Review: Æscesi - Clausu'rah

Artist: Æscesi

Album: Clausu'rah

Label: Self-released

Release date: October 2025

Monastic life and its quest for spiritual purity, perfection and ascension have been a feature of most major religions since the dawn of civilisation. Yet solitude and meditation have led many down paths not originally envisioned; stripping layers of reality and meaning can render visible uncomfortable truths and lead one to unorthodox conclusions. How many over the course of centuries have given up all earthly pleasures only to realise that beneath it all there's just an empty human husk? How many were looking for the face of God only to end up staring at a cold, lifeless cosmic indifference? How many have nervously dared to question what they used to consider the most basic of truths among the silent stone walls in the night, not daring to repeat their findings even to themselves? Those are the questions that I pondered while listening to the debut album of Æscesi, the side project of the artist behind Dapalis Sepolcri, one of the most mysterious and unique figures of the French dark/black ambient scene.

Just like the project name itself, which is a warped Latin term for extreme, typically religious self-discipline, the album name Clausu'rah also draws inspiration from late antiquity, and translates roughly to closure or seclusion. Joined with the fantastic cover art depicting an ancient church entrance, the theme couldn't be clearer - this release relies heavily on various aspects of monasticism, particularly in the Western tradition. The music, as one would expect, sets the solemn, introspective mood accordingly, and is best described as ritual dark ambient, although this somewhat overused term doesn't really do justice to the depths it conveys or the monastic patience (if you'll excuse the pun) with which it has been constructed. This album is not just a collection of ideas deemed too unorthodox for the main project; while I have no insight into its compositional process, it sounds extremely deliberate and chiseled in its presentation, far too much to have been the result of a simple bout of inspiration. No, Clausu'rah seems to come from a seed that gestated and germinated for a while until it formed into the finished vision we're presented with. Deep bass drones, eerie repeating passages and muted whispers all contribute to a remarkably atmospheric feeling, while invoking a sense of uneasy curiosity rather than dread. Mere hints of melody and rhythm become apparent after a while, but they are used sparsely and intentionally, serving only to reinforce rather than dispel the tenebrous nature of the album. Just like eyes getting used to darkness, the atmosphere becomes more tranquil as the album progresses, not so much because of any changes in the flow or the sonic elements espoused by the artist, but because the listener's mind becomes more focused in a way. Crucially, the tracks don't overstay their welcome, with most of them under the 5-minute mark, thereby avoiding one of the obvious traps this subgenre is infamous for and giving the sense of a sequence of gateways rather than individual stories, a fact also hinted at by the tracks themselves being nameless.

Clausu'rah is genuinely one of the most pleasant surprises I've had lately, which only goes to show how important it is to keep an ear out for artists and releases emerging from relative obscurity. It shows incredible promise for a debut album and, despite running at under 40 minutes in total, manages to absolutely drench the listener in atmosphere without ever breaking its self-imposed monastic restraint. Rarely has an album fulfilled its own mission more effectively, and I certainly hope that this isn't the last we hear from Æscesi.

Rating: 9/10