Brian "Lustmord" Williams has been in the ambient game for a long, long time. So long, in fact, many consider him to be the creator of the "dark" end of the genre. Eno enthusiasts may take issue with such a statement -- portions of his early material certainly touched a cryptic nerve -- but regardless of its absolute root, dark ambient music has undoubtedly been taken to the next level over the past two decades because of the inventive works of Lustmord.

Over twenty years of creeping the hell out of fans has also brought a number of interesting projects to Williams' plate: collaborations with a multitude of artists from different genres, numerous soundtrack contributions (including music composed for The Crow and Underworld), and even performing live for The Church of Satan mass on 6/06/06 (recorded and released as Rising). This particular shadowy slab finds Williams bringing three guest guitarists into the fold: Aaron Turner of Isis plays on "Element" (although the guitar is hardly discernible), The Melvins' King Buzzo throws his hat in the ring (again) on "Prime [aversion]", and Tool's Adam Jones plucks about on "Godeater", "Dark Awakening" and "Er Ub Us" (and is also responsible for the artwork adorning the cover). The result is a recording that's still undoubtedly caped with Lustmord's signature dark ambient cloak, but it leans towards the drone end of the spectrum because of the notable presence of slowly played six-string. Not quite drone in that typical Sunn O))) "one extended chord strummed continuously across 15-minutes" style, however, but more along the lines of latter-era Earth, but much more sinister.

The dark ambient side of the coin here does not disappoint. There's simply no one else out there who can deliver creepiness quite like Williams. "Testament", "Element", "Ash" and "Of Eons" all drift, smother and occasionally pulse with a fog birthed directly from the gaping maw of a most corrupt and dismal dream. We hear the knell of hellish bells; manbeasts growl and howl far off in the distance; deep Tibetan long-horns blast rottingly sinister tones; and a multitude of other familiar tricks are conjured and manipulated for nasty purposes through the dark hands of this seemingly joyless man. To be perfectly honest, I'd have to say the inclusion of so much guest guitar actually distracted me from the otherwise perfect nightmare invoked by the ambient ebb and flow of [OTHER] -- the only negative strike against an otherwise great recording.

There were a handful of metal albums back in the day that genuinly creeped me out as a youth, but years of desensitization have sadly taken most of the "scare" out of metal for this reviewer. Lustmord, however, knows how to deliver the dark goods, and [OTHER] certainly stands as another notch in the win column for this prolific dark ambient elder.