NAMELESS ORCHESTRAL PROJECT : DARKER THAN DARKNESS
Unsigned
Nameless Orchestral Project is the work of Ben Daniel, a Brest-based musician with an interest in creating strange, unsettling, melancholy sounds. “Darker Than Darkness” appeared in November 2008, and comprises of ten introspective, experimental creations, drawing from the world of ambience, dark rock and metal, although genre is much less important than the atmospheres and emotions which Daniel summons up.
A number of different themes and techniques are used in the structuring of these tracks. One repeated approach is the use of fragile, thoughtful acoustic guitar in combination with a stalking bass-line, which makes tracks such as “Nocturne” distinctly intimate. This song also makes use of an organ synth layer, and is quite lengthy, whilst still ably maintaining attention with the clever directions of the melody. Indeed, because N.O.P rely quite frequently on single guitar lines, Daniel has seen the need to ensure each is interesting, narrative almost, in line with all good ambient and instrumental music.
Another style employed on this release is a driving, reverberating electric guitar, lively and more complex on tracks such as “The Untitled Song” and “Paradise Lost”. There’s something industrial and gothic about such passages, actually reminding me a little of British act NFD, but stripped of the metallic bombast. Still, the echoing, sharp guitar tone has also drawn inspiration from black metal, and N.O.P is an act that really does evade comparisons with others. Clean piano keys reinforce the sense of intimacy on “Plus Ca Va Moins Ca Va”, while “Regrets-Remorse” is unconventional, a pulsing up of sounds that ebbs and flows into and from existence, only to surprise with some energetic electronic beats later on.
“Darker Than Darkness” is not a professional release with a big budget, but rather the project of a solo musician, and so the fact that the tracks with more channels tend to sound a little messy and asynchronous shouldn’t really be raised as a fault. The vocals are somewhat of a sticking issue; mainly half-mumbled spoken word, they do add to the sadness and confinement of the tracks, but Daniel himself has spoken against their content, and the purely instrumental tracks are stronger. Still, this remains a very interesting collection of songs; weird, mournful, electronic, ambient and often strikingly pretty. Well worth a listen if those things match your inclinations.
67/100
