When you call yourself “The Mourning Dimension,” have a Reaper-like gent on the cover of your CD and you’re NOT a heavy metal band, I think I can safely go into the listening experience with a few expectations. Has Opened hits all the right dark ambient tropes: long, groaning minor chords, rushes of nightwind, and an overarching sense of ill-being. Thing is, Has Opened comes off as more accessible than a lot of dark ambient I’ve been listening to. While certainly dense and suitably depressing in spots, it never quite hits the sense of attempted alienation that defines much isolationist ambient music. For lack of a better term, call this “somber ambient.” The top piece here is “In The Dark Residence of Evil,” where hammer-drop chords slowly stalk the listener; between blows an insectile skitter of percussion tracks across your brain. Dark as dusk and packed with consider-your-own-mortality seriousness, Has Opened is a good listen for those who take their music grim.

Available from Barren Meadows Recordings.