Genre: Darkwave/Ambient
Initially I thought this sounded a bit dodgy – a song such as “Zombie Infestation” sounds like it belongs with the goregrind Gumps and consequently, I expected a rather lowbrow electric counterpart. My initial thoughts proved to be mistaken, as they seem to evoke, rather than celebrate horror through their music. If that is not too generous a term, as no conventional instruments are utilised; instead, a creepy and disquieting atmosphere is generated through a litany of carefully orchestrated sound effects, including blowing wind, tortured steel rumblings and opening doors. Well, some vocals are present on “Yurei” but this consists entirely of some chanting by a trained female voice, but even this sole human effect is comparatively subdued, and I missed it on my first listen, taking it to be some synth work. Although the placement of various sounds are not random, the division into five songs does seem somewhat arbitrary, as apart form segueing into each other, they are pretty similar to each other – similar enough to be considered as essentially five components of one 17 minute track.
Life Toward Twilight’s inspiration appears to be Japanese horror and games such as Silent Hill and HP Lovecraft. The result is a creepy and ominous atmosphere, which would be a perfecta accompaniment to a PS3 game such as Resident Evil or the aforementioned Silent Hill.They seem to have recognised that this approach could be exhausted very quickly, hence the short songs on this mini –album- the longest last for 4:25, perfect for an inane pop ditty, but normally a liability for atmospheric ambiance.
Overall, effective as an experimental and atmospheric mini-album, but it is not something that could be sustained over the course of a full-length and thus clearly not something they should or could build their career upon.
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