Hamith'a Ha - Above The Surface Below (tape, Empire of Bliss/Kalpamantra): Package looks nice: tape in an envelope with a spraypainted sigil, printed cover, insert and a small booklet with an interesting essay about their concepts. The music is some good ritualistic ambient. There's quite some variation in it, seems like they use sounds from whatever source. This makes it both interesting, but is also the downside. There's a variotion of atmospheres, going from very dark, to ritualistic, to some nearly oriental parts. So, as it's a long tape (more than 1 hour it seems, didn't really pay attention to the time), it's good that there's this variation to keep it interesting, but at the same time it sometimes comes off as a bit unfocused. So maybe it might work better with a release that would be a bit shorter (say 40mins or so). Anyway, it's the first time I listened to it, but I'll certainly give it some more spins. For people interested in this kind of ritualistic ambient, I think it's worth to check it out.
