When Brian Danilowski isn’t plucking his bass in Baltimore math-metallists Trephine, he straddles the time/space continuum with his experimental/noise solo project Darsombra. 2006’s Ecdysis only hinted at what was to come from this creative soul, as the new Eternal Jewel wraps the listener around sheer volume, both layered and frayed.
“Auguries” resembles a classical-styled (with chant-like voices) intro to some power-metal anthem, though at less than three minutes, it serves as an apt preface to the symphony within. The seventeen-minute opus “Night’s Black Agents” employs a psychedelic pedal effect last heard in Led Zeppelin’s “Into the Light,” slowly pulsing like a dying star, then morphing into enveloping drone like a drumless 5ive. The uplifting “Drops of Sorrow” loops melodic, Robert Fripp-ish chords into an almost palpable soundscape, redolent with otherworldly fragrance and texture.
The aforementioned chants and classical vibe are reprised in “Lamentings/Auguries,” expanding into Pink Floyd-like harmonies with doom overtones at the coda. “Incarnadine” shimmers like Justin Broadrick’s less aggressive songs with Godflesh, namely “Flowers” from 1994’s Merciless EP. Darsombra won’t dazzle any dyed-in-the-wool metalheads, but Eternal Jewel is reserved for those who appreciate the simple pleasure of losing themselves in the substantive noise of headphone space.
