The full title of this album is ‘Interstellar Transmigration Part I: A Bridge To Further Realms’, and is the debut album by Flames of Genesis, where all instrumentation is provided by The Voyager. According to the website, “The experiences are translated through ethereal cinematic dark ambient soundscapes - each piece telling a part of the story, conveying the experiences of the journeys across vast distances, crossing the border between what is known and unknown, embracing the mysteries and the wonders, transcending all limits and boundaries both within and without.” As the Voyager so eloquently puts it, what we have here is a dark ambient album, one that for me works on a great many levels.
Dark ambient is a style of ambient music that features foreboding, ominous, or discordant overtones, and in the case of this album also brings in the feeling of coldness which comes about from being cast adrift in deep dark space. The original Alien album had the tagline ‘In Space No-One Can Hear You Scream’, but this music works to provide the feeling far better than the words ever did. To me this is all about being alone in a spaceship, with the engines cut, drifting on the solar currents just knowing that however bad it feels at the moment, it is only going to get worse. Strangely disturbing, yet also compelling, this is a collection of music that will only appeal to a select few, but those few will undoubtedly find it as attractive and essential as I did.
