Methadrone 

Sterility

Foreshadow 2008

Craig Pillard's (ex-Incantation) one man soothing and introspective project of sorrowful ambience rises from slumber once again to wash us under with its gently lapping waves of melancholy.  Methadrone's second full length is very similar in design to its predecessor, though perhaps slightly darker.  Each song is consistent with its use of mood.  Sparse instrumentation, whether it be slowly strummed acoustic guitars or lethargically shifting keyboards, give the songs an ethereal quality.  Bury Me Somnia gently shimmers like a dream with its muted, echoing drums, simple yet emotional guitars and keyboards.  Horizone continues on a similar path but the keyboards add a layer of drifting male chants.  The final track, appropriately titled Final Transmission, brings to mind the early material from Methadrone, most notably Retrogression.  This is due mainly to its more industrial and more ominous feeling as electrically sizzling keyboards add textures that are not found elsewhere on Sterility.  Its 17 minute length is the most melancholic of the album as shrill yet mournful notes tower like spires over the initial wall of sound.  Mostly an instrumental project Craig managed a serious feat when he was able to obtain the vocals services of David Galas (Lycia) for the tracks Self Relinquishment and Continuum of Decline.  David Galas' vocals lend a ghostly quality to these tracks as they haunt from the shadows, just lower in the mix than one might expect.  Methadrone embodies all the feelings and emotions that one feels at the onset of falling into a deep nocturnal slumber.  With that in mind, Sterility has the effect of a nighttime, drug induced blanket of sleep slowly smothering the listener in the fog of unconsciousness.  The nerve endings dull and mind loses touch with reality and then passes into a world of yearning subconscious visions.