Sum Of R - Orga [Cyclic Law]

Still catching up on a huge pile of promos sitting on our desk we're taking a closer look at "Orga" today, the latest album created by Reto Mäder's band outfit Sum Of R which has been on the release circuit for about a decade now. Put on the circuit in mid-September, 2k17 the album starts with "Intro: Please Ring The Bells", a well atmospheric and spine-tingling piece of score'esque music leading towards the minimalist Dark PostRock affair that is "Overgrown" and its ritualistic, Drone and Ambient related successor "We Have To Mark This Entrance" weighing in beautiful string arrangements and the atmospheric grandiosity of ancient sagas touching each- and everyone from a place deep within. Seeing both "Light & Dust" induces a feel of danger lurking in dark corners whilst bordering on (Neo)Classical and Ambient influences, "Cobalt Powder" is a more dynamic, in parts even noisier affair combining bass drones and sonic waves pushing one's braincells into Dark Ambient realms whilst scarce, yet thundering drum works are slowly building up tension, alongside a bluesy piano line that is, to a point of horror'esque uber intensity that will surely break the weak-heartened, levelling them up into a "Hypnotic State" in which even church organs come into play, slowly morphing into calmer, more collected sonic spheres whilst "The Passing Of Risk" provides a feel of vast subsurface depths and cavities, of mysterious, yet uncovered worlds and the magic felt within, drawing pictures of ancient times and enigmatical dwellers roaming unknown lands. Furthermore "Desmonema Annasethe" is a quite calm and static Ambient affair of undeniable beauty which is paired with decent layers of electrical buzzing and sounds of small but rattling metal pieces, "To Deny Responsibility Is To Perpetuate A Lie" provides a slow, yet overwhelming flood of subaquatic Ambient and ratcheting rhythms once again combined with sparse metallic sounds whereas the greatly named "Let Us Begin With What We Do Not Want To Be" weighs in a peaceful sonic panorama piece as epic as overlooking a mountain massif before the concluding "One After The Other" presents a more agitated and lively approach to cinematic soundscapes accompanied with a distinct, yet unusual rhythmic foundation. An excellent score for cold winter nights, this is.

Album artwork on Instagram!