THE SUSPENDED APPARITION: It’s Sealed Inside The Church

Release year: 2023
Label: Misantropia Records

My real introduction to all kinds of industrial and post-industrial music was some twenty-odd years ago, in the early noughties, in the form of dark ambient music. My gateway drug were the more or less cheesy (usually more) synth side projects of black metal musicians, and stuff like Burzum and Mortiis. From there, via artists like Vinterriket (who did dabble in black metal), the path towards “pure” dark ambient was pretty short.

For a good many years, dark ambient was also just about the only form of post-industrial music I really liked, beside a budding interest towards neofolk. If it was ritualistic, occult or horror-themed and was all about non-musical, dark soundscapes – I liked it.

And let me tell you, if I’d heard UK act The Suspended Apparition’s debut(?) album It’s Sealed Inside The Church then, I would have gone bananas over it. Because, you see, this is exactly what I thought dark ambient was supposed to sound like then. Non-musical, eerie, atmospheric… in a word, haunted. Drawn-out, unabrasive hums and drones, slowed-down and pitch-shifted choirs, mysterious rumbles, rattles and clatterings, weird and mysterious synths. Something with a ghostly, otherworldly feel to it.

This isn’t exactly minimalistic in the sense that there wouldn’t be much going on, but musically it’s definitely understated. Within the context of dark ambient, I’d even go so far as to say it’s some of the less minimalistic stuff – there’s a considerable amount of stuff “going on” in the tracks, but none of them musical in any traditional sense. It’s all about ambience and atmosphere. Dark ambience and atmosphere.

To be honest, even 20+ years later, I’m pretty stoked about The Suspended Apparition. True, in many ways It’s Sealed Inside The Church is extremely unoriginal and familiar, something you’ve heard before if you’ve ever listened to dark ambient, but the sheer strength of the atmosphere on the album and the skill in constructing the soundscapes ensure the unoriginality doesn’t become a drawback.

As is obvious from the name of the project and the album, and the album artwork, and the track titles, The Suspended Apparition are inspired by, and base their craft around hauntings, ghosts and supernatural phenomena. The closing track of the album, Borley 1862, is a strong indicator what it’s all about: the now-demolished Borley Rectory in Essex, was built in 1862 and bore the title of “the most haunted house in England.”

The album evokes the mysterious, otherworldly, menacing but still somehow alluring intrigue of a good ghost story or haunted house. Indeed, listening to it, one can imagine deserted, dilapidated English mansions out in the countryside; a warm summer night made dark and cold by some unknown presence; and then, in a panicked flurry of noises, lights and sensations, the inexplicable and fleeting presence of – something. It’s Sealed Inside The Church is the perfect companion to reading about hauntings or perusing a book of classic ghost stories.

So, yes, the album is a bit run-of-the-mill stylistically. It might even be a bit of a one trick pony. But even if it is, It’s Sealed Inside The Church does what it sets out to do more than admirably. It does it laudably. I’m going to be honest with you: this is probably some of the best, most captivating dark ambient I’ve heard in some time.

The Suspended Apparition doesn’t have an online presence, but you can get the album from Misantropia Records’ online store.