I've hailed Sky Burial's eponymous cdr on Housepig as one of the most interesting and fresh debuts that I listened to over the last few months, thanks to its ecstatic mix of mostly string-originated drones, hypnotic loops and minimal percussion. Right from its grim cover, its follow-up
"Spectrehorse" shows that Michael Page has decided not to replicate that formula, which he could have easily done ad nauseam - so kudos to him for that. This second disc is a definitely more obscure, heavy and merciless beast, evoking barren ghost villages rather than lush landscapes. It would be far too easy to write that this sounds like a spin-off of Page's main project, Fire In The Head, and it would be also untrue. Sky Burial has maintained the droning, atmospheric element but plunged it in a midnight
black tinge. The pitch-shifted guitar (or bass?) sounds on the title track add a twisted industrial doom sound, while the similar use of rhythmic loops in the following "Smoke Sky Horizon" has a vague dub feel. The album, however, tends to get darker and even more abstract as it
progresses, with low-end drones submerged by a feedback crescendo ("Down and Down and Down"), wailing distortion ("Straightjacket Sonata"), spiralling drones ("Justice, Just Ice, Just Us") and the gaping chasms of "Chroma Polaris". It is not surprising that the only glimpse of vital reaction (ahem...) comes from the remix version of "To Mock a Killing Bird", the best track from the debut disc and, in my opinion, the best one here as well. As a whole, I must admit I still have to make up my mind about the disc - it is very good in itself, with a welcome physical approach to the dark ambient style, but now and then I've missed the variety of the Housepig release. On the other hand, it wins in terms of construction and layering, which show how Page is getting more mature and complex with Sky Burial just like with FITH. He probably hasn't found a perfect balance of his epic side and his depressive, darker one yet, but the album surely gets a thumb up from me.