RAS.AL.GHUL
SUBHARMONIC DENSITY STRUCTURES
ALBUM AQUATICA RELEASE: SUMMER, 2000 REVIEW: SEPTEMBER 4, 2000


This Portuguese duo makes a surprisingly personal form of ambient techno. Their pseudoscientific song titles may recall Front Line Assembly in their most routine-driven moments. But the music on this, Ras.Al.Ghul's third album, is a pleasant mixture of Tangerine Dream-ish synth sweeps, careful rhythm programming and a fair amount of ethnical influences. Relying more on melodies than most fellow ambient artists, Ras.Al.Ghul make "Subharmonic Density Structures" a well-invested hour of listening, but I still can't escape the usual feeling that this genre in most cases stopped evolving after the "intelligent techno" boom of the early 90's, and that pulls the impression down a bit.

KRISTOFFER NOHEDEN