{"id":442,"date":"2026-03-05T21:08:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T11:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ambientden.com\/?p=442"},"modified":"2026-03-05T21:08:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T11:08:25","slug":"2025-09-08-power-metal-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ambientden.com\/?p=442","title":{"rendered":"2025-09-08 – Power Metal (Review)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

https:\/\/powermetal.de\/review\/review-Ambient_Den\/Ambient_Den,45150.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ben Craven exploring new avenues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AMBIENT DEN is the new project of Australian musician Ben Craven, who has released three epic orchestral prog albums under his own name: “Great & Terrible Potions,” “Last Chance To Hear,” and “Monsters From The Id.” “Last Chance To Hear” even features acting legend William Shatner as a guest vocalist on one track. With AMBIENT DEN, Ben now collaborates with Tim Bennetts on keyboards and Dean Povey on drums; they also co-write the songs, and Ben no longer handles everything himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It becomes clear on the first listen that he has either found the perfect collaborators or is still the mastermind, because stylistically, AMBIENT DEN isn’t far removed from his solo work. This debut album also features epic, orchestral, almost spacey progressive rock, carried by Floydian guitars and wonderful keyboard sounds. It’s so wonderful in parts that the trio decided to forgo vocals on half the songs. While ‘Future History Part I’ comes across as a classic intro, the six-minute ‘Provenance’ is a delightful dream journey that works perfectly well without words. The over sixteen-minute ‘Terraforming’ is the album’s centerpiece, inviting the listener on a delightful voyage of discovery that is an experience you should discover for yourself, whether you listen casually or attentively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These three tracks are presented alternately with the vocal songs, of which the eight-minute track ‘For All Mankind’ is something of a hit. This is definitively proven when the bonus single edit is played. There’s also a single edit for ‘Earthrise’, but you’ll miss the outstanding guitar solo after a little over six minutes. The final track, ‘Future History Part 2’, then surprises with swinging horns, providing a nice contrast, while the multi-part vocals add another. A cool ending to a great album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Ben Craven continues AMBIENT DEN, I’m curious to see where his journey will take him. I’ll definitely be following along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:
8:00
Editor:
Peter Kubaschk<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Original:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ben Craven auf neuen Wegen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AMBIENT DEN ist die neue Spielwiese des australischen Musikers Ben Craven, der unter seinem Namen mit “Great & Terrible Potions”, “Last Chance To Hear” und “Monsters From The Id” drei episch-orchestrale Prog-Alben ver\u00f6ffentlicht hat. Bei “Last Chance To Hear” ist sogar Schauspiellegende William Shatner bei einem Song als Gastvokalist zu h\u00f6ren. Bei AMBIENT DEN arbeitet Ben nun mit Tim Bennetts an den Tasten und Dean Povey an den Fellen zusammen, auch schreiben sie die Songs gemeinsam und Ben macht nicht mehr alles selbst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Es wird aber schon beim ersten Durchgang deutlich, dass er entweder die perfekten Mitstreiter gefunden hat oder doch noch der Mastermind ist, denn stilistisch ist AMBIENT DEN nicht sehr weit von seinen Soloarbeiten entfernt. So gibt es auch auf diesem Deb\u00fctalbum episch-orchestralen, beinahe spacigen Progressive Rock zu h\u00f6ren, der von floydigen Gitarren und wunderbaren Tastenkl\u00e4ngen getragen wird. Das ist zum Teil so wunderbar, dass sich das Trio entschieden hat, bei der H\u00e4lfte der Songs auf Vocals zu verzichten. Kommt ‘Future History Part I’ noch als klassisches Intro daher, ist das sechsmin\u00fctige ‘Provenance’ dann eine herrliche Traumreise, die auch ganz ohne Worte funktioniert. Das \u00fcber sechzehn Minuten lange ‘Terraforming’ ist dann sogar das Herzst\u00fcck des Albums und l\u00e4dt zu einer wohligen Entdeckungsreise ein, die sowohl beim oberfl\u00e4chlichen wie auch beim konzentrierten H\u00f6ren ein Erlebnis ist, das ihr gerne selbst entdecken sollt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diese drei Nummern werden im Wechsel mit den vokalen Songs dargeboten, wovon for allem der Achtmin\u00fcter ‘For All Mankind’ gar so etwas wie ein Hit ist. Das ist sp\u00e4testens dann nachgewiesen, wenn der als Bonus hinzugef\u00fcgte Single Edit l\u00e4uft. Auch f\u00fcr ‘Earthrise’ gibt es einen solchen Single Edit, aber da verpasst ihr das herausragende Gitarrensolo nach etwas mehr als sechs Minuten. Das finale ‘Future History Part 2’ \u00fcberrascht dann mit swingenden Bl\u00e4sern und setzt damit einen feinen Kontrastpunkt, der mehrstimmige Gesang ist ein weiterer. Ein cooles Ende f\u00fcr ein sch\u00f6nes Album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Falls Ben Craven AMBIENT DEN fortsetzen sollte, bin ich gespannt, wo ihn seine weitere Reise hinf\u00fchren wird. Begleiten werde ich ihn auf jeden Fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:
8.00
Redakteur:
Peter Kubaschk<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/powermetal.de\/review\/review-Ambient_Den\/Ambient_Den,45150.html Translation: Ben Craven exploring new avenues. AMBIENT DEN is the new project of Australian musician Ben Craven, who has released three epic orchestral prog albums under his own name: “Great & Terrible Potions,” “Last Chance To Hear,” and “Monsters From The Id.” “Last Chance To Hear” even features acting legend William Shatner as a… Read More »2025-09-08 – Power Metal (Review)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":443,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ambientden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ambientden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ambientden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ambientden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ambientden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=442"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ambientden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":444,"href":"https:\/\/www.ambientden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442\/revisions\/444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ambientden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ambientden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ambientden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ambientden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}