Max Corbacho has created yet another masterwork of atmospheric ambient music, both in terms of compositional and audiophile craftsmanship. These sensuous and expansive soundscapes are beautifully paced in their unfolding and find that delicate balance between calm stasis and developmental movement that the best works of the genre embody. One of the most interesting aspects of Max’s work is the periodic appearance of non-harmonic and analog pointillistic elements, almost like the tiny flaws that are intentionally built into gothic cathedrals. Unlike several of the other reviewers who have regarded these elements as distractions, I hear them as echoes of the great chaos that are the cosmological sea in which these creations arise. If you relax your mind completely and listen with open, unassuming ears, you can hear the great beauty that these fractal tones lend to a whole that is almost inexpressibly sublime. I heartily recommend that serious listeners download the 24-bit FLAC versions of these pieces, which allow the listener to hear many subtleties not apparent in a lower resolution recording. Absolutely stunning, setting a new standard even for this composer of enormous substance.

 

I remember that I was quite disappointed back in December 2008 when this album came out, not because of its sonic or visual content, but because of the fact it was available as download only release. Fortunately, nearly one year later, at Nov 1st, 2009, my dreams came true when a CD version of «BreathStream» was released. Definitely a great move for all aficionados of physical items like me!!! Spanish master of free gliding tranquil ambience ignites the departure of this odyssey with «This Luminous Space», a graciously floating washes, here and there gently emphasized by fragilely swirling distant space rumblings and serenely cascading through various movements, but always keeping within its deeply relaxing, elegant and mesmerizing mood. «This Luminous Space» takes you to breathtakingly wonderful immense places!!! «Act Of Light» unfolds with few sharper space effects and deep monumental drone, gradually evolving into colossally fascinating soundwalls and precisely interacting with more peaceful adagios. A really big one, an exciting journey into the infinity continues!!! «The Great Breath» is slightly more organic, but again colored with ever-changing magnificent dreamscapes. «No Day Nor Night» immediately excels at its grandiose and tranquil waves, washing over the listener’s head and navigating him/her into absolute sonic bliss. In the second half the composition is invaded by few disrupting moments, when some strange noises fly by, it’s a fascinatingly beautiful excursion!!! «No Form Nor Colour» is the longest piece, reaching nearly 16-minute mark, and a rather more active, continuously progressing texture featuring also few natural sounds, but still richly intense and expertly layered. «Temple Of Dissolution» is another masterpiece that promptly left me breathless with its grandiose, spiraling ambience, spectacularly evoking spatial emptiness and loneliness. Could be a «creme de la creme» of this album!!! A great moment of interplanetary exploration awaits!!! «Pure Being» is closing this utterly captivating and immersing audio journey with more euphoric, dreamy finale. Really gorgeous cover artwork magnificently displays this lifelong experience too. A giant performance by Max Corbacho, showcasing his bravura in creating pure atmospheric soundscapes, a landmark recording in space ambient genre!!! And «Ars Lucis» was yet to come…

Richard Gürtler (Apr 01, 2012, Bratislava, Slovakia)