Review on doom-metal.com ::
<<There may be a symbolism of sorts to be drawn from the artwork's primary colour - the debut was ochre, 'Zephyr' blue, 'Reveries' green: with images that imply they could be elementally aligned to earth, air and water. Such speculation is encouraged by the hermetic obscurity of presentation: when attempting to give it context, fanciful interpretations spring from the slimmest of assumed insights. So, too, with the track titles: 'Aporia. Nuance' - the aporia of paradox, or of rhetoric? Offset against nuance, or encompassing it? And, if of paradox, does that mean 'Transience Froze Forever' might be a knowing, internal reference to the behaviour of Zeno's arrow?

I would hasten to add that not all instrumental music has this sort of effect on me. The opposite, in fact: far from striking chords of inspiration, it often leaves me colder than watching a street mime, and for exactly the same reason (as Terry Pratchett put it: wanting to hang them upside down in a scorpion pit opposite a sign reading "Learn The Words"). Avant Soliloque has a cleverness about it, though, an architecture that makes it more complete without voice, rather than feeling it lacks voice.

It is built from fairly simple blocks: a guitar, programmed drums, synthesised classical instruments and keyboards. From the frail, audibly scraped and fretted, acoustic introduction to the album 'Elegiac Pyre' to the bombastic Emperor-esque orchestral Black Metal finale of 'Transience Froze Forever', there's no individual element that could be called innovative, or even especially unfamiliar. How they're put together, though: that is the key, and here we find a great ear for composition being brought to bear. The juxtaposition of tranquility and storminess is often subtly done, more sfumato than chiaroscuro, each track unfolding like a journey, full of detail that fascinates even as it changes from placid introspection to tumultuous pace and back again. Despite the complexity, though, it feels uncluttered and natural - like watching individual waves wash by, only gradually becoming aware the tides are changing, or the rough seas are rising and falling. And, like the ocean, there is pent force to be released: the title 'Reveries' may suggest a certain dreaminess, but 'Isthmus', for example, is almost entirely tempestuous sound and fury.>>
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