Cryo Chamber is a label run by Simon Heath, who has been making dark ambient music under the moniker of Atrium Carceri for almost two decades. Born in Sweden and now residing in Oregon, Heath has focused the label on a similar style, with cinematic drones as well as soundtrack-like ambiance and effects. As a consequence, many of the Cryo Chamber releases have science-fiction, urban, or post-apocalyptic themes.
We have reviewed numerous Cryo Chamber releases over the last few years. These are gathered below.
-
AMN Reviews: Reimagining Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft remains an enigma. He was an early and ultimately a highly influential writer of psychological, fantastical horror. His stories focused on interactions between humans and powers that were beyond the scope of our imagination. These beings were terrifying not because they necessarily intended humankind any harm, but because we were completely inconsequential…
-
AMN Reviews: Flowers for Bodysnatchers – Infernal Beyond (2020; Cryo Chamber)
Infernal Beyond is (give or take) the tenth album from Flowers for Bodysnatchers, a solo project of Duncan Ritchie. An amalgam of dark ambient, field recordings, and electroacoustic manipulation, the album tells the story of a tragic fire in the fictional Ravenfield Asylum of Fairhaven, Massachusetts – and its possible supernatural origin. Plot aside, Infernal…
-
AMN Reviews: Randal Collier-Ford – Advent (2020; Cryo Chamber)
Just when you think that you have a grasp on the expanse of dark ambient music, another artist comes to your attention. Such an artist might not only have a new album out, but also a long discography built up over the years. With 30-plus albums from the last decade, Seattle-based Randal Collier-Ford fits this…
-
AMN Reviews: Ugasanie – Freedom and Loneliness (2020; Cryo Chamber)
From the cover art, it is not clear whether Ugasanie’s Freedom and Loneliness is attempting to evoke a distant past or a post-apocalyptic future. But as a main progenitor of polar ambient – a style of dark ambient that musically interprets the vast, cold expanses of the far north – the latest release from Belarusian…
-
AMN Reviews: Dronny Darko – Black Hive (2018; Cryo Chamber)
Black Hive is the third album of a trilogy from Dronny Darko (the moniker of Ukrainian sound artist Oleg Puzan) that includes previous releases Outer Tehom and Spira Igneus. His material seems to have slipped under the radar, or at least under my radar, as this 2018 release just came to my attention. Mea culpas…
-
AMN Reviews: Tineidae – Exo (2020; Cryo Chamber)
Sometimes musical innovation is in the development of new sounds, palettes, techniques, textures, and orchestrations. In other cases, the innovation lies in taking a pre-existing set of sounds and combining them in a way that is unique and compelling. If anything, the latter is often the harder task, as there may be a large body…
-
AMN Reviews: New Dark Ambient Releases from Beyond the Ghost, Colossloth, and Caustic Reverie
Beyond the Ghost – Eternal Drift (2020; Cryo Chamber) France’s Beyond the Ghost produces a broad spectrum of sounds, including deep drones, lighter synth washes, some mildly discordant ambiance, and piano-based pieces. Throughout these, cello contributions come and go and wordless vocals emerge from time to time. There is a distinct cinematic / soundtrack quality…
-
AMN Reviews: Dronny Darko – Origin (2020; Cryo Chamber)
Despite its curious name, this outfit (a one-man effort of Kievian Oleg Puzan) focuses herein on the sculpted sound side of dark ambient – at least initially. Puzan takes the listener through a journey of intentional strangeness with processed and warped structures, reminiscent of the output of GRM artists. This involves a wide range of…
-
AMN Reviews: Alphaxone – Dystopian Gate (2020; Cryo Chamber)
Alphaxone is Iranian Mehdi Saleh, a dark ambient composer and performer, who brings his own twists to that expanding genre. Dystopian Gate is his 11th or so solo release, though he has recorded several joint releases, singles, and EPs, and has also contributed to compilations. The album focuses on deep drones and washes, shored up…
-
AMN Reviews: Atrium Carceri, Cities Last Broadcast, and God Body Disconnect – Miles to Midnight (2018; Cryo Chamber)
An Atrium Carceri release with a title like Miles to Midnight invokes dark ambient jazz, and the release thereof does not disappoint in this regard. Atrium Carceri is Simon Heath, Cryo Chamber label head, and here he teams with Cities Last Broadcast (Pär Boström) and God Body Disconnect (Bruce Moallem) for an 8-track noir excursion.…
avantmusicnews.com 