Death Metal goes Ambient? Morris Kolontyrsky's new album: Origination

For those familiar with Morris Kolontyrsky’s searing guitar work in the progressive death metal group Blood Incantation, his debut solo album Origination may cause a double take. But a closer look reveals an ongoing infatuation with ambient music, including his Fish Season project with fellow cosmonaut Paul Reidl [Tape Op #164]. After band practice one night, the duo improvised a memorable session in their SI-169 studiokompound, released as Fish II by Eye Vybe Records. And while Paul’s solo ambient projects have garnered wide recognition, Morris has now also made a bold statement in the field with Origination.

Inspired by former roommate Neal Samples’ work with cult Denver outfit Tollund Men, Morris began releasing his Impressions series on Bandcamp as a proof of concept for his solo flights, and the blueprint was laid for Origination. Setting up in his small bedroom studio at home, Morris dove into his Roland JP-8000 synth and a vintage 1974 Moog Micromoog (“instant cosmic vibe”) to provide the foundation of floating pads and black hole ambience. Flourishes were provided by his first analog synth, the Korg minilogue, and the unpredictable enigma known as the SOMA Lyre-8. The idea was to push the limits of the outboard gear on hand, keeping a separation from the SI-169 space. Once everything was set up, there wasn’t much room to stand, especially with a guitar in hand.

Without room to properly mic an amp, Morris’ BC Rich Mockingbird ran through a Neural DSP Quad Cortex amp modeler pedal, adding tape saturation in Apple Logic Pro X to make it more natural. For an audio interface, he continues to employ an 8-channel PreSonus FireStudio. (now, that’s kvlt!)

The immersive reverb cloaking the album mainly came from an Eventide Space pedal, which Morris considers to be the best of its kind, and a trio of late-'80s Alesis QuadraVerbs. The JP-8000 ran stereo into two QuadraVerb 2s, and the Moog into an earlier QuadraVerb. Various loopers were also employed, including the SOMA Cosmos Drifting Memory Station. This is a key element of the recording, providing unpredictable repeats and blurring effects that pay homage to Robert Fripp’s Frippertronics techniques.

Getting into the headspace to plow into infinite space required letting chords resonate and loop indefinitely while Morris sat and contemplated, or wandered around the house, immersing himself in the sonic textures. Nothing was planned ahead, and everything was about just “being in the moment.” Once he’d hit nirvana in that headspace, it was time to lay down guitars, which helped the sprawling soundscapes find their way back to earth. Layering improvised solos was the fun part, with most of the first takes making their way onto the album. “I didn’t have to worry about missing notes, because there aren’t any notes to hit. There’s nothing to aim for.” With most of Origination’s tracks running north of ten minutes, Morris would sit for hours and “wait for the piece to tell me that it was done.”

Once everything was recorded, Morris passed his audio stems along to dear friend and ambient pioneer Steve Roach [Tape Op #161], who had mentored and inspired him to take on the project. Steve ran the stems through his mixing console and outboard gear, adding additional drones. “I’m not even sure what he did, but he Steve Roach-ed it!” After getting the stems back, Morris used further EQ and compression inside the box to help make the frequencies sit together more smoothly. Having previously mixed his solo black metal project Natürgeist, Morris found the mixing of Origination a more intensive affair, as “there’s no blueprint.”

After mastering was completed by Robert Rich, Steve connected Morris with legendary label Projekt Records, led by Sam Rosenthal (Black Tape for a Blue Girl), which was a dream come true as a longtime fan. “To be in the same breath as (labelmates) Michael Stearns and Erik Wøllo is an honor.” Morris will also be making his live debut at Roach’s SoundQuest festival, August 28 to 30th in Tucson, Arizona. While impossible to recreate live, he’ll be setting up the Moog and JP-8000, along with some new toys like the Meris LVX Modular Delay pedal, and playing “in the vein” of Origination.

So, what’s next for our outer limits explorer? He’s been writing in the world music-inspired vein of Popul Vuh and incorporating that into the endless spacious vibe of Origination. Teaming up with Occupied Hex games, Morris has also been tapped to create the soundtrack for their upcoming role playing game, Echo Lifeboat, which could end up being the A-side of the follow-up. “Working towards a goal of scoring the game changed the way I would write. It doesn’t need to be sprawling improv the whole time; I can turn a click on whenever I want and start adding timpani or orchestration.”

Grabbing Spitfire’s free BBC Orchestra plug-in, Morris realized it wasn’t against the rules to write this way, and he was off to the races. “I don’t know what to call it, but it feels like an opus situation, like Mike Oldfield. Releasing music under my own name, I feel like I can do whatever I want. On a personal level, this helpsmeexist, it’s my form of therapy and makes me feel good. I’m grateful for all of the success Blood Incantation has had, but when we’re not on the road I still need to create. There’s so much more to give.”