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Steve Roach and Byron Metcalf
"Like the mysterious caves portrayed on its cover, The Serpent's Lair is an opening to an alluring and intense underworld. In many shamanic traditions, the snake or serpent is viewed with sacred reverence. The serpent primarily symbolizes the process of "death and rebirth." As the serpent sheds its skin, leaving behind that which is outgrown or no longer of use, it quietly prepares to move into a "new life." This is a vulnerable period during which the snake is left defenseless against outside threats with no guarantee of survival. For the shamanic initiate, this type of challenge must be faced if one is to "step into" this new relationship to life." The Review: Over the past year, the collaboration between Roach and Metcalf on The Serpent's Lair evolved into an epic 2-CD set, augmented by the contributions of some very special guests, including one of my favorite violinists, Vicki Richards. Other musicians featured on the album are Vidna Obmana, Jeffrey Fayman, Momodou "Mohammad" Kah, Jorge Reyes, Jim Cole, Lena Stevens and Vir Unis. With a group of musicians such as this, you can readily sense that magic is afoot. The percussion on disk one is astonishing, in both the recording of the sound, and the actual music. You feel like Steve and Byron are sitting in your living room playing live. Kudos for superb engineering. Steve's expansive atmospherics, along with Byron's more acoustic/tribal tribal trance patterns create themes of shamanic initiation found throughout the world. As with the recent collaboration of Michael Stearns's and Ron Sunsinger on "Sorcerer", 'the initiatory energy of focused transformational ritual practice is integrated into the alchemical fire of psycho-spiritual death and rebirth. It is here that one is confronted with all the essential elements of danger and possibility.' The incredible energy of the percussion and synths emerge to hammer their authority home, effectively steeping the music in the grand traditions they evoke. Intensive soundscapes such as 'Big Medicine' eclipse the shamanic nadir most effectively, hypnotic electron tides summon spirit and soul in a fusion of ancestry and techno-tribalism. Roach and Metcalf create an insidious organic sonic plasma that doesn't so much instill meditative states as aspire you into them. For those weaned on Roach's glaciated formations and the continued evolution of ambient music, and Metcalf's ingenious percussion and shamanic studies, the album becomes required listening on the learning curve. The duo with the help of a very talented ensemble create sonic bits of flotsam and reintegrate them into an electrifying bold new entity. about the artists Steve Roach is restless in his search for new sounds that connect with an ancient source of truth in this constantly changing world. His unique approach and the psychological / spiritual depth of his music have established his position as an artist of ceaseless productivity, constant innovation and open-minded collaborations with others. For over two decades, Roach has created cornerstone recordings that defy classification including Structures from Silence, Dreamtime Return, Well of Souls, and Midnight Moon. With this essential new offering, Roach brings the momentum of his rich career to another level. Byron Metcalf is a drummer/percussionist, psychologist, and shamanic practitioner specializing in methods which utilize non-ordinary (altered) states of consciousness to assist people in healing, personal growth and transformation. This collaboration began with Steve assisting Byron in a formal research study designed to examine the effects of breathwork and sound as a shamanic strategy. Steve and Byron's unique skills in using music and sound to induce altered states of consciousness proved to be an incredibly powerful and potent combination which they explored in different forms throughout this release. Review by Ben Kettlewell information:
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The
Hypothesis: (from the liner notes)