DJAM KARET: Ascension (New Dark Age Volume 2) CD. Self produced. Limited Edition CD of 750 copies. Great Electric Prog. Check samples

Description

Review:
Djam Karet shines again on their latest recording Ascension (a limited edition of only 750 copies) which continues where their previous disc, New Dark Age, left off. Especially since the songs were recorded at the same time as the ones on New Dark Age
Ascension is subtitled New Dark Age Volume Two and contains future DK classics (*IMHO*) such as the hard rock like prog on “”Stage Three””(My favorite), along with some electronic based soundscapes of “”Disengration”” (my other favorite with clock in at over 16 minutes) and the more acoustic based songs of “”Arose From The Ashes””.
~Ron for ProgNaut.com [September 1st, 2001]

SAMPLES:    https://music.apple.com/gb/album/ascension/668406151
Djam Karet exemplify every potential of the instrumental guitar band, delivering power and verve with every composition. Djam Karet is: Gayle Ellett (on guitar, electronics, et al), Mike Henderson (on guitar, electronics, et al), Chuck Oken Jr. (on drums and electronics), and Henry J. Osborne(on bass and didgeridoo). This 46 minute CD is a companion release to the “”New Dark Age”” CD. It further explores the themes and concepts explored by the band while recording that album.Expect the usual guitar overload as powerhouse riffs belt out with sinuous and relentless fury amid a flurry of piercing electronics. But what guitar grandeur is worth its salt without drums and bass? The bass thunders throughout, a sonic cement providing a sturdy foundation for the nimble and versatile guitarwork. While the dynamic percussion is vibrant and exhausting with its intricate and inventive rhythms.Each instrument flows with the others, fusing to create a wondrous sound that fills the listener’s lungs with anticipatory breaths.The guitars on “”Licking the Skull”” are quite shrill, and barely distinguishable from tortured synthesizer wailings. Generally,though, the guitars involve themselves in rock pyrotechnics, with soaring sustains and passionate riffs intended to dazzle and stimulate. Even when the guitars go acoustic, they are accompanied by intensely growling electric guitars. There is a particularly organic feeling to this music, in startling contrast to the igneous flair exhibited by the music on “”New Dark Age””.The CD concludes with “”Disintegration””, a 16 minute epic that thunders with ominous undercurrents beneath a turgid sea of gurgling electronics and searing guitar which surprisingly diverts into a driving excursion into trance percussive and mangled vocal effects before settling into a cacophonous return to stable soil.

Songs / Tracks Listing
1. Arose From The Ashes (5:30)
2. Licking The Skull (1:50)
3. The Hanging Tree (6:58)
4. Swimming In Th Big Sky (4:35)
5. Special Cases (4:46)
6. Stage Three (6:24)
7. Disintegration (16:06)

Total Time: 46:09

Line-up / Musicians
– Gayle Ellett / electric guitars, 8-string lute, organ, wooden flute, E-Bow, synths, field recordings, effects
– Mike Henderson / acoustic and electric 6 & 12 string guitars, lap steel slide guitar, E-Bow, dumbek, tubano, acoustic & electric percussion, synths, field recordings, effects
– Chuck Oken, Jr. / drums, percussion, keyboards, synths, sequencer programming
– Henry Osborne / 5-string bass, didgeridoo”