This is not easy listening, not everyone will listen to this music and understand the simple complexities to it. Thomas does an amazing job with this release blurring the lines between music and art. He has crafted a sound that sits somewhere between several genres of this style of music, it can fit along side of doom metal in the vein of Sunn O))), the avant garde styling of some of J.G. Thirlwell’s Manorexia project, the minimalist style of industrial sound-scape is similar different periods of Coil or Nic Endo’s Cold Metal Perfection, there are even tones reminiscent of post apocalyptic movie scores. The album in itself was done very well, the production is spot on and the sounds come through perfectly as the levels rise and drop around the other sounds. This album is very dense with sound and material; you just have to be able to peel back the layers to appreciate the heart of what Mr. Watkiss is going for.
The artwork for the cd matches the simplistic and stark style, but perfectly gives an image to the art that is the music. I would like to point out that he is making music for all the right reasons, it’s to create something meaningful to himself and not just for money. This album is in my opinion a little better than the first album in the ancestor series, but that’s a good thing as it shows he is growing and refining his craft. I can’t wait to hear the third part, which Thomas says will be out later this year. I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes any of the styles or the bands I mentioned in my review, I would also recommend buying it directly from his website and spend the extra couple of dollars to get the deluxe edition. It comes with a second cd of two live sets he did at a festival show.
These are also impressive because they come with a different feel and still perfect sound quality. It’s interesting to hear some of the material from his different releases put together in that setting. For those who have seen or heard Coil’s material live, it’s similar in feeling different than the album version, yet it still hits the same point perfectly.
Score: 4/5