There are many, many variants of ambient music in the world of music these days. They encompass so many moods, stories, thoughts, and intents, that you could actually subscribe to a particular sub-genre of Ambient, and be rewarded with a multitude of offerings. These days, with the advent of hard core metal, a heavy dose of dark goth, and the ample helpings of symphonic Rock that tends toward dark material, the dark ambient selections are likely to cross more paths than a softer, or spacier style may achieve.
An up and coming label, Cryo Chamber, started by Simon Heath (a Swedish composer who works exclusively with dark ambient projects), is fast becoming the label of choice for the sub-genre. All releases via Cryo Chamber are recorded explicitly in 24-bit, and delivered digitally on FLAC format (a compression routine designed to be lossless), and limited CD Editions. One of the projects unique to Cryo Chamber is that of Ugasanie.
Ugasanie is a the musical entity of Pavel Malyshkin, a Russian composer who uses influence from Pink Floyd, as well as his own levels of poetry to advance the underlying quality of his music. Ugasanie is a Russian term that means “extinction” or “fading”. It is from those terms that the music of Malyshkin formulates. On his latest, Call Of The North, the music is largely a drone form that careens heavily within the darkness. With occasional sounds that can only be machinery that exists in dream-states, the music of Call Of The North is chilling to say the least. Using the unknown that the Arctic and Antarctic encompasses, and its accompanying barren cold lands, the music creeps in and creates fearful environments, atmospheres that are more at home to hopelessness than to any one sense of preservation. If you’re in this world, you’re already doomed.
Call Of The North contains eight bone-chilling tracks, many more than five minutes in length. This is necessary to achieve an environment to get “lost” in. Some extend beyond the sound by incorporating voice, as in “Arctic Hysteria”, a well-assigned title. The entry of the voice into the track is unnerving, generating a sense of madness that will stay with you long after the track has ended.
Call Of The North is an effective dark ambient offering that will easily take you to places. If you allow for the full eight track ride in uninterrupted playback, I can assure you that the world in this set is one only of cold despair.
Release Date: December 09, 2014
Label: Cryo Chamber
Website
Availability: (CD, DD)
–Matt Rowe