Fear Falls Burning / Nadja

First off, this is not a split CD; it is a collaborative effort between sonic adventurers Fear Falls Burning and Aidan Baker's Nadja project. Just over an hour in length, it features four long, untitled tracks, where large-scale drones, feedback, noise, and tape manipulation interact in a flurry of deep washes where dynamics change and elements of harmony and melody bubble up, but are easily turned under the cluttered black wall of sound at the gate of the void. This is the other side of Brian Eno's ambient music; it's a place where rather formless sonic montages seduce the senses with elements of violence, abrasive volume, and larger-scale manipulations of the mix. It cannot be ignored, and it draws one in to listen in full each time. In fact, once one enters this multi-textured sonic vortex, it's nearly impossible to climb out — suggestions of percussion and voices are wound and webbed behind huge power chords that are strummed again just as they seem to vanish, and cymbals and other organic percussive instruments meander freely from right to left, up and down, and in and out through the mix. While this set of new music on the Conspiracy label isn't for everyone, it is well worth the effort for anyone drawn to either artist or to this kind of music in general.