I’ve always been a fan of paintings and weird visions from the likes of Bekinski and Mariusz Lewandowski because they always give us unique looks in unique worlds that only people like them can create. Visual art like that has long influenced music of all sorts be it in a subtle matter or something much more obvious. Following up his really solid album from not too long ago, Neraterræ returns to us to very blatantly give tribute to many visual artists with ten tracks that do their best to breathe life and create soundtracks for their respective cerebral visages.
This isn’t the first time I’ve found an ambient piece that has paid tribute in this manner (see Eighth Tower Records’s compilation for Bekiniski art), but that doesn’t mean that what we’re given here throughout “Scenes From the Sublime” are anything other than noteworthy as Neraterræ has complete control over his craft to make these paintings come to life in a haunting fashion that’s more than fitting for their macabre existences. Artists from the likes of Francisco Goya to Salvador Dali to Arnold Böcklin and much more make their mark throughout this album for Neraterræ to interpret into aural experiences that we can fall back into, and to say anything other than it was pulled off quite well would be to downplay the interesting work that “Scenes From the Sublime” results in. It provides yet another unique look upon already unique visages to a great degree as we can really see Neraterræ’s reverence for these exalted creators whether they be more conventional or downright disturbing in their legendary crafts. Ambient plays to the strengths of each body of work tremendously well as Neraterræ acts as just a guiding force for us to follow down the corridors while we’re left to fill in the blanks of whatever our minds will allow.
It all results in an incredibly colorful and layered listen that offers so much more than what some would expect, but Neraterræ’s expertise shines through to allow “Scenes From the Sublime” to become just another ambient piece to just pass on by. I’m sure that there are tons of other acts trying to do the same concept with the same amount of quality if not more, but I can’t help but feel that Neraterræ is as close to the perfection for this concept as we’re to get.
LISTEN to “Scenes From the Sublime” on Bandcamp here.
LIKE Neraterræ on Facebook here.
Head-Banger Reviews 