After the conclusion of Fahrenheit Project series with excellent 7th installation, Ultimae returns to world of magical psychill sound with Ambrosia. First thing i would point out is quite obvious one - by looking at the tracklist you'll find only a few Ultimae regular players - Aes Dana and Asura - and quite a number of fresh names. And i must say, its definately a good thing. I read more than a few times in various online communities that Ultimae sound became generic and not so innovative as in beginning on last decade, but hey, you must admit that these guys formed a whole new concept of psychedelic chill music and influenced so many producers to this day. Well the good news is that things just got better. Ambrosia is one of the releases that definately stand out by concept and atmosphere. Its oozing with freshness and depth, atmosphere is light, easy and joyful, tracks are very well put together, sound is very good - Vincent did very good job on mastering this release. I will not go with track by track review, simply because i always considered Ultimae cd releases as a "whole" - push play and enjoy the ride, from beginning to end. Although i found a couple of past releases to be lacking in that special storytelling feeling, Ambrosia definately has it all the way. I especially like that there are not much "classic" psychill tracks (like Aes Dana's Principles Of Gravity), and that there is a slightly higher "idm-ish" influence, overall. That is what i believe to be the future sound of Ultimae - a different approach on rhythms with same good old floating ambiences they're known for. All in all, its a strong release. Not the best one tho, for me its hard to top old stuff like Oxycanta or some of the Fahrenheit releases, but its also far from being easily forgettable and generic. There is a special something in all of these tracks, perhaps the fact that most of these artists come from the same country, but i found this album really well compiled and put together. I give it a strong 8 out of 10. Highly recommended for people looking for a good chillout regardless of beat structure, but not so much for those looking for a genuine ambience and innovation or those looking for classic kick-triple bass psychill. All i can say now is that - i want more. It would be very interesting to hear artist albums from these artists too. But, until then - lets enjoy the sound of Ambrosia.

Nice review, though I'd hesitate in calling the atmosphere "light, easy and joyful." :)One Arc Degree's track in particular is rather foreboding. But Ambrosia is indeed a spectacular release. 9/10.

Well, there's a lot to say about this album. Right now it's my favorite album of 2011. Not only is this a remainder of why so many people love the Ultimae label so dearly (I most definitely among them), but it's easily better than the first and last Fahrenheit Projects. Ultimae's overall quality is so extremely high and they've released *so* many mind-blowing, expectation-scorching albums, it's a little difficult to place this in its context, but its in the upper echelon. What's particularly remarkable about this release is that it's plumbing almost entirely new musical sources for Ultimae. Cell, Astropilot, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Solar Fields, and H.U.V.A. Network are nowhere to be found! You get an actual new Aes Dana track, not a remix! So where is all this wonderful new music coming from? The year is 2011 and the world may be buzzing over the Greek financial crisis, but if this compilation is any indication, there is no crisis over quality space/chill/ambient music from that country. The majority of the players on this release are little-known artists associated with Greece. But the music, man! Does it hold up to the Nothern Europe dominated comps we've been listening to? Yeah, it does. There's not a bad track among them and some very good/great(!) ones. It starts out with Max Million and Gusk with "Sub Strata" a very dramatic track that sounds like it would fit in nicely on the first CBL album, very good. The next track is great, it's everything that's so good about deep space ambient with great beats. It's in the vein of something you'd hear off Solar Fields' Movements, or the Solar Fields track "Jeezhl." The name "Light Tails" is properly evocative of the kind of music you're going to be hearing, like seeing the tail of a comet streaking across a dark sky. The next track, if you want a thick, funky sound used as a refrain perfectly complementing a downtempo beat heavy piece of lush ambience, you've got it... first time I listened through this album I underestimated this track. It comes to a pause and changes tempo, there are some light, spectral female vocalizations in the background and it picks up... when was the last time an album started out with 3 tracks this strong? With the 4th track we're back on familiar terms with Aes Dana, except this is something that sounds like it could come off their Season 5 album... if you were listening to this album with no idea on the tracks you could pick this out as the Aes Dana track and not only that, I like it better than anything off Perimeters and it's as good as the best tracks on Leylines. But people who love old-skool Aes Dana are going to love this track. 5th track is "Homo Imperceptibilis" which starts out with a bit more uptempo but still retaining the space ambient downtempo feel throughout the whole album, a bit of piano to start, some psy sounds, hypnotic beats, a shimmering melody... a vocal sample and it dives in deeper. So it's great, right? We're done? No, the beats and the melody are still there but we've got some funkier acid type sounds, then, an epic ambient sweep with strings kicks in! Is this all still one track? Where can I find an entire album that sounds like this? And that beautiful melody is still there. This is some kind of work of beauty. The beats get a little harder and crunchier toward the end. Wow. Good headphones, high volume, and blast off. Whew. Okay, well, we had to come down off that high and the next track "Sun Ritual" is my least favorite of the album. It's got some nice sounds for certain but compared to the careful constructions of all the previous tracks, this one seems a little less disciplined and just less memorable. I may have underestimated this one though, listening to it again and it sounds better than I remembered. It's still like a 7 stacked up against all the 9s and 10s that came before it. Now, Track 7, "Hyades." This is really good stuff. It *vaguely* brings to mine Solar Fields' "Leaving Home" album, which is one of my five favorite albums of all time. It's got a dark and sinister vibe to it with melodies and beats layered sublimely all over the place. Great sounds. Almost a menacing melody that runs underneath the beats and the lighter counter-melody that's over it. This really does feel like a sinister "Leaving Home." The next track... Asura! One of Ultimae's biggest draws. Starts out sort of IDM/glitchy with some of the old-skool Asura new-agey/world music voices. It's actually a neat effect and something new for Asura. Then it's drawn out into an absolutely gorgeous musical voyage with a big, dramatic hook to it. I love it. You thought the track was going one direction and then it does this! Pure loveliness. The album lets you down easy for the last two tracks after those ever-ascending heights. "Why" is nice and laid back but now that I'm listening it through again this may be my least favorite track. It's fine but it's sure no V.A.N.T.A. or Hyades. The last track brings us back to MikTek. This is called "Ominous Ride" and in the beginning it sounds ominous, good and desolate space ambient. It evolves though, turning into a drifting ambient lullaby. Very nice closing track. So that's it. So far, my album of the year. If I have to rank the tracks right this second I'll go: 5, 8, 7, 2, then 1, 10, 3, 4, then the "lowest" tier 6 and 9. So I hate the phrase, but this is a *must* listen. Ultimae just kicked everything's ass again, the mastering is great, the sound is great, kudos to Fishimself and the artists, you just made 2011 music history in my book.