V.O.S. is a dark ambient project by Steven Hall (also of Yen Pox), and this was his first full length album under this name, released by Triumvirate. It was written and recorded between 1995 and 2000, and released in 2001. What we get is five tracks of straightforward, moody dark ambient soundscapes.

The opening track, "An Angel's Last Breath", accurately sketches the mood for the rest of the album: dark, minimalistic ambient sounds, based on abstract waves, deep drones and some industrial sounds. The track has a nice flow, with different layers of sound alternating, and the general sound is a bit obscure and muddy. "Throne to the Dogs" continues in this style, with very sparse melodic elements over pulsating deep backgrounds. The third and fourth track carry on in a similar vein, exemplifying the minimalistic style that was being explored at the end of the 1990s by various ambient artists. To me, this is music so abstract and dark that it can hardly conjure up other images than claustrophobic confinement in gloomy dungeons, or in one's mind. Despite the minimalism in the sound, the tracks make the most of this limitation through a solid construction, which keeps them flowing along steadily, without getting tedious very often. The closing track is a bit different, with a prolific dark synth melody, which would be a good backdrop for a thrilling scene in a movie.

This isn't a groundbreaking album in any respect, as it focuses a bit too much on a sound which had been well explored already. However, for lovers of a minimalistic, gloomy dark ambient style, this album - at the extremely low Triumvirate price - is worth trying out, as it is solid in what it does, and not overlong.

O.S.