Well of Souls

Vidna Obmana, Steve Roach | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 10, 1997)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Projekt Records
• ASIN: B000000BD8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #176,985 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the truly great Roach collaborations, August 10, 2001

By 

dronecaster (Baton Rouge, LA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Well of Souls (Audio CD)

The follow-up to Obmana's exceptional 1994 release "The Spiritual Bonding" (on Extreme Records), "Well of Souls" extends the collaborative relationship between desert ambient pioneer Roach and the avant-atmospheric leanings of Obmana. This is without question the most successful of their two collaborative efforts, the other being "Cavern of Sirens" (Projekt, 1997).

In some respects, there has been little attention paid to this great recording, that is, in comparison to the amount of press that has been lavished on albums that are generally considered to be Roach's best, including "Dreamtime Return" and "The Magnificent Void" for instance. While they are milestones in ambient electronic music, "Well of Souls" is sort of a neglected achievement. Roach may have become increasingly prolific over the past several years, namely with the launch of his Timeroom Editions label, but few recordings of late possess the truly hallucinogenic/mind-blowing character of this double CD.

The mid-90s saw Roach developing into a consumate figure in a more avant-garde form of electronic music which has been coined "techno-tribal", which meshes synthesised textures with primitive acoustic instruments. There is a general pattern in which he follows the Jon Hassell/Australian Aboriginal paradigm which began with "Dreamtime Return" and follows all the way through with "Origins". It was with his '94 recording "Artifacts" and especially the track "The Origin of Artifacts" that Roach begins to separate himself somewhat from this archetype by delving in unusually unique sound constructions where his synths and FX processors were involved. That track in particular was the single most ambitious composition since "To the Threshold of Silence" from his "World's Edge" double CD.

So it was hardly a surprise that in the following year he would release this remarkable collaborative effort with Vidna Obmana, who is now considered to be the European answer to Roach's sonic explorations. Considering that Obmana himself collaborated with the likes of Asmus Tietchens (a "sound language" inventor in his own right), it seemed a fitting melding of musical minds.

The first disc opens with the spirialing "In the Presence of Something", created mostly from a highly processed didgeridoo drone and clay pot percussion, nothing too unusual for Roach. But the following "Outlands" tracks pick up where the sparling "The Origins of Artifacts" (from the album "Artifacts")left off. The complex, trancey percussion which goes on for several minutes ends abruptly in a unsettling sea of highly abstract, metallic synth textures on "Outlands One" and an environment which resembles a slow-motion collision of asteriods (for lack of a better description) on "Outlands Two". The second disc, which is absent of percussion, opens with the brilliant "Deep Hours", a stunning exercise in pure sonic drift with a deceptive melody which rivals the 30-minute "Looking for Safety" (from "Dreamtime"), but this a far deeper piece of music altogether. Roach and Obmana here create an environment of ghostly chords, high-pitched cacklings that seem to come from nowhere, and grand sweeps of bright, almost blinding sound colors. Obmana's solo piece "The Quiet Companion" seems to be inspired by "Deep Hours" but is far less disturbing while Roach's "The Dwelling Place" shows him in "Dreamtime Return" mode and is probably the warmest (emotionally speaking)track on the disc. Hopefully, more of those interested in Roach's endeavors will see "Well of Souls" for the work of genius that it truly is.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding collaboration between Roach and Obmana, September 9, 1999

By 

Michael Rittenberry ([e-mail]) (Nashville, Tennessee) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Well of Souls (Audio CD)

The first, and best, of three released collaborations between Steve Roach and Dirk Series (aka Vidna Obmana), WELL OF SOULS is one helluva journey into the world of nocturnal slipstreaming. Disc One is the more easily approachable, with spare percussion underlying neverending washes of synth drones. However, Disc Two takes a trip into the heart of darkness. "Deep Hours" and the title track flow out of your speakers (or headphones) like slow motion descents into the unknown, simultaneously creating a sense of dread and calm. The music, at times, is so incredibly haunting that it is almost impossible to believe that it isn't streaming straight down from the farthest reaches of the universe. A highly recommended album and one of the finest of the 1990's... but it's certainly not for the faint of heart (don't feel worried if "Deep Hours" scares the hell out of you the first time you listen to it through headphones, because it certainly left me with an unsettling feeling)!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless Masterpiece..., January 22, 2002

By 

funktion (The Synaptic Gap) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Well of Souls (Audio CD)

Spread out over two discs, WELL OF SOULS is chamber music for those of us wrestling with the late 20th century concept of "ancient modern." Here, Steve Roach and Vidna Obmana enter more unsettling, darker territory. Both Obmana and Roach wrench ever more potent atmospheres from one another's machines and earthen noisemakers. Each of their individual muses meld expertly into the other's, but both figure into the grand scheme of things; fixate on Roach's command of sensuous rhythms and monstrous troughs of sound, and Vidna Obmana's penchant for getting interstellar mileage out of even the most minimal of patterns. One might hasten to label WELL OF SOULS a masterpiece, but it's difficult to think of this richly imaginative work as anything but.