NORTHAUNT "Horizons" CD

From the Obskure webzine (France)
Dès Until Dawn Do Us Part qui a le mérite de poser l’ambiance, Northaunt délivre à l’auditeur son chemin métaphysique jusqu’à l’embrassement de la nature. Ne pas vivre à côté d’elle, en dehors d’elle ou grâce à elle mais dans ses entrailles, dans sa pureté hyperboréale. Toujours cette Lumière du Nord que spiritualise le froid. Northaunt après un Barren Land de toute beauté revient ici à une ascension polaire beaucoup plus épurée comme le traduit bien son clip The Wilderness. Celui-ci rappelle d’ailleurs étrangement le film expérimental Gerry de Gus Van Sant dont la B.O était le cultissime (pour les férus de classique contemporain) Tabula Rasa d’Arvo Part. On navigue durant cette heure ambiante dans les mêmes horizons métaphysiques. L’homme ne semble plus exister face à la nature. Elle est tout du moins son Altérité radicale. Le norvégien coule tout au long de son œuvre des nappes drone qui corpéreisent la nature. Au détour de celles-ci, il place des boucles en forme de fines incursions mélodiques souvent surprenantes dont on croirait qu’elles sont des bruissements de… nuages. Ce Horizons fait entendre le ciel sous une autre forme donc, sous d’autres atours plus mystérieux. Il est heuristique de relever que le dark ambient comme celui de ce norvégien rappelle toujours l’individuation jungienne et les processus psychanalytiques organiques. Par l’épuration musicale on interroge l’âme en faisant le vide autour d’elle…Reste à savoir si elle va répondre…Le dernier Raison d’Etre en appelle aussi à une recentrement organique mais avec des éléments industriels et rêches alors que Horizons balade l’auditeur dans des régions stratosphériques mais plus mélodieuses. Comme toujours, l’écoute peut être soit dégagée ou alors minitieuse et attentive tout comme le professait l’inventeur Brian Eno. En l’occurrence, voilà une musique de relaxation sensible à écouter au casque blottit dans sa couche. On préferera cependant à ce drone délicat, Barren Land plus fouillé et travaillé car il maintient plus l’attention. Northaunt reste pour beaucoup une formation majeure du dark ambient au côté des Raison d’Etre, Lustmord, Kammarheit, Megaptera, Sephiroth mais dans un registre bien particulier, plus « environnemental » en définitive.
Une musicothérapie en somme.

From the Ikonen webzine (Germany)
Die Norwegische Formation Northaunt bewegt sich in den edlen Gefilden der Organic Darkambient-Musik, also einer stimmungsvollen Klangwelt aus elektronischen und konkreten Geräuschen, die zu faszinierenden Klangräumen gemischt werden. Northaunt konzentriert sich bereits in den Titel ganz auf eine abstrakte, raumorientierte Herangehensweise, die ganz von persönlichen und ideologischen Dimensionen abdriftet. Stattdessen eröffnnen sich: "Horizons" einer fremden und teilweise umheimlichen Landschaft.
"Until Dawn Do Us Part" leitet das Werk mit filigranen, eher hohen Drones ein. Sogar einzelne Pianoakkorde verlieren sich hier her. "Night Came to Us" schürft aber bereits in die Tiefen und konfrontiert uns mit noisigen, beängstigenden Aspekten. Ein hallendes und 'saugendes' Stück, das an frühere Lustmord-Tracks erinnert. "Horizons" kehrt dann zum ganzheitlich-kosmischen Kontext zurück. Hohe Drones und halliges Klappern erinnern stellenweise an Mark Ishams Soundtrack zu "Never Cry Wolf" (1983). Schöne und visionäre Musik...
"The Autumn Sky" wartet mit einem leicht bohrenden Drone auf, das wiederum mit Konkretsounds verschnitten wird und eine beunruhigende Wirkung anstrebt. Die organischen Akzente lassen das Stück erdiger erscheinen, als der Titel vorgibt. Erst "Night Alone" bietet dann die zu erwartende Verlorenheit, die sich auch in der hervorragenden Covergestaltung abzeichnet. "With the Stars as Witness" weitet das Spektrum erneut und erzeugt eine kosmische Einheit von Klang und Raum. Und "The Wilderness" kehrt dann zu den konkreten Natursounds und Fieldrecordings zurück. Dieser monumentale Track liegt auch als atmosphärischer Videoclip in einer kürzeren Version vor.
Northaunt ist mit "Horizons" eine großartige Organic-Ambient Sinfonie gelungen, die den Hörer für eine Stunde in zweilichtige und doch wohlige Gefilde entführt. Für Fans des Genres eine klare Empfehlung!

From the Virus webzine (Belgium)
Northaunt is an atmospheric ambient project from Norway. Combining samples, electronic drones, and field recordings mostly made in Norway, Northaunt creates a desolate landscape using sound, leaving the listener with a sense of isolation in the face of nature’s indifference to the individual’s impotent plight amidst such environmental majesty. Overall the collection of music is impressive, however the variation amongst the tracks is incremental at best, so it would not have mattered at all if this was one endless musical horizon instead of several smaller tracks, at least in terms of listening. Despite the repetitive factor rearing its head, due more to the thematic structure of the CD, this is still a decent album to check out if you are into ambient music. As a counterweight, an alternate video version of “Wilderness” is included, which provides a visual reference that compliments the music nicely. 7/10

From the Side-Line Magazine (Belgium)
The 3rd full length of the Norwegian Northaunt leads us to new and non-resolvable enigmas of sonic fright and ambient horror. “Horizons” contains 7 new tracks leading us to depths of our imagination. The music serves as a stimulus that awakens the darkest fantasies of the human mind. Sigmund Freud in person would probably have experienced this inner voyage as a nightmare. The ambient exploration of Northaunt is powerful and not without danger, but that’s precisely what qualifies ambient as good or bad! This is a very efficient ambient opus featuring some excellent pieces like “Night came to us” and “Night alone”. This album is even darker than the night and stands for a new and captivating release on this excellent Canadian label!

From the Heathen Harvest webzine (U.S.A.)
Close your Eyes. Think Norway. Think Music. Those of you in the know are probably thinking about grim, satanic, necro metal, burning churches, and Varg Vikernes. It’s quite possible that you might even be thinking about northaunt – Norway’s finest Dark Ambient project, quite possibly one of Dark Ambients finest Dark Ambient projects. After a handful of successful and well received releases, “Horizons” is northaunt’s first contribution to the Cyclic Law label. The copy of Horizons in front of me is a Digipak. This tells me two things. Firstly, it tells me that I have one of the first 2000 copies. Secondly, it tells me that there’s a bonus video on the disc. Glee! “Horizons” Carries the theme and concept of exhausting Isolation, emptiness, and bankruptcy of the soul. In this, Night time is eternal. “Until Dawn Do Us Part” is a tribute to desolation, a potent reminder that no matter how attached we get, we will always end up alone and betrayed. Sometimes it is better to walk in darkness forever, then to befriend the light and see it leave you. The actual tune itself is winsome and beautiful. About 3 minutes into the song, a beautiful, slow melody kicks in, not unlike distant panpipes playing in the wind, and the only way I can honestly describe this is perfect. Think “Hlidskjalf” by Burzum, but with a significant amount of extra accomplishment. The beautiful build up on “Der Tod Wuotans” – that’s what you get here, but constant, finer tuned, and above all else, beautiful. Fade out with a lovely chord progression, wind noises, and a feel of mournful transgression. The transition to darkness continues with the appropriately named “Night came to Us”. Immediately, this 14 minute opus is a lot darker, slower, and more eerie. We hear what sounds like very violent rain, coupled with doors slamming in the background, and a very nice atmospheric build up, completed with noises in the background resembling echoing footsteps. Dramatically after five minutes of the Dusk descending on you, the feel of utter urgency kicks in, as the noises get a lot faster, louder, more desperate. Church Bells, howling, the moon mocking you as it vanishes behind a tree. Absolutely Divine. This is immediately followed by the title track, which is easily the best track so far (and that says something as its predecessors are works of art and sheer brilliance). If the Kundalini was to ever ascend to music, this song would suit it perfectly. The track at times gets very close to taking an Eastern feel, there are times when the build up leaves you certain that a wind instrument is about to kick in, but this never happens. “The Autumn Sky” gives me very high expectations. I expect to close my eyes and be able to see the golden leaves reflected off the shimmering moon, while cold winds attack my senses and a distant Owl lets out his wise hoot. It doesn’t do this. That doesn’t matter too much. The feeling is almost as good. Melancholy; the memorial to a million dying forests, the coronation of a longer night, and the beginning of a bleakness and hatred that only the beginning of the Winter season could ever deliver. I vowed recently to stop doing track by track reviews. Sorry, but this album is too epic to even break down. I have to write. The Icy breath of winter is on my neck, urging me. “Night Alone” is second to only “Horizons”. This track is a much higher pitched, higher frequency number to anything else on here, and fuck me, it works!! The shrill tones reflect Icicles and Blizzards, and the inhospitality of winter has never been so tangible. Moving on to the best titled track on the album, “With the Stars as Witness”, we find ourselves experiencing the harshest and most un-nerving atmosphere so far, and with this, the heart of winter itself is upon us, night is twenty four hours long, the snow and fog never stops. Shadows in front of us are all we can see, like tiny Cataracts of Nature, greying, blinding, and losing all hope. Finally, “The Wilderness” is a perfect closure to a perfect storm. The final two minutes bring out yet another, (and in my opinion the best) melodic progression, after the aural nightmare we have just taken in (and enjoyed) this paints a morale to the story. There is hope, and although it is bleak, distant, and forgettable, somewhere between the grey skies, ashen floors, and silver roofs, a solitary beam of light shines, and with it, a birdsong is cried, like a sound that hasn’t been heard in centuries. 7 Tracks, 60 minutes, and a video that I will leave up to you to experience. The next stanza will be said with the most honesty I have ever mustered. This is one of the best albums I have ever, ever heard. It is the best album I have reviewed in my career, and it is one of the top 3 Dark Ambient releases I have heard, out of the thousand or so that I actually have. Northaunt have not just released their masterpiece, but they have now put themselves in the books as the masters, executioners and creators of Atmospheric Ambient.
No Hyperbole. Everyone has to hear this.

From the Chain DLK webzine (U.S.A.)
This CD weighs in at just over an hour, which gives enough time to sink into the soundscapes. Overall, there is a lot going on in this disc. Noisy elements are woven through a sea of heavy bass drone to create a complex tapestry of sound. It isn’t noise, but it certainly isn’t the easy listening kind of dark ambient until the second half. The disc is almost like listening to two discs – the first half is pretty aggressive in its use of noisy elements, while the second half is a bit more peaceful. Luckily, both styles are done very well. The disc opens with “Until Dawn Do Us Part,” which combines noisy drones, clanking metal, and a simple synth line melody that creates an atmosphere that will continue throughout the disc. “Night Came to Us” is the longest track on the piece (14:17). Heavy bass drones with undercurrents of pulsing sound. This is the soundtrack to a threatening alien landscape. Dark stuff. When it ends, you notice it. This is one of the standout tracks on the disc. “Horizons” continues the noisy drone feel with a lot of clacking – like someone is dragging a can slowly down the road – that builds slowly over the song. “Night Alone” seems to mark a shift in the feel of the disc. It starts quietly and subdues the noisier elements that permeated the first half of the disc. This track reminds me of Troum - kind of peaceful. A nice change of pace from the more relentless noisy ambience we have had until now. “With the Stars as Witness” continues this atmosphere until we reach “The Wilderness,” which brings back a bit of noisy elements, but not quite as aggressively as in the first 3 tracks. This track incorporates what sounds like source recordings of someone walking in crunchy snow layered with synth drones. There is also a video for “The Wilderness (Alternate Version),” which is mainly video of landscape with swirling clouds. It’s a nice touch and fits well with the music, but not terribly engaging. Overall, this is really good drone / dark ambient music – the kind we’ve come to expect from Cyclic Law. Another excellent release.

From the Evening Of Light webzine (Holland)
Horizons is the third album by Northaunt, one of Norway's most prominent dark ambient artists. On the first two album, Hærleif Langås, the man behind the project, enriched the genre with an original blend of dark soundscapes, acoustic melodic elements, and spoken word. On this album, his first on the Canadian Cyclic Law label, he leaves much of this behind. No guitar melodies or lyrics can be found on this album, which seems to conform to the prolific minimalist style of many Cyclic Law ambient artists. So, in a way, this album is less original than Hærleif's first two. Nevertheless, he knows what he's doing, and is still able to craft interesting and atmospheric ambient albums.
"Until Dawn Do Us Part" is still in the style of Barren Land, the second album, with a piano melody over dark environmental drones, but "Night Came To Us" exemplifies the new minimalist style. What all tracks luckily still have in common, though, is that distinctly Nordic chill, almost tangibly put to tape in various locations in Norway. This combination of dark cloudscapes, icy winds, and rain-beaten shorelines is Northaunt's subject matter and paint brush at the same time. This is expressed vividly in the bonus video of an alternative version of "The Wilderness", and it proves that Northaunt is a force to be reckoned with both aurally and visually. I hope a DVD combining the two will some day be released.From the relatively dense first two tracks, through the slightly lighter, lonely feeling of the triad in the middle, to the ethereal "With The Stars As Witness" and the serene snowy fields of "The Wilderness", Horizons is consistent in its vision. Perhaps this album is too cold, empty and bleak for some, but, listening to the breathtaking ending of "The Wilderness", I can't help but feel like coming home. O.S.

From the Gothronic webzine (Holland)
An extremely beautifully designed cover on which dark clouds are packed together abd the night seems to fall in a desolate Nordic landscape gives a really good impression of what’s to be expected on this third cd of Northaunt. Northaunt is a dark ambient project from Norway that makes minimalistic icy ambient with sparse slightly classical accents. Drones, eerie synths and manipulated or original sounds from nature, such as the rushing of the leaves of trees or meandering water, make up the sound on Horizons. The latest cd, Barren Land from 2004, appealed very much to me, so i was quite anxious to this album which now is released via Cyclic Law. A label that connects very well with the music of Hærleif Langås with the kind of records they release. Desolate sounds that reflect the cold yet serene Nordic world. Titles such as als ‘Until Dawn do us Part’ , ‘Night Came To Us’ and ‘With The Stars as Witness’ are explanatory for these sounds, which are divided into three parts on this cd of which the three tracks that form the middle part are a bit too minimal. People’s attention could be distracted with it and this would be a pity since the last two tracks are indeed very beautiful. The very last track 'Wilderness' is also featured in an alternate version as video on this cd.

From the Guts Of Darkness webzine (France)
Northaunt nous revient enfin sur Cyclic Law avec ce 'Horizons' de toute beauté, explorant dans la sobriété le style du norvégien vers des terres beaucoup plus vastes. Si de la 'terre désolée' illustrée par le précédent album émanait une mélancolie profonde que les arrangements mélodiques et le recours subtil à des instrumentations acoustiques valorisaient à merveille, les horizons ici pointés se voilent d'une texture plus minimaliste, moins évidente au premier abord. Un aspect plus rêche peut-être, que les nappes exacerbent en premier lieu par un étirement tendant vers l'abstraction. la grande classe de cet album est finalement de prouver que ces horizons sont bien plus riches qu'ils n'y paraissent : ça et là des éclair mélodieux viennent ponctuer cet univers intimidant ce qui permet d'indentifier à coup sûr la musique de Northaunt (le final de 'Until dawn...'). Les atmosphères se parent ainsi d'atours plus sombres et mystérieux, à l'image des visuels tout en clair-obscur du digipack, offrant une vision plus impénétrable que la mélancolie presque organique de 'Barren land'. La preuve en son avec ce 'Night came to us' long de 15 minutes, angoissant et évolutif ou son pendant plus 'leger' 'Night alone'. Plus massive et abrupte en terme d'émotions, l'ambient de 'Horizons' perpétue la singularité du norvégien en matière d'utilisations des nappes et des drones, de mélodies qui surgissent de nulle part et qui offrent aussi furtivement que cela soit un contrepoint poétique dans cet univers fascinant. Des sons sculptés à même la terre et le roc qui à leur tour répercutent un écho infini à ciel ouvert et dans l'immensité des terres sauvages. Du très grand art...5/6

From the Lunar Hypnosis webzine (France)
I first listened to Northaunt's work on a split CD with Vinterriket and was immediately impressed with the work from both artists. since then, I have been looking for Northaunt CDs and I came across this last one, his 3rd full length CD. Northaunt is one of the most if not THE most renewed ambient atmospheric acts in Norway. Yes, they make some other music besides hateful and "true" black metal after all. This last effort consists of seven beautiful and serene soundscapes where soft melodies are intertwined with nature recordings and for the most part somber inarticulated sequences. This work is captivating, involving and extremely interesting. In my opinion, there are two ways to listen to this type of music. One would be softly as background music which I believe would be a waste of time because it's almost subliminal message will get lost. I rather play this style of music loudly as I think it makes the most impact that way. This music is definitely mood altering, but rather cold and desolate in it's delivery. You can almost feel as if there was a constant breeze full of melancholy and as if the night is about to set in. As the sun sets, darkness engulfs the things you can see and all of a sudden the place you are feels humid but at the same time it gives you a sense of serenity. For most people this will be easily catalogued as some strange noise without any sense and without going any places. For some of us who happen to enjoy this style, this is the perfect music for making your internal little space a meaningful place to be. Listen to this rather loudly on a rainy day, hopefully overlooking some body of water and you will be transported to your inner self. Whether you enjoy or not what you see inside is totally up to you. This will bring you there though...This enhanced CD has a video of an alternate version of "The Wilderness" and it is the perfect visual for this type of music. A time-lapse sequence of clouds opens the track and it slowly evolves into a snow and wind covered landscape to close with the sight of a person walking away from the screen in the snow covered surface. The last gasps on this track are precisely the sounds of the feet as they crush the snow and ice beneath the soles. If the human race ever gets to mars, this is the soundtrack NASA should broadcast when they open the hatch and slowly descend into a desolate and unknown territory. Enjoy!
May 5, 2006 By Carlos 9 of 10

From the Medien konverter webzine (Germany)
Dunkle Wolken ziehen auf, ein Gewitter bricht herein, das Licht am Himmel bekommt einen ungewöhlichen Glanz, es wird Nacht und das ist gut so! Genau der richtige Zeitpunkt ein, für meinen Geschmack äussert gelungenes Werk aus dem Dark Ambient Bereich zu besprechen: Northaunt: Horizons, erschienen im Frühjahr beim kanadischen Label Cyclic Law."Horizons" ist der dritte Longplayer vom norwegischen Projekt und die "ambient landscapes" zeichnen, wie man auch an Titel wie "The Wilderness" unschwer ablesen kann, Stimmungen die uns die Natur vorgibt nach, allerdings nicht so plakativ und dämlich dunkel/hell & gut/böse wie man vermuten mag. Die Natur ist ein Spiegel, die Vergänglichkeit und Wandel uns vor Augen führt, die Tag und Nacht ist - ohne zu bewerten. Bei einem Titel wie Horizons kommt schon ein gewisser New Age Verdacht auf. Weit gefehlt, Northaunt sind grimmige Skandinavier und nicht irgendwelche West Coast Althippies. Für mich ist das Album trotzdem nicht düster und Dark Ambient ist auch nur ein Fach im Plattenladen: es ist tief, intensiv und nachdenklich. Zu den Stücken selbst: es gibt auf dem Album musikalisch gesehen drei Sektionen. Die erste geht etwas in den Industrial Bereich, die Sounds werden intensiver, metallischer und atonaler, ohne dabei in den häufig gehörten, extrem langweiligen diffusen verhallten Krach abzudriften, den viele "Dark Ambient" Acts heute produzieren. Besonders stark entwickelt sich das 14-minütige "night came to us". Die nächste drei Stücke sind ruhiger, verhaltener und fast minimal, "the autumn sky" erinnert entfernt an Brian Eno's frühe Werke auf "On Land". Die letzten beiden Stücke, vorallem das geniale "with the stars as witness", bekommen eine fantastische Tiefe, die berührt, hier wird es fast romantisch, ein guter positiver Ausklang. Davon hätte ich mir natürlich mehr gewünscht, aber es gibt bekanntlich nicht nur tiefrote Sonnenuntergänge. Als Bonus gibt es noch ein Video, von Northaunt selbst produziert mit einer alternativen Version von "The Wilderness", die mir fast besser gefällt als das Original. Nebenbei bemerkt sei noch das gelungenes Cover übrigens - mit sehr schönen Photos von Northaunt selbst, in 6 seitigem Karton Digipack: Was anderes als exquisites design hatte ich auch nicht von einem Cyclic Law Release erwartet. "Horizons" ist der perfekte Soundtrack für die kommenden Herbstnächte, und wie der Titel schon sagt: empfehlenswert für jeden, der seinen musikalischen Horizont erweitern will, nicht nur für die "Kaufe alles wo Dark Ambient draufsteht" Fraktion. Das bisher intensivste und ausgereifteste Album von Northaunt.