Light switch on and off, mostly off, in a small suffocating elevator. Humming sounds of the machine fills the dark space as the cables rattle and twitch when the cabin lifts up in shocks. The sound reverberate the small shaft as the cables torn. A claustrophobic excitement crawls up. Where the Mandrakes Grow is a conceptual album around erotic auto asphyxiation (Reference made belief that Mandrake is sprouted from the death sperm of the hanged man.), a tormenting dark ambient experience taking you into the depths of the unconsciousness with reverberating cavernous rumblings.

Roto Visage is brain child of Jason Popejoy with Where the Mandrakes Grow as first real CD after a series of digital MP3 downloads circulating the virtual world. With this work Jason has created a skilfully shaped dark ambient recording that lingers the subterranean caverns of the human psyche which sometimes is deeply disturbing or even frightening.

Where Mandrakes Grow comes to you as a feverish nightmare in which blood boils your brain where heavy footsteps echoing in endless corridors and a dirge full piano sets in a sober melody until the elevator brings you to another stage of Dante’s Hell with shrieking sounds of grinding iron filling the space reeking of decomposition. Filled with feelings of unease, this recording takes a hold on you for over an hour with eight haunted epic compositions of terror and loneliness. Shrieking and crackling sounds embedded in soft cosmic drones succeeded with blasts echoing through space and melodic interludes. Whispering voices and groans are terrifying the listener while the sonics are absorbing bringing you to surrealistic worlds of hellish landscapes. In “Sickly Sweet Fertilizer” are gasps to be heard which are almost physical as you can feel them squeezing your own throat. There are more moments like this in which the music comes dangerously close to your own existence in a threatening manner.

Don’t be mislead by the terrible artwork. This a compelling album of unsettling sonic beauty suitable for fans of Lustmord and musical unease. With these three last releases I wrote about Autumn Wind has proven to be a label to make allowance for. I am looking forward to future releases.