What’s On Tap: You no like ambient? You no read review. Capeesh?

A couple days ago, I spent the better part of a very dingy, rainy day driving around an acutely industrial area of Oakland for work. Normally, I’d take such an opportunity to spin some dismal, primordial black metal, but realizing how unbelievably overdue my review for the latest Objekt 4 release was, I decided to don my ambient hat and put my ears to work. As it turns out, Her Face Among the Shadows was a perfect fit for my afternoon’s dip into the urban, steel tangle.

Much like Anders Peterson’s previous works, Her Face Among the Shadows is firmly rooted in the ominous neck of the ambient woods. Eight tracks of moody, often ethereal soundscapes that’d sound just as comfy pouring forth from a massive, looming iron-smelting plant as it would in the hull of an abandoned, corroding, aimlessly floating space barge. Loops of miscellaneous clanks, bleeps, scrapes, current flows, and chain clatters help to hold the listener’s attention, but it’s Peterson’s sporadic use of (hold on to your hats, metal fans) hip-hop beats on a few of these tracks that ultimately made this record fit so snuggly along side my rainy day's journey through the graffiti-riddled industrial span of Oakland.

In the end, Her Face Among the Shadows isn’t exactly the type of release scores of metalheads will be scraping up couch-change in order to procure, but at a mere $10 delivered to your doorstep, I’d say it’s a worthy investment for our more adventurous visitors that occasionally find themselves faced with ambient music pangs. Another quality release from a man that’s quickly becoming a prolific force in the genre.