Album Review: Asthoreth & Penumbral Aethyr – NAIAD
Artist: Asthoreth & Penumbral Aethyr
Title: NAIAD
Label: Winter Light
Release date: April 18th, 2025
Country: Belgium
Format reviewed: High-quality digital recording
Album Review: Asthoreth & Penumbral Aethyr – NAIAD via Winter Light by Pegah
Since our cultural beliefs are deeply rooted in mythology, which forms a vital part of each land’s collective subconscious, it’s no surprise that artists across time have turned to these ancient narratives for inspiration, and music is no exception. Myths are more than stories; they are vessels of meaning and ways of understanding the world. Asthoreth & Penumbral Aethyr, Belgian collaborators, summon the listener into a sonic realm shaped by ancient myth and ambient texture. Released by Winter-Light, a label known for exploring the shadowy fringes of ambient and experimental sound, the album unfolds as a kind of aural mythology each track invoking gods, spirits, and forces from a tapestry of cultural traditions. Being a mythology enthusiast for years, I found “Naiad’ a unique opportunity to explore those themes through sound. Therefore, I decided to use mythology as the theoretical framework for this review, bringing in deities and spirits from other lands, particularly Persian mythology, to draw parallels, contrasts, and deeper meanings. This is not to shift the spotlight away from the album, but rather to reflect how universal the themes of “Naiad” are.
“Boreas” opens with an expansive atmosphere, the howling of wind sweeping through the soundscape as if Boreas himself were announcing his presence. From this mist emerges a male voice distant, deliberate as if narrating the myth of Boreas, the son of the Titan Astraeus and Eos, the goddess of dawn. As the Greek god of the north wind, Boreas was feared for his violent storms and wintry gales. Yet beneath the chaos lies sorrow. The voice carries a mournful cadence, suggesting a lament perhaps for his daughter Cyparissia, whose death bore the “cypress tree”, a living memory of loss and immortality. The cypress, deeply rooted in both Greek funerary tradition and Persian gardens, becomes a bridge between mythologies. This duality recalls Vayu, the Persian deity of wind, who dwelled between light and darkness between Ahura Mazda, the supreme god, and Ahriman, the spirit of destruction. Vayu, like Boreas, could embody both benevolence and wrath. The track seems to echo this ambiguity: the wind mourns and rages, the voice fades into silence, and the north wind returns.
“Nephthys” draws its name from the Egyptian goddess who embodies both birth and the underworld a guardian of thresholds, watching over the liminal spaces between life and death. The soundscape reflects this duality, unfolding in layered echoes that seem to reverberate from some cavernous place deep below the surface. It feels dark and cold, like the timeless underworld of myth, untouched by the warmth of the sun. A low, rhythmic sound resembling slow, measured breathing emerges and fuses with the distant male voice, as if the breath of Nephthys herself is entwined with the voice. The two presences do not conflict; instead, they move together in a ritualistic calm, suggesting reverence or communion. “Nephthys” finds echoes in Spenta Armaiti, the Persian guardian of the earth and fertility, whose devotion nurtures the living, and in Ereshkigal, the Sumerian queen of the underworld, who presides over death with solemn finality. In this track, as in myth, these aspects coexist: the breath that gives life and the shadow that receives it.
The title track, “Naiad,” brings the central mythic figure of the album to the foreground: the freshwater nymph of Greek mythology, guardian of lakes, rivers, and springs. This piece feels like a sonic portrait of her domain. The layered textures mimic the living elements of her world—glistening droplets, soft rustling, distant owl calls each sound evoking the heart of a forest lake, hidden from human eyes. The cover art seems to echo this soundscape: a flow-like, smoky shape drifting through trees and mist, perhaps the embodiment of Naiad herself, silently weaving between the trunks and the water’s edge. The music doesn’t rush; it flows, it lingers. It listens. Naiad, in her quiet presence, resonates not just with Greek lore, but with nature spirits across traditions Anahita, the ancient Persian goddess of waters and fertility, comes to mind, as does the Japanese Suijin. All reflect the delicate balance between beauty, mystery, and an untouchable, ancient power.
The final track, “Ptah”, brings the album full circle back to the very beginning. In Egyptian mythology, “Ptah” is the creator god, associated with craftsmanship, architecture, and rebirth. He is said to have created not only the world, but also himself and the other gods, speaking them into being from the primordial void. The soundscape mirrors this cosmogony: it begins with a vast emptiness, a sonic void suspended in stillness. Slowly, a chant begins low, resonant as if summoning existence into form. Murmurings follow, layered like voices in a gathering of newly born deities. Then, without warning, the presence fades. The voices vanish. Wind returns. A slow unraveling begins, and the soundscape collapses back into quiet a return to the void. The track becomes a meditation on creation and dissolution. Though not a direct equivalent, Ahura Mazda in Persian mythology shares resonances with “Ptah”. Both are creators and maintainers of cosmic order, though their mythological contexts diverge—Ptah crafts the world through art and speech within a polytheistic realm, while Ahura Mazda reigns as a monotheistic god of light and wisdom, locked in a dualistic struggle with darkness.
Named after the water nymphs of Greek mythology, “Naiad” plunges the listener into a shadowy realm where mythology flows through every echo and drone. The album is drenched in aquatic textures—dripping reverbs, submerged melodies, and slow, tidal rhythms that evoke the ancient spirit of water as both life-giver and mystery. 8.5/10
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8.5/10 To Greatness and Glory!
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