Product Description
2 Kali Raga
3 Legacy
4 Beyond the Prophecies
5 Timeless Voices
6 Eternal Tara
Genres: Ambient, World, New Age, Meditation
Featuring the hypnotizing presence of Frore’s synthesizers.
Tribal-ambient drummer Byron Metcalf and bansuri flute player/overtone singer Mark Seelig unveil their 7th collaboration, Kali Raga. For 20 years they’ve walked the path of empowerment as kindred spirits, creating sonic collaborations that merge modern methods with ancient traditions. These visionary artists blend shamanic, tribal and meditative drumming with classical Indian ragas, captivating melodies, and the hypnotizing presence of Frore (Paul Casper)’s analog and digital synthesizers. Together they realize music that is mystical, contemplative and dynamic, leading the listener towards doors that only deep imagination can open.
“Our concept for this album was to revisit many of the rhythmic and melodic terrains that our music has explored over these many years. The power of Kali and tender curiosity of Raga exquisitely supported us throughout the making of this album.” – Byron Metcalf
A dynamic flow of six mesmerizing tracks continues for an hour, invoking spirit with a serious invitation to those involved in inner exploration, visionary rituals, ceremonies and spiritual practices. Each sonic element falls into place: Byron’s drums and percussion are heart-centered and gentle on some tracks and intensely powerful on others. Mark’s evocative bamboo flutes create a sense of safety and wonder while his overtone singing adds a mysterious depth to the multi-layered sonic sacrament. Similar to the drumming on Kali Raga, Frore’s synthesizers produce a fascinating blend of timeless atmospheres and energized electronic intensity.
Kali Raga – a musical odyssey where the organic meets the electronic, and the ancient blends with the contemporary. This music transcends genres and time, inviting listeners into the magic and mystery of introspection and connection with the universal language of music.
Artists Bio:
Byron Metcalf is an award-winning musician and recording artist, shamanic practitioner and ceremonial leader. His highly successful music business career spans over five decades and covers a wide variety of musical styles and genres. Byron’s extensive catalog of releases is designed to support the transformational arts and is used throughout the world for meditation practices, shamanic journeying, breathwork, various therapy approaches, dance and inspired movement and psychedelic exploration.
Mark Seelig has released 21 albums solo and in collaboration. After early exposure to psychedelic medicines when they were still legal in the late 60s, he became a spiritual seeker, protestant minister, clinical psychotherapist, lead therapist trainer in psychedelic research, disciple of indigenous medicine traditions, and a fascinated student of the North Indian ‘Bansuri’ bamboo flute, leading to 20 years of musical co-creation with award-winning percussionist Byron Metcalf.
Credits
Recorded and mixed by Byron Metcalf at The Lair, Prescott Valley, AZ
Mastered by Cass Anawaty at Sonoran Mastering — Scottsdale, AZ
Byron Metcalf — Frame drums, ceremonial drums, clay pots, rattles, shakers
Mark Seelig — Bansuri flutes, overtone vocals
Frore (Paul Casper) — Analog, digital and modular synthesizers
Recorded at The Nameless Place, Virginia Beach VA
Shane Morris — Virtual tabla (track 3)
Sam Rosenthal — Graphic design
© Dr Bam’s Music, BMI / Devotional Flute and Chant, BMI
Reviews Editor –
From Chain DLK
Kali Raga… such a title alone promises a mystical, otherworldly journey. And why not? When you have two stalwarts of the ambient and shamanic music world like Byron Metcalf and Mark Seelig at the helm, expectations naturally soar. You imagine yourself being swept away into a realm where time dissolves, where ancient gods and spirits dance to the rhythms of a world both forgotten and timeless. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Metcalf and Seelig are no strangers to this cosmic terrain. This is their seventh collaboration, after all, and over the years, they’ve carved out a niche for themselves in the tribal-ambient subgenre. They’ve combined Metcalf’s primal drumming and Seelig’s ethereal bansuri flute to create soundscapes that are as meditative as they are intense. Kali Raga promises more of the same, but does it deliver?
The album opens with “A Teacher Appears”, a track that immediately paves the way for the hour-long odyssey. Here, Metcalf’s drums are gentle, like a heartbeat in deep meditation, while Seelig’s flute wafts in like a cool breeze over a sacred temple. Frore (Paul Casper) provides the ambient textures — analog and digital synthesizers that ebb and flow like the tides of an ancient ocean. It’s calming, yes, but it’s also a bit too familiar. If you’ve listened to their previous work, you might find yourself thinking, “Haven’t I been here before?”.
The title track, “Kali Raga” steps up the intensity with a rhythm that’s both hypnotic and unsettling. This is where Metcalf’s percussion really shines, invoking the fierce, transformative power of Kali herself. It’s a track that could easily be the soundtrack to a shamanic journey, or perhaps the climax of a vision quest. Seelig’s flute, meanwhile, dances around the rhythm like a serpent, weaving in and out of the sonic tapestry. But here’s the thing: while the music is undeniably powerful, it sometimes feels like it’s trying a bit too hard to conjure the sacred. It’s as if the album is aware of its own gravitas, and in that self-awareness, it loses some of its authenticity.
“Legacy” and “Beyond the Prophecies” continue the journey, with each track building on the last. There’s a dynamic flow to the album, a sense of progression that’s both deliberate and natural. Metcalf and Seelig know how to craft a narrative through sound, and they do so with a deft hand. “Legacy”, in particular, stands out with its layers of percussion and synths, creating a soundscape that’s rich and immersive. But again, there’s a sense that we’ve heard this all before. The album is like a beautiful painting that’s slightly faded at the edges—stunning to behold, but not quite as vibrant as it once was.
“Timeless Voices” and “Eternal Tara” close out the album, and it’s here that the music reaches its emotional peak. Seelig’s overtone singing on “Timeless Voices” adds a layer of depth that’s both haunting and mesmerizing. It’s as if the spirits of the ancients are speaking directly through him, their voices echoing through the corridors of time. “Eternal Tara” is more meditative, a gentle conclusion to the album’s journey. But by the time you reach this point, you can’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu. The album, while beautifully crafted, doesn’t quite transcend the boundaries it sets for itself.
Kali Raga is a journey worth taking, especially for those who are deeply invested in the realms of meditation, shamanic practice, or spiritual exploration. The album is meticulously produced, with each sonic element falling into place like the pieces of a carefully constructed mandala. But for all its beauty, it’s hard to shake the feeling that Metcalf and Seelig are playing it safe, revisiting familiar terrain rather than breaking new ground.
In a genre that thrives on the exploration of the unknown, Kali Raga feels more like a comfortable return to a well-trodden path. It’s an album that will undoubtedly find its audience — those who are already fans of Metcalf and Seelig’s previous work will find much to love here. But for those seeking something truly transformative, something that pushes the boundaries of what this music can be, Kali Raga might not be the revelation they’re hoping for. This album is beautiful, yes, and it’s undoubtedly effective in creating the kind of meditative space that Metcalf and Seelig are known for. But one can’t help but wonder: what if these two visionary artists took a step into the unknown, embracing the chaos and unpredictability that their music so often hints at but never fully realizes? Now that would be an album worth waiting for. -Vito Camarretta
Reviews Editor –
From Exposé
The tribal ambient sounds of this magnificent duo are always a welcome deep dive into spiritual realms, like two guides illuminating a path out of the cold darkness toward the warm morning sun. We have covered several previous releases by Metcalf and Seelig: Persistent Visions from a few years ago comes to mind immediately, but there was Intention a few years before that, and both have blessed us with numerous collaborations with others as well, in fact I believe my first exposure to Metcalf was his 2000 collaboration with Steve Roach titled The Serpent’s Lair.
Here on Kali Raga. Metcalf plays frame drums, rattles, shakers, clay pots and ceremonial drums, while Seelig plays bansuri flutes and provides overtone vocals. But there is a third collaborator here as well, and regular Exposé readers willl know him well, Paul Casper a.k.a. Frore plays all manner of synthesizer (analog, digital and modular) on all of the album’s six tracks, providing engaging background textures and hypnotic dreamlike structures that offer a mysterious soundworld for Metcalf and Seelig to weave in and out of as each piece proceeds. Frore’s frequent collaborator Shane Morris is here as well, but only on one track “Legacy” providing virtual tabla. With a total playtime of a little over an hour, the listener will discover many moments of high energy tribal shamanic power, but also a deep meditative spirit abounds by virtue of Seelig’s bansuri flutes, each pulling the listener in slightly different directions as they proceed down the path. The effect is dreamlike and mesmerizing, something akin to the soundtrack to a shimmering journey through a magical world, every spin providing new discoveries that went unnoticed on previous plays. -Peter Thelen
Reviews Editor –
From Sequenzer Welten
There is music that will be good forever – yes, it really is for eternity and the Kali Raga by Byron and Mark with support from Frore (Paul Casper) is an album in this category. I have rarely listened to an album more times in one day than the Kali Raga. It is simply a magical combination of synths, shamanic drums, raga and flutes…
The way I feel about it at the moment is the Kali Raga “THE” album of all – music for eternity. Byron, Mark and Paul: with deepest gratitude for this fantastic music!!!