Midnight Odyssey/The Crevices Below/Tempestuous Fall - Converge, Rivers of Hell (2013)

Converge, Rivers of Hell is significant for a number of reasons. While I'm pretty sure it's not the sole case of an individual artist producing a split release of his numerous recording projects, it's certainly rare in both its unified theme, and the ability of Dis Pater to create such a consistency of flow between three disparate aesthetics while maintaining the identity of each. And 'flow' is the key here, because we're dealing with a concept album about the Greek mythological rivers, so it's important that he can translate the classic characteristics of these bodies of water into musical form while keeping Midnight Odyssey, The Crevices Below and Tempestuous Fall stylistically flush with their constituent backlogs. To this extent, I was rather surprised by a few choices...for example, I'd have thought "Lethe" was a shoe-in for Tempestuous Fall, but ultimately this is little more than nitpicking, because Converge, Rivers of Hell is overall both an excellent proof of concept, and a fitting swan song for the two projects which would be Dis-continued after this recording. :rimshot:

This is for all intensive purposes a full-length record at around 64 minutes, with six songs all over nine minutes in length, but in this case it's a brilliant tactic which allows the listener to settle in to the current of each 'river' and ride it down- or upstream to its fellows. What keeps the three musical entities coherent is the heavy use of atmosphere and synthesizer orchestration throughout, so that there's a seamless feel to each of the tunes which are alternated in the track list (two apiece). Naturally, the Tempestuous Fall material is slower and more rooted in doom/death aesthetics than its peers; a mix of death gutturals and soaring clean vocals exhibit Dis' arching range over the medieval theatrics of the keys and percussion. Whereas The Crevices Below is still the stuff of subterranean majesty, despite being so expansive and busy with blast beats, driving chords and sweeping symphonic arrangements, you still get the impression you're at the foot of some underground castle, at the knees of some troglodyte liege who raves at you with a combination of slightly higher pitched gutturals and deeper bellowed vocals which ricochet off the stone and earthen borders of his domain. Midnight Odyssey then lives up to its more 'open' nature, beautiful and skyward and without restriction, ever his most varied creative outlet and the one which seems to have survived the purging of the others...

And thank the stars for that, since Firmament remains one of my favorite metal records of the last decade and its successor was not far beyond. Regardless, Dis Pater has seen fit that each of the three projects complements one another more than you might have suspected if you were just to compare the raw recordings each has put out in the past, to the extent that there is some degree of blending amongst them. In other words, while there are differences in style and architecture, he could have probably released this strictly under the banner of Midnight or Crevices and gotten away with it, especially the former since it's quite clear he's bent on evolving that sound over the course of distinct releases. But that's why Converge, Rivers of Hell works so bloody well, why it so effortlessly transports you from the shores of Hades to the euphoria of Elysium. Had the production been wildly jarring between projects, it would feel disjointed and distracting. As it stands, the split proves a fitting finale for The Crevices Below, and even Tempestuous Fall (the one outing of his that I wasn't initially impressed with). Catchy, dense, drifting, textured, absorbing overtures to classicism and tragedy, accessible and yet uncompromising. Perhaps the greatest living musical tribute to its subject matter, and a guaranteed refresher to anyone's appetite for whatever Midnight Odyssey comes up with next. I only regret I didn't cover it sooner.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (in conveyance of the dead)

http://www.midnight-odyssey.com/

Tempestuous Fall - The Stars Would Not Awake You (2012)

Based solely upon my immersion into and enjoyment of his other projects, Dis Pater's Tempestuous Fall seems on the surface an intriguing idea, the Australian multi-instrumentalist stepping outside his comfort zone of high concept, atmospheric black metal into the comparative extremity of the doom/death niche. The Stars Would Not Awake You sacrifices none of the spacious overtures of his other recordings, but what ultimately manifests here is more like an admixture of drudging, raw funereal guitar tone, slugging chugging sequences and glazed melodies paired up with both growls and My Dying Bride-like clean vocals, furnished with bright and airy synthesizers redolent of Midnight Odyssey. It's probably my least favorite of Dis Pater's releases to date, but I'd be lying to say he doesn't approach it with the same cohesion and tenacity he does his other entities, and it's not a matter of the man overextending himself.

Each of the five tracks falls between 10-15 minutes in length, taking its sweet time to envelop the audience in drifting sadness, some of them more successful and striking than others. The guitars alternate between thick, low end palm muted sequences of little interest (like in "Old & Grey") to more graceful, tear stained progressions that function in sync with the other instrumentation. Those who fancied the somber variation and sheer immensity of Funerals from the Astral Sphere will probably be right at home with a track like "Marble Tears" or "Beneath a Stone Grave", the latter proving one of the best compositions here with its cleaner, dreary and haunted intro guitars, but Dis Pater divides the content up quite evenly between the crushing series of chords, sailing synthesized choirs and moments of introspection to balance out the burden of the heavier depression. Drum beats are kept minimal, as they so often are within this sub-genre, and there are spaces where they cease entirely. The bass is often muddied and overpowering through its distortion, and the production never so polished that it fails to permeate the listener's soul. Dis Pater's clean vocals are quite refined here, perhaps even more confident than on the last Midnight Odyssey record.

The Stars Would Not Awake You is mildly brighter and warmer than funeral doom forebears like Skepticism and Thergothon, so don't expect a lot of droning dryness many seek in this field, though their influence is clearly felt in the album's drawn out eaves of decay. It's also not nearly so psychedelic or staggering as something like Esoteric. This is more within the realm of a band like Shape of Despair, Evoken or Mournful Congregation, and fans of such are like to get the most out of this particular record. I admire that Tempestuous Fall brings a little personality to the style, and found that the songs weren't as dull or monotonous as they often are within these parameters, but I simply didn't find myself as engrossed in the songs as I have been with Midnight Odyssey or The Crevices Below. The rhythm guitars often felt banal, predictable and uninspired, and few of the vocal hooks stuck with me, especially the growled parts. In the end, it didn't wrench at my emotions as much his other projects; I never felt that same level of sweltering wonder. That said, it's not at all a bad record, and those who have a high threshold for slow suffering should at least give it a pass.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

http://www.midnight-odyssey.com/?page_id=21