Gdanian - Aquatic Sci-Fi Dark Ambient Mastery in One Debut Album

“Brevity is the soul of wit” as the saying goes, and Gdanian’s inaugural journey with Cryo Chamber exemplifies this statement. Sometimes an album requires a lengthy tome of immersion, expository pages of detail to help guide the listener along the transom in which the artist wanted to convey; other times, merely one word and some catchy artwork suffice. Gdanian’s new album, Submersion is the latter. The album description taken directly from the Cryo Chamber Bandcamp page reads: ‘Submersion is a deep underwater album where retro bass lines are swallowed by thick textures and lingering strings’. And there you have it - simple, straightforward; to the point. 

The artwork immediately evokes feelings of Cyclopean dread, of megalithic structures, depicted with just one smaller underwater vessel to bestow upon the viewer a sense of scale - and with the title of Submersion, fans of aquatic horror and sci-fi and Lovecraft will no doubt be instantly compelled to listen (personally, I found myself thinking of the Stuart Gordon / Dennis Paoli film, Dagon, but as the album progressed, my mind took me toward the Crichton book, Sphere, and even a more horror-esque sci-fi dalliance; sort of a Seaquest-meets-The-Abyss kind of jam, only scarier). 

‘Retro bass lines’ is a great term to use to describe much of the momentum of these songs, with throbbing pads and hammering tones muffled by the inexorable pall of the “underwater” feelings contained within, however the “moaning” pads and synths also give a sense of larger creatures beyond the bulkheads of your submersible craft. At times, this album feels like a “found footage” auditory journey where you are hearing creatures of colossal scale and unfathomable comprehension just beyond your gaze, as you are drifting listlessly in the void of water at the bottom of an ocean floor. 

This album grows on me the longer I listen to it - the tracks propel the listener along a chasm of submerged unknown discoveries, left to the imaginations of the participant. Submersion is the debut album from Gdanian, and I certainly want to hear more, but this album will definitely help carry my imagination in the meantime. This is one of the strongest releases in dark ambient this year, in what has already been a stellar annual catalog of albums. You can get Gdanian in CD Digipak and digital format on the Cryo Chamber bandcamp page.

AFTERWORD / AUTHOR’S NOTE

While listening and writing this review, the project name kept tugging at my memory - I now remember this artist. I listened to his previous release, “In the Torchlight”, a great atmospheric work of ambience. I am thrilled to see this artist progressing and achieving much-deserved recognition. Go out and listen to Gdanian’s previous releases… after you go and buy Submersion (and in turn affect this humble writer’s clout!)

- Dan