In the Bloodlit Dark

Zoar | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 31, 2001)
• Original Release Date: October 31, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Middle Pillar
• ASIN: B00005UP47
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #438,804 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

New York Times, 1997

Neil Strauss of the New York Times proclaimed ZOAR as: “Masters of the cinematic instrumental.”

Product Description

ZOAR creates atmospheric music without boundaries. From ambient washes of the subconscious to explosions of dark industrial sounds, In the Bloodlit Dark (or ITBD) explores the theater of the mind. Each song is a mini-film score that paints disturbing images, from deep underwater melodic fantasies to a nightmarish predatory sexual soundscape that unfolds into a sub-basement torture chamber. Eerie ambience from cellos and strings combine with the sharp destructive teeth of synths and guitars to fill your mind with surreal sounds. With each repeated listening, ITBD reveals new layers of events and motion, invoking scenery as descriptive as a work of literature.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Music for the haunted house in your mind, February 20, 2002

By 

C. G. "seagrass" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Bloodlit Dark (Audio CD)

I was fortunate enough to find both Zoar CDs in the bargain bin of my local music store (apparently they are not top 40 friendly...hmm, I wonder why?). I have to tell you...this music is pretty eerie. I liked "Cassandra", but that album is a bright, sunny day compared to "In the Bloodlit Dark". Zoar seem to be one of those bands that tries to make its members appear as almost an afterthought (kind of like London's The Egg)...they really seem to want you to believe this music just made itself. No matter who created it, though, Bloodlit is quite possibly the most frightening piece of music I've heard since Kaddish's memorial to the Holocaust, "Towering Inferno". The guitars add a progressive taste to the music here, offset by the haunting cello of Erik Friedlander. If you are a fan of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, especially "The Wastelands"...well, here is your soundtrack. The title track alone could be the theme song for the vacuum of space. I recommend listening to this album alone, on a wooden raft, in the middle of a still, foggy lake, somewhere in the English Moors...and if you don't have the means to do that, a pitch-black room should do quite nicely. Enjoy!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!, May 12, 2004

By 

Steven Yates "free your mind" (Greenville, South Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In the Bloodlit Dark (Audio CD)

What first attracted me to this was the cover. I wondered if anyone could make music that matched a cover like that! Or the title: "In the Bloodlit Dark." Can anyone make music to match a *title* like that?!

Zoar's answer to both: Yes! This CD is amazing!

Zoar is three instrumentalists: Michael Montes on keyboards (including mellotron on "Child of God"), Peter Rundquist on electric and acoustic guitars, and Erik Friedlander on cello. Together, they are indeed "masters of the cinematic instrumental." More than that, these are soundtracks to horror movies not yet made--or maybe to your darkest nightmares. The compositions range from soaring Pink Floydian compositions ("Spiderlace," for example) to ambient-industrial sound sculptures (the title track, "Ghosts and Molecules"). Imagine Pink Floyd as a Goth band, and you'll get a basic idea how this group sounds.

Great listening for thunderstorms, dark rooms, and those dark corners of your mind ...