Amorphix - Dies Natalis Invicti Solis

Hear The Track Here

Amorphix, as I exclaimed in my last review, is one scary dude - musically that is. I'm sure that Adam Loveday (for that is he) is a perfectly nice, well balanced young man with an outgoing and positive nature, but if you had listened to his Amorphix alter ego in any great depth you'd be quaking in your boots by now just like your lily livered reviewer. Not one for the moon, spoon, June routine, Amorphix delves deep in his musical world; almost all of his tracks are darker than the halls of hades but so well crafted and presented that you can't help but warm to them. Well, not exactly warm to them, tracks this icily sepulchral have a tendency to unnerve even the strongest amongst us. Nonethleless, and some would say despite that, Amorphix has slammed to the front of my musical radar in a very short time with some extremely class work; albeit in a genre that usually doesn't grab me at all. Just in case you were wondering - and you were, weren't you? - Dies Natalis Invicti Solis is Latin and means Birth Day of the Unconquered Sun.

Winter solstice to the rest of us uneducated rabble.

There's more than a touch of new age in the track, as you would suspect from the title but Amorphix hasn't always brought much more to the party than that. His very distincive musical style is dark, solemn and yeah even majestic, in a twisted kinda way helped by a knowing arrangement and a very sleek production. All trademarks of every track so far. At this stage I am definitely a fan of the music so it's almost a given that I would enjoy Dies whatsname for it's own sake, and to be fair it's something I guess you are either going to be into or not. I like his semi-classical approach (which gives the track a lot of its dignity) and - had this been any other artist I certainly might have passed on this track because it was classed as Ambient - which as we know covers a multitude of sins. Like all of his tracks, Dies Natalis is a work to pore over whenever you need a chill pill; it's ornate structure and instrumentation is just the job for that.

Now whether it's because I am getting used to his style or something else, but this track didn't seem to strike me with annything like the impact of previous tracks - even after repeated plays. I think I'm erring on the side of my dislike for the whole new age thing when I say that's probably the real reason by my not really getting on with this. Artistically, it's everything you would expect from this reliable source, although I found myself questioning some of the sounds but again, that's just me being picky. Certainly Dies whatsname is the kind of track that will be clasped to many a new age bosom and bless 'em for that, but I'll stick to the tracks that have already proved this artist can deliver and leave this to the luvvies... What can I tell you, it's the really scary stuff I like after all despite portraying myself as a puddytat. You learn a little every day.

Classy Ambient new age thingie (Ed: I think he means whatsname).