News and reviews on all macabre melodies: Metal in its many manifestations, dark and synthwave, audio dramas, soundtracks, ambient, and dungeon synth.
Subtlety and nuance is a penchant for Caldon Glover, and Metrophagy embraces said methodology with gusto, presenting vistas of flesh entwined with wire… as growing pads and thrums of circuit-bent analog pads swell and ebb, punctuated by stabs and strikes of unknown mechanical percussives.
Read MoreDronny Darko and ProtoU are masters at taking their time with a sonic landscape, quietly filling voids in the transom with delicate flourishes of pads and intricate filigrees of soft winds and gentle, inflective tones that even mimic percussion; this is an album for quiet contemplation
Read MoreThe music creates a vivid sonic landscape that evokes the sci-fi atmosphere and the temporal distortions of the story, furthering the feeling of this being a soundtrack to a movie playing in the imagination, and this is among my personal favorite qualities of albums on Cryo Chamber.
Read MoreThe use of modular synthesis gives the music a warm and organic feel, while also adding complexity and unpredictability, an underlying circuitry to the pads and evolving textures that seamlessly weave throughout the music. The scope and breadth of the shifting tracks create a film in the mind’s eye, which is precisely what albums of this type are meant to do, and the film created by this album is rife with sci fi elegance and dark grandeur.
Read MoreKnown for his ability to craft otherworldly atmospheres, Metatron Omega delves even deeper into the concepts of theological and interpersonal inference, mixed with the timbre of abyssal and cosmic aesthetics with Kataphasis.
Read MoreThese tracks are an amalgamation of ambient texture, orchestral prose at times, and even Berlin school stylings - reminiscent of Klaus Schulze - while at the same time maintaining its cinematic ambience and soundtrack feel.
Read MoreCryo Chamber has an inimitable capability of presenting trepidatious moods coupled with mystery and compulsion to explore further, and the Tomb Series has excelled in its presentations…
Read More[The Weight of Regression is] a languid fresco of chorded pads and somber keys, lilting between ominous mood and atonal ambivalence.
Read More…a culmination of four hours of Cesare Alexandre’s subtle mastery with his gossamer ambience. Gentle rains and field recordings wrapped in subtle blankets of warm synth pads and soothing atonal raiment abound in this release, reminding us once more of the gentle brilliance of the composer.
Read MoreThese are sounds that echo to the listener from beyond the veil of time, and the album does an excellent job of presenting this aesthetic, as if the listener were in a trance, and hearing fleeting remembrances of notes and stanzas in the transom of forgotten history.
Read More…an excellent showcase of talent in the Cryo Chamber roster, and as mentioned above, the eight artists on this collaboration are known for their penchant with weaving analog and synthetic textures with a decided retro aesthetic.
Read MoreThe music of Dahlia's Tear is as insightful as it is masterful, and Tales from a Feeble Dream is just as one would expect from such a talented composer; a rich exploration of melancholic sound and atmosphere.
Read MoreThis album contains the filtered, slow resonance of the universe all throughout, with doldrum pads and airy stabs of synths that help the mind drift along the currents of nebulae; Delicate oscillations trickle through the low rumblings like telemetry data proceeding through the vacuum of space, with heavy sub bass rising and falling intermittently to help create the sense of cosmic scale that we lack through our limited human perspective.
Read More[Keosz] soundtrack work in Neven is nothing short of inspired genius, and his style of subtle drones and intermittent piano motif as a focal point works immaculately with the movie…
Read MoreSleepy Town of Winter both continues a previous narrative, as well as carries that oblique story arc with it… a measured continuance of the Murken Hollow storyline given to us in November of 2022, a dreamy, lackadaisical meandering of sound design and smooth jazz over a noir, almost horror-adjacent backdrop.
Read MoreThe Lovecraft compilations have become… a showcase of individual talent from the various artists associated with the label, while also being exemplary pieces of collaboration, weaving the delicate nuance of each musical vision into one longform narrative.
Read More…a collaboration between Dronny Darko and Ugasanie. Dronny Darko’s genius sound design is coupled with the ice cold proclivities of Ugasanie to deliver a frozen narrative of Lovecraftian and existential sci-fi adventure.
Read More…his use of analog synths coupled with his style of presentation help this album create a serene fresco of slow-moving ambience, painting vistas of stars and nebulae, of silent planets in distant star systems, orbiting in celestial solitude. Musically, this album has a very cinematic feel, but more as a background piece, reminiscent of a late 1970s to early 1980s sci-fi film.
Read MoreRandal Collier-Ford is back with a collection of remastered ambience celebrating ten years in the cinematic soundscapes. These assembled tracks have been curated by the composer himself and presented in full ephemeral radiance, showcasing Ford’s artistry and the evolution of his style and thought processes.
Read More“The sounds and canvas used in this album are unique, and almost “feverish” would be a term I would use to describe them, the tremulous miasma of an almost fever dream state, with dynamic use of sounds and techniques, and the distinct nature of this palette of sounds make Watchtower stand out among its peers…”
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