Raison d'Etre - Metamorphyses - 3CD

A transcendental journey through the shadows of consciousness – remastered and expanded for the deepest listening experience yet. With Metamorphyses, Swedish dark ambient pioneer Peter Andersson (RAISON D’ÊTRE) invites us into a labyrinth of sound and soul, where drone, ritualism, and neoclassical minimalism converge into something vast, immersive, and transformative.

Originally released in the mid-2000s, this defining work now returns in a gloriously expanded edition – and for the first time ever, pressed onto double vinyl. This 2025 edition, meticulously remastered to K14-level standards by Andersson himself, features not only the core studio album (Disc I, recorded winter 2005–2006), but also two full discs of evocative live performances from across Europe, including Gent, Sofia, Salzburg, Alkmaar, Budapest, and a stunning set recorded in the Sophienkirche of Wuppertal during the Phobos II Dark Ambient Festival (2010) – a performance that plays like a liturgy for forgotten gods.

The sound is monumental yet subtle: subterranean drones coil beneath spectral chants, decaying harmonics ripple through ancient cathedrals of reverb, and slow-shifting textures create a space where the listener floats between the sacred and the surreal. There are echoes here of Lustmord’s somber gravity, Thomas Köner’s icy isolationism, and the ritualistic depth of Inade or Desiderii Marginis, but it’s RAISON D’ÊTRE’s singular spiritual voice that rises from the abyss.

The artwork by Kati Astraeir perfectly captures the album’s meditative darkness – fluid forms, organic decay, and transcendent abstraction – while the layout, also designed by Andersson, reinforces the ritualistic purity of the listening experience.