https://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=3218616
***** I have always had a huge soft spot for the solo career of Australian musician Ben Craven. He has that rare talent of blending heaviness and delicacy in a way that has always struck me. Things usually carry that kind of sensitivity that turns an arrangement into a soundscape. So when I first saw the news that he was joining forces with Tim Bennetts on keyboards, piano and vocals, and Dean Povey on drums and vocals, to bring to life a new symphonic rock project with touches of space music called Ambient Den, I could not help but feel excited to find out which paths their sonic roads would take.
The idea for Ambient Den was born during the quiet period of pandemic isolation. While life slowed down, Ben and Tim, like countless musicians around the world, found a way to stay creative through improvisation sessions that gradually took shape. In those home jams, between loose ideas and experimental atmospheres, something special began to emerge, and one of the first pieces to blossom from this process was “Provenance.”
As time went on, it became increasingly clear that this was no longer just a lockdown pastime. The embryo already had enough strength to turn into something greater. That was when Dean Povey entered the scene, bringing not only the weight and cadence of drums but also a fresh creative spark. His arrival felt like the missing piece of the puzzle, raising the compositions to another level and helping to shape what suddenly revealed itself as a complete album.
It is easy to notice right from the start that the trio’s sound draws from very carefully chosen sources. There is a chemistry here that recalls the creative dynamics of duos like Gilmour and Wright, with that contrast between soaring guitars and keyboards that build an atmospheric foundation, while echoes of Banks and Hackett also resonate in the careful layering and the ability to turn a simple progression into something greater.
The self-titled debut album arrives with the weight of an artistic statement and with a concept that makes it clear this is a work to be heard from beginning to end without interruptions, like a film without images, though it overflows with images to be created in the listener’s mind if they allow themselves to drift away. The storyline guiding the album is humanity leaving Earth in search of a new home among the stars and the long journey until reaching the point of terraforming a distant planet. It is a narrative that matches the band’s expansive and ethereal sound, at once filled with emotional weight. Each track feels like a chapter in this space odyssey, alternating between moments of cosmic contemplation and passages of tension and discovery.
In the end, the trio sounds like something born from the need to create amid silence and isolation, but which grew into much more than that. The restrictions of dark times became creative expansion, as if each note were an open window to the infinite, where the trio turned the restlessness of those days into music that conveys a sense of searching, crossing and discovering. The result is a work that speaks to the tradition of symphonic progressive rock, carrying undeniable echoes of some of the genre’s giants, yet never sounding like a museum piece. On the contrary, it looks forward and projects itself into the unknown by exploring new atmospheres, textures and narratives that feel fresh and contemporary.
Whether for its restrained but never showy virtuosity, its arrangements filled with details that invite revisiting, or its ability to weave a cohesive narrative thread, the album delivers a listening experience that begs to be taken in from start to finish without breaks, like embarking on a journey that demands complete surrender. More than a promising debut, it is an album that already feels mature, complete and memorable, one that has everything it takes to stand among the genre’s great releases in recent years. For those who appreciate music that blends contemplation, grandeur and emotion, this work is not just a beautiful surprise but also an invitation to embark on a space journey, one that echoes far beyond the final note and leaves behind the urge to set out again as soon as silence returns.
VTr Storm | 5/5 | 2025-9-24