Alphaxone
Final Encounter
Cryo Chamber
Our regular tracking of Iranian dark ambient project Alphaxone over the past decade has almost been as much a product of the consistency of Mehdi Saleh’s work as its quality. In cuing up a new Alphaxone record you know you’re getting deep space drones with a focus on the glacially slow shifting of astral bodies and cosmic forces. Certainly not the most active stuff, but given Saleh’s skills in sound design, incredibly enjoyable to slip down into and lose yourself within. While some moments on the latest solo LP (after a slew of collaborations with other members of the Cryo Chamber roster) hold to that pure, deep drone which has defined much of the Alphaxone catalog, there are some subtle but somewhat surprising changes in mood and execution which run counter to the characteristically cosmic presentation of Final Encounter.
Pay close attention, and you’ll find that this is one of the most cinematic Alphaxone LPs, but not in the way that term is commonly used to describe vast, bombastic soundscapes. Instead, the focus and immanence some light patinas of percussion lend to the muted pads of “Cyberstate” suggest a much smaller scale and psychological fare. Think night-time drives through rain slicked cities or uncovering incriminating documents in corporate archives during a ’90s neo-noir, rather than the sci-fi epics much of Alphaxone’s work (and certainly the art and titles of Final Encounter) connotes.
The minimalism of “Underverse” has a similarly intimate and proximal feel, with its slight tubular quavers offsetting drones and setting the table for the slow chordal shifts of pads and some surprisingly organic and drippy sampling. That these minor adjustments can be seen to flip Alphaxone’s focus from the external and impersonal to the deeply internal and subjective could just be happenstance (again, the presentation of the record is not in line with this reading), or possibly the result of the sort of minimalist ambience Saleh and his peers have been holding to for so long beginning to make its presence felt more strongly in the past decade of film scoring.
Final Encounter in no way marks as drastic a change for Alphaxone; in the broadest sense its musical palette is perfectly in harmony with Saleh’s substantive discography. But in a genre as focused on the vagaries of mood and intimation as dark ambient, minor changes have big effects. Despite its stated focus on the external vast grandeur of space, Final Encounter feels as intimate and personal as anything we’ve heard from Alphaxone.
