Released simultaneously with "Kall - The Abyss Where Dreams Fall" (on Mondes Elliptiques), "Mørketid" is not the disc I expected, under many aspects. Over the last few years, Alessandro Tedeschi/Netherworld has created some of the bleakest drones around, legitimately reviving the term "isolationism" and starting to build a solid reputation with a few limited releases on Umbra and Tâalem. The name he's chosen for his own label, "Glacial Movement", was perfect to define his style. But right from its beginning, this self-released work is a surprising detour, or possibly the sign of new inputs that will be gradually absorbed in his soundscapes. To be short, the whole disc is bathed in melody, and is largely loop-based (instead of featuring vast bottomless drones). The glacial theme is still there (the liner notes explain that the title refers to "a certain period in the year when the Arctic winter cold encases everything and the sun doesn't rise over the horizon"), but the atmosphere is melancholic and peaceful rather than one of ghastly desolation. Now and then, Maurizio Bianchi in his most serene mood came to my mind, along with vague similarities with some Eno or Basinski. Short melodic fragments are looped building expanding cyclic pieces, sometimes accompanied by spoken samples (one more difference - human traces!), and occasionally clouded by darker drones and metallic rumblings, as in the title track and the final "Virgin Lands". After the initial shock, I found myself liking this album quite a bit, though being no die-hard fan of melodic ambient. I am now looking forward to seeing if Tedeschi will cultivate his more humane side as opposed to the more abstract and desperate one, or try to merge both - which could lead to awesome results.