Dark Ambient Newcomer Cryo Depth Sets Us Adrift On Debut "Monolith"
On her debut, full-length Monolith Belarus dark ambient artist Cryo Depth invites you to succumb to the numbing chill of cryostasis and survive the slow journey between stars. I’ve had the opportunity to strap in for this two-track transmission of minimalist, cosmic drone. Let me shake the feeling back into my limbs and I’ll tell you how I fared on the trip.
Track one, “The Source of Oddity”, is twenty-plus minutes of slow, stark sonic architecture. A curious, drifting soundscape that uses space as well as noise to evoke a cold, mechanical loneliness. This track starts with an innocent and questioning atmosphere, like being examined by an alien intelligence. It builds over twenty minutes into an uneasy, disquieting trip into blackness, a kind of further that separates the listener from their surroundings and pushes them out into the cold. Listen to this with headphones, this is a singular journey. This piece is minimalist and droning for the first fifteen minutes, at which point it is overtaken by an anxious pulse that seems to count down to some imminent event and shrill stings that set the teeth on edge like dentist’s drills. A beautiful introduction to the sound the artist seeks to cultivate.
Track two, Gaping Void, seems to mirror the first track in it’s curious, searching tone, but there is darkness here. There’s something subterranean and clambering that searches for the listener. Again, space and distance play an important part in this composition, creating an actual void that something primordial seems to call out from, beckoning the listener into it’s event horizon before distant crashing and rainfall close the track.
This is a two-track album clocking in at just over thirty minutes. I find the first track works wonderfully, setting a tone and creating a dark, but explorative atmosphere for the listener to settle into. With closed eyes you sail easily into the derelict shell of the craft, float helplessly in it’s weightless and infinite scope. The second track begins strong, but at half the length of the first I feel that it needed more time to develop. Toward the latter half some sounds that come into play seem rushed and out of place as there was no time to build up to them. This track is tied off with a piano outro that also feels “too soon”, so to speak. I think this track could have been longer, perhaps double it’s ten-minute length, and allowed us to spend more time basking in it’s unsettling territory… I wonder, too, if it would have been stronger in the context of a few more tracks. Overall, this album feels like an EP, but with maybe another track or two to really explore and travel through the dark, it could have developed into a more substantial concept. With the quality of tone and immersive atmosphere, I can’t help but want more. This effort is promising and it’s vision is rich. I look forward to boarding again for what I hope is a longer journey.
This gets 7/10 on the madness meter.
Pick up the new album on Bandcamp and follow Cryo Depth on social media:
Bandcamp: https://cryodepth.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CryoDepthDarkAmbient
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cryo.depth/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQKgt9XGWL_HV7x4zj9qlMw
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