Phelios - Images And Spheres

Phelios is a new name in the dark ambient scene. On his debut Images and Spheres, Martin Stürtzer from Germany constructed seven deep and dark soundscapes. The photos of obscure stone structures on the cover already bring you in the right state of mind. Especially for a debut, this is a very solid album. The tracks are convincingly atmospheric and oppressive. Deep cold drones are mixed with more melodic, ‘haunting’ elements. My favourite piece is the epic, soundtrack-like ‘You Cannot See The Dragons Eyes’. This album will certainly appeal to fans of Raison d’Être, Lustmord, Herbst9 and the likes. The style is not very original, and I can’t think of any new terms to describe these nicely textured soundscapes, but they are very well done, so let the music speak for itself.