by eyes cast down on April 28, 2011

I think Max Corbacho is driven by a love of life’s great mysteries. His music is fully informed and animated by this, by (as I’m hearing it) a quest for something transcendent, something far beyond our conventional, mundane states of being. I believe that, in this respect, Max is a kindred spirit to Lucette Bourdin, whom I recently featured here. In its feeling of reverence, its quest for purity, Max’s music often reminds me of Steve Roach’s magnus opus, Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces.

Max recently re-released his second album, Far Beyond the Immobile Point, originally released in 2000. Two key features of this new, remastered version are (1) Max was able to segue all the tracks together, so we get to enjoy it as an unbroken flow, and (2) two bonus tracks. This all-synth, beatless, deep-ambient album now includes nine pieces, totaling nearly 75 minutes.

Any one of Max’s albums is evidence enough of his talent, commitment and maturity as an artist. Even this early in his career, Max’s sound-sculpting skills are clear, and goosebump-exciting to hear.

Primigenial Frontier is an ideal opener, capturing the entire album’s essence. It’s far away and vast, soothing and chilling. Everything is strangely illuminated, deep and still. A boundless intelligence, patient and probing, is suggested. “Primigenial” means firstborn, original, primary – and this feels just like that. We’re on the threshold of the unknown (and perhaps unknowable). It’s not even drift – this is a mesmerizing standstill. “Tantalizing” is the best word I can conjure for it. One just wants to behold this, with no need to move or look elsewhere.

Our journey proceeds through the unnerving, yet tempting Predawn Darkness, with its ominous, tectonic roars, to The Threshold, which can be a gateway to whatever the listener dares. Mystery, knowledge and the great power that comes with it, are all beckoning.

Soundless Sign is enigmatic and still, a mystic vision of expansion and depth. The bass sounds like our frame of reference dropping off below, as spacetime flies away from us in all directions.

This all brings us to the title track, by far the album’s longest piece at over 23 minutes. A wonderful glassy, shimmering and chiming, over a thrilling depth. Glorious, luminous chords slowly flying past. We have travelled a long way – where are we? Look within for the answer.

Delightful bursts of living light dispel the murk; exhilarating and sobering. There is so much we don’t know and cannot know, so much we can’t even imagine, but how can that matter when we are given so much? Our vision – our sense of what is possible, despite so much unknowable – is expanding. The final few minutes settle us right here, in an unimaginable fertile vastness, as we reconcile with that unknown.

The two bonus tracks, which conclude the album, both have striking titles. Ancient Transition instills a sense of eons past. What changed, and what of the ancient ways was lost in transition? Hundred Miles of Emptiness is calm, but not serene – still, but foreboding. Mysteries remain, and there is no presumption of answers here.

Far Beyond the Immobile Point is thrilling, ecstatic, beautiful and joyous to hear.  Highly recommended!

Bert Strolember, Sonicimmersion

This is the second release of Spanish composer Max Corbacho, presenting a collection of seven non-rhythmic, highly atmospheric ambient space tracks, so taking a different road than was heard on his nice debut «Vestiges».

The inspiration for «Far beyond the Immobile Point» actually came from the first chapter of Umberto Eco´s novel «Foucault’s Pendulum». Eco’s poetical vision of the universe presented in his work inspired Max to do a much more introspective and contemplative work. The music breaths far more abstraction and the lack of rhythm and percussion reinforced his vision of remoteness in the universe.

Overall, the quiet, slowly expanding and flowing music breaths a beautiful sense of darkness but remains accessible all the way.
«Invisible Jewel» is of a lighter nature and is strong piece of harmonious textural spacescapes drifting by.
The album, which is especially suitable as night music, concludes with the 20-minute title track, a great floating tour-de-force into the grandness and serenity of the cosmos surrounding us.

Recommended, especially for fans of Steve Roach.

P.S. In March 2011, «Far Beyond the Immobile Point» was re-released as a digital download, which included two unreleased bonus tracks («Ancient Transition» and «Hundred Miles of Emptiness») recorded at the same time of the intial recording of the album. In addition, all gaps between the tracks have been fixed, resulting in a seamless atmospheric ambient experience as originally intended by the composer.

Paul Rijkens / E-dition magazine

«The second album from the Spaniard Max Corbacho is a so-called «DAM-CD». It contains the audio-tracks, a multimedia-section and MP3’s. His first one,»Vestiges», was a great ambient album in the style of Steve Roach. «Far Beyond The Immobile Point» goes even deeper, much deeper. The album contains no rhythms and is filled with very intense and sometimes rather dark andlong-stretched sounds. Great examples of this are «The Threshold» and»Soundless Sign» which, to me, sounds like a soundtrack for a movie about the prehistoric. To my opinion, the best track is «Invisible Jewell» which has some traces of the recent music of Robert Rich. The title track is with 20:13 minutes the longest piece on the CD. It follows the path of the other music but with some more drama to it. This is one of the best ambient/space-albums I’ve ever heard. «