The Elemental Chrysalis is a project by Chet W. Scott of Ruhr Hunter and James Woodhead. Together they make a kind of music that is quite hard to describe, but it lies somewhere in the direction of ambient music, with many melodic elements. This is their debut album, released by Chet's own Glass Throat in a nice 6x6" digipak.

The album starts with a very long track, which indeed shows several movements. It begins with a very good piece of classical guitar, backed by soft synths, and swiftly joined by clean electric guitar. This beautiful movement blends into deep ambiences after several minutes. Near the middle of the song, a heavy organ begins to dominate, which later gives way to another twin guitar movement, which ends the track. In a way, "A Beautiful Head In 5ive Movements" mirrors the makeup of the entire album. The second track is a long meditation of a mournful guitar melody, while "Oceans Wreathed In Flame" is another slab of deep droning ambient. "Caravan Of Ghosts", finally, deserves my particular attention. Like many parts of the other tracks, it's slightly psychedelic in its combination of guitar and organ, but halfway it changes into a great ritual piece, complete with excellent chants and throat singing.

These guys use a great variety of instruments and effects to create exciting atmospheric music with minute detail. Perhaps on future work, the emphasis could be shifted a bit away from the organ and guitar, and incorporate more alternative things such as the excellent flutes and ocarinas which pop up sporadically. It could make a long album such as this even more exciting. That's just nitpicking, though, as this is an excellent album. One of the more original and perhaps accessible ambient albums I've heard in recent years, and highly recommended to lovers of this kind of atmosphere, and especially to those who appreciate Ruhr Hunter's material.

O.S.