Amon

Akh

2LP (Black Vinyl)

Boomkat Product Review:

Occupying a space adjacent to early Thomas Köner, Deathprod and Roland Kayn, this cult 1996 album of lightless dark ambient shows its elusive face on a first time vinyl pressing, augmented by three offcuts from the same sessions, and issued via Cairo’s exceptional Nashazphone label.

Amon is the alias of Andrea Marutti, practitioner of elemental ambient and tape music since the early 1990s. Among his decades of work, his self-titled 1996 album, here retitled as ‘Akh’, stands out for his almost mystical grasp of reverberant acoustics that hark back to prehistoric caves and spaces. Amon really gets inside his thing with literal, non musical inspiration from the mysteries and rites of ancient Egypt, factored by the esoteric writings of Peter Kolosimo and a movement of so-called “pseudo-archaeology” that guides and elevates his work in the imagination. It’s frankly terrifying gear, tempered by a slow-burning, introspective quality that invites the listener to succumb to its meditative formations.

Best consumed in the depths of night, the album takes on a vividly transportive nature. Over 90 minutes, it arcs from the Thomas Köner-esque tonalities of Regula #1’, to the subharmonic shadows of ‘Hiram Roi’, via the glowering ‘Darkside Return’ and into the chasmic phasing of ‘Wasted’. There's little in the way of light creeping through, but Marutti's occasional use of harmony is startling 'Uhura Photons' dense and suffocating noise eventually splits into a near choral synthscape, and on 'Mopula' you can just about pick up on the irregular harmony of each central note. On ‘She Touched The Stone’, we end with beautiful, chiming pads and bells echoing from deep below, an experience not unlike hearing Bohren and Der Club of Gore’s billowing melodies seep through a dense cloud of smoke.

2LP (Black Vinyl) (9)