Locate the Firestone in the New Dead Melodies Album, "Fabled Machines of Old"

Dead Melodies composer, Tom Moore, seems to enjoy his incredible high concept albums, and Fabled Machines of Old may be my favorite of Dead Melodies releases. When last we journeyed with the soundscape maestro, we were thrust into the murky streets of London, with a killer on the loose amid the cloying fog with the album, Crier’s Bane. This time, we are not only given a whole new environ in which to travel, but a whole new world. 

The first track unfolds with a sense of wonder - and depending on the listener’s personality - one may even ascribe that sense as almost malevolent, yet, calming. Folk-style guitars pluck languorously among the field recordings as we feel that we are in the very tavern of which the album’s narrative describes… but there is more as ever-present within the sphere of the sonic evocations, there are sonic textures; low-end thrums and booms, mechanical whirrings and other such onomatopoeia are perhaps a good way to describe them. The album’s description would best convey what I mean by this statement. 

The story alone commands your attention, and this is certainly the type of high-concept dark ambient that I crave and Dead Melodies has certainly delivered! The tones meander, and yes, this is the cinematic dark ambient of which Dead Melodies is known, but there is a measure and purpose to this music, an overarching tapestry of evocation that helps to carry the imagination along, in a transom, dreamy state, while reading the narratives of the album - we know of wars and of hardships of battles fought in kingdoms with colossal machines that towered over the landscape, we are told of the misery and pain the untold numbers of citizens felt but this is a tale told in the past tense, as our present is with a mysterious bard in a tavern, poring over old tomes to find the Firestone of prophetic importance.

The artwork immediately gives the listener the impressions of popular art style by Jakub Rozalski (Scythe) - an industrial, modern concept, but with a foreboding, technological presence. This artwork is much the same, conveying a sense of scope  to the narrative, and I would say that if I had only one complaint it would be that I have no novel, no video game, no tv series to get lost among after listening!

Seriously, this album is a treat, and I must say one of the best ambient albums I have listened to all year. You can pick up Fabled Machines of Old on the Cryo Chamber bandcamp page in CD Digipak or digital formats.