Ever since seeing ENCOMIAST live a few years ago and getting turned on to their CD releases, they have remained one of our favorite drone/ambient outfits for the attention to detail and tension-building structures that permeate their performances and releases. ENCOMIAST�s 2003 full length Espera offers seven of the drone outfits bleakest and most glacial ambience yet, finding Ross Hagen and company building exquisite ambient drones and icy humming like wind coursing through an abandoned underground factory, filled with rich layers of reverb-saturated synth burn and ominous metallic echoes decaying into darkness. Dense and threatening and beautiful. Another reason we love ENCOMIAST so much is the use of flute. While not as omnipresent on this album, track seven, �Kannelyre�, showcases Megan Garland�s flute playing which adds a new level of frozen majesty to these deep-floating cavern drones. Excellent. For fans of Lustmord, Robert Rich, and Raison D�Etre, the Aural Hypnox family of ritual cave drones, as well as the ambient drift of LULL and SLEEP RESEARCH FACILITY.