Genre/Influences: Dark soundscape, cinematographic, dark-ambient.

Background/Info: Keosz is a new project set up by Slovakian artist Erik Osvald who seems to be more familiar producing d’n’b music. This album is an invitation to embark ‘on a trip through sleeping cities kept lucid by neon lights’.

Content: This is a rather classical, but fascinating soundscape travel guiding the listener throughout a universe of darkness and nihilism. You rapidly get an efficient and strong visualization of the mentioned ‘sleeping cities’. I don’t know if the neon lights are keeping it lucid, but I got the feeling there’s a mysterious and invisible evil force hanging over the city.

It creates an impression of ‘dark-cinema’ music revealing a meticulous writing that quite progressively brings the listener into reverie… or into nightmares.

+ + + : I like the slow progression of the compositions, which have this magic visual appeal. This element has been driven through a real climax on “Low Down” where beautiful and ethereal like vocals emerge at the surface like the shadow of Lisa Gerrard. The production also reveals overwhelming sound treatments giving you an impression of entering a 3D sonic dimension.

– – – : I regret Erik Osvald hasn’t experiment with more vocals and/or ethereal chants, which would for sure make the work more accessible.

Conclusion: “Be Left To Oneself” is a successful debut work revealing an exciting soundscape style and a high tech production work. This is a project I can only, but encourage to move on this way.

Best songs: “Low Down”, “Forfeited”, “Be Left To Oneself”.

Rate: (7½).

Band: www.facebook.com/KeOSzMusic

Label: www.cryochamberlabel.com /  www.facebook.com/CryoChamber