I kept waiting for this to get interesting. That could sum up my entire experience with Detour to Nowhere from dark ambient artist World of Metal and Rust, but perhaps I owe it a few more words. The work here is dark enough, certainly, and packs that cloying and claustrophobic feel common to the style, but all in all it’s too repetitious for its own good. There’s minimalism, and then there is–no pun intended–going nowhere.  The same sounds seem to circle around you without ever upping the ante or intensity. Big piano chords drop in here and there, but it never fully feels like there’s a good reason for it. I’ve never been highly receptive to dark ambient, but some releases eventually pull me in because of the feeling they evoke or because the dynamics of the thing grab my head and make me listen. Not so here. Dark ambient fans can take a listen and see if there’s something I’m not getting but for me, Detour to Nowhere lives up to its title.

Available from Bandcamp.