Scottish Ifrinn prefer to remain anonymous since their members are involved with other projects and apparently they want to avoid associations and confusion. We will leave it at that and focus on their dark arts instead ...

There has long been a speculative debate whether major cities have significant underground life. And by underground I mean not shadowy, but deep underneath the surface. In their book Reliquary techno thriller writers Lincoln and Child asserted there are multiple layers of such life underneath New York City, some of it very dangerous, this life having occupied some unfinished subterranean railway projects. Ifrinn not only apparently believe in such life, they describe it on their eponymous release.

After water stops dripping from stalactites on the wispy, synth-accompanied decent (Descent Into Shining Labyrinths), the picture of an underground cavernous dwelling unfolds. The vastness of Oracular Phantasms impresses immediately. Without boundaries, the armies of wrinkled creatures roam incessantly, marching to double bass or busying themselves to blasts, shivering to snare snaps. Once in a while, the constant movement suddenly stops, yanked by a torturous guitar pull. All the while the creatures murmur with their illegible voices, focused only on moving about their immeasurable space. Interrupted by descent (or is it a lateral passage) into a neighboring cavern by another synth break in the action (Sulphurous Oscillations), Dweller Within the Gulf and These Darkened Shrines lead largely the same collective, samey existence. I say collective, because Ifrinn feels like a whirling anthill, yet, tragically, this is repeating over and over, hypnotically mesmerizing, and, at the same time, solitary reality. I completely get the picture, but just wanted Ifrinn to do more in songwriting and melodic variety department. Like their closing riff in These Darkened Shrines is sort of a remember-me-by event for which one has to wait the whole half hour until the EP is almost over. As entrancing as this release is, crisper production and more sweeping melodies would have caused me a total meltdown.