

Dusk’s Embrace is the penultimate track, and after a very quiet start, it soon spins up into some wind-like static, pulsing semi-rough tones and a low drone. There is distortion like clipped rain drops too, and a warm fuzziness to things. Higher tones appear, strong and taught with a tension that seems to embody the struggle between light and dark. The whole track for me, felt like a bated breath, but also of peace and an ending. I also felt that as the track continued, the higher tone appears to weaken as night seems to win out against the daylight.

Finally, there is Floatin’ on the Edge, the longest track on the album at just over thirteen minutes. The track begins with scuffing knocking echoes and woody vibrations. There is a growing drone that slowly throbs with potential energy, like something poised for action. Gentle tones describe a leisurely simple melody that seems sad and somehow final. The tones pulse and mirror each other with hints of discord and struggling, with higher pitched tones then appearing to make the space seem busier. As the track plays out, it gains a teetering tension, and it feels like it gathers a kind of “busy beehive” type air. In the final quarter, there are odd tinkling and metallic clinking sounds, with low bassy judders and buffeting sounds. Maybe the city is about to fall…

City of Tethers is an album that adeptly embodies its theme of a precarious city dangling over untold depths. As I said in my opening paragraphs, I find the concept very beguiling and I’m happy to say that the music fits those mental associations wonderfully. The music is sad and uplifting, and also fraught with the dichotomies between light and dark, existence and destruction, and peace and fear. If you enjoy drone-based distortions and juddering textured soundscapes entwined with a concept that just begs for more than idle pondering, you should check out City of Tethers on Bandcamp when you get the time.

I was given a review copy of this album

Album Title: City of Tethers

Album Artist: Corrado Maria De Santis

Label: Owl Totem Recordings, Distributed by Fonodroom

Released: 26 November, 2024

Dark Fiction Review: Happy Bunny and Other Mischiefs

 

Dark Fiction Review: Happy Bunny and Other Mischiefs

Review by Casey Douglass

I’ve always been a fan of short story collections, especially those that feature weird, unsettling and thought provoking stuff. Rebecca Gransden’s Happy Bunny and Other Mischiefs is an assortment of fourteen twisted horror tales that comfortably fit this description, from the reality bending and unease inducing, to the stomach turning and “Ugh!” producing.

As a gamer, I’d have to say that my favourite story of the lot is Fuck It Cat and the Mod Hex From Hell. It’s a cautionary tale about accepting any offers or deals from random people in a pub. In this case, it just so happens to be a games console, and of course, the price is too good to be true. The console happens to have a game already installed, and it invites the player to create an avatar with certain things in mind, some relating to the real world. To say more would be to spoil the tale, but the story offers a pleasing glimpse of the dire consequences in hastily created player characters, and they are not just the “getting your warlock to level fifty and then realizing you can’t stand the playstyle” variety.

Another story that stood out for me is ReWipe, one that also happens to feature technology. This one takes place in a basement archive where two work colleagues, Nathan and Scott scour old VHS tapes, photos and other physical media for interesting stuff. The story begins with them discussing the announcement that there is officially nothing left to find on the internet that hasn’t already been shared. They are poised to start raking the money in as requests for what they have found go through the roof. Strange things begin to happen though. Nathan finds that clicking “like” on things on social media no longer works, and suddenly finding himself unable to “like” things online causes a kind of existential crisis for him. A clever and fun tale with food for thought about the way our technology use can derail our minds.

The final story that I wanted to mention is Slug Slick. It involves two brothers, Dimos and Yuri, a quiet stretch of road, and a dangerous game with some sinister slugs. Once the reader learns what a slug slick is, we are then treated to some serious consequences, but consequences that reveal a far bigger horror than the capers of two young boys. This is another story where technology plays a role, and one in which it is used in a disturbing and quite obscene way. What makes this story even more startling is the way that after reading it, I could fully imagine said technology being made in the real world, as us humans are a silly, profit-led bunch, with one eye on the sack of gold and the other looking everywhere except at the harm being caused.

I won’t go into any more detail about the other stories as I really don’t want to spoil them. I will say that my favourites were the ones that gave me food for thought or made a comment on certain elements of modern day life, such as industrialisation or thrill seeking. The others fell more into the kind of squishy quirky horror that seemed to carefully balance the gore with a kind of cosiness that kept things fun. Each story felt just the right length and none outstayed their welcome, which is a tricky thing to achieve. As far as some of the other themes, there are maggots, strange hybrid creatures with curious powers, cannibals and sacrifices, to name but a few; so something for everyone!

If you enjoy short horror stories and you’d like to take a closer look at Happy Bunny and Other Mischiefs, you can find it on Amazon.

I was given a review copy of this book.

Book Title: Happy Bunny and Other Mischiefs

Book Author: Rebecca Gransden

Published: 13th August 2024

Pages: 158

ISBN: 978-1445215570

Price: £12.30 (Paperback), £2.99 (Kindle).