Рецензии

Siamo alla fine del 2017 e l’ennesimo anno infausto si prepara per essere immerso in un bagno di sangue purificatore. I 12 sigilli appena chiusi saranno prima ripuliti dalle scorie e finalmente saldati grazie allo scorrere dei caldi flutti. Tutto tornerà a emergere solo quando, con l’orrore del principio, ci renderemo conto che altri 12 enigmi dovranno essere risolti. Con la pazienza e l’indagine. Yog Sothoth è una delle figure più “psichiche” di tutto l’universo lovecraftiano, ma è anche una delle meno materialmente identificate.

Many times people see the word “collaboration” and think it’s some small-scale thing that two or three artists come together to create a different sound than what they typically perform. But if you’re at all familiar with the label of Cryo Chamber then you know that the world collaboration means something special once a year. It means something epic, expansive, dark, and beautiful is coming. For the fourth time, twenty different artists have come together to proclaim their love for H.P. Lovecraft. This time embodying the entity locked outside the very universe: Yog-Sothoth.

Having taken in more of SiJ's music since my first dabbling last year, I'm surprised he's ended up with a couple albums on Cryo Chamber. For sure his style of dark ambient and sonic experiments works within the label's overall manifesto (cinematic drone, and all that), but his sense of sombre melancholy feels more benign than this genre typically goes. He's less about the bleak outlook and crippling depression, and more about quiet contemplation, reflective of inner struggles rather than chaotic turmoil. Or perhaps it's music capturing the moments following the strife, of accepting complacency, the calm of clarity that comes when all hope is finally lost. Not a cheering thought.

I’ve never given too much thought to picking a soundtrack to accompany my Submechanophobia, defined by Google search as “the fear of submerged objects.” And yet, Cryo Chamber has released just that: a nightmarish paean to one of Lovecraft’s enduring horrors that dredges sunless oceans to dump its aural harvest of dread squirming fresh upon the slab...

Не Пхурпой единой, как говорится, земля русская воспевает хвалы древним божествам Гималайских гор. Уже давно ушедший от электронной музыки в этнографические исследования и путешествия Сергей Габбасов (Bardo, Vazhes) собрал немало полевых записей в своих поездках по Азии, особое место среди которых заняли скитания по стране Шанг-Шунг — бывшему тибетскому королевству, родине религии Бон, существование которого официальная наука датирует 5-6 веками до нашей эры, чтобы передать их на "переосмысление" севастопольскому проекту SiJ, дабы получить в итоге данное издание на шведском лейбле GTERMA, в каталоге которого уже немало подобного отнюдь не востребованного массовой культурой материала.

A truly unique and monumental undertaking is the reason for our review today.  For more than one year, 20 dark ambient/drone artists from different parts of the globe linked their studios and sounds for the ability to work with one another; the ability to pay tribute to H.P. Lovecraft.  The result is the new double CD, Yog-Sothoth; the 4th release in the Lovecraftian series.

The question of the infinite in regards to a poetic text – be it prose, paint or performed on an instrument – is unlikely to have been far from the mind of Raffaele Pezzella when curating this two hour plus compilation of twenty-two tracks from twenty-two separate projects. Something which can forever be returned to and which reveals an ever increasing scope must surely be considered fathomless. This is firmly rooted within the concept of the labyrinth. A musical path is laid out. Curated. It is a trail which requires your trust, your submission. To embark upon such a journey demands a receptive mind.

Russian artists Vladislav Sikach and Sergey Epifanov aka Sij and Item Caligo, joined hands to release this common work revealing 8 compositions. Both artists are truly work-addicts having released an impressive number of productions during the past years. Sij is also used to working with other artists; the list is too long to mention all other names he collaborated with, but you’ll find bands such as Textere Oris, Paul Minesweeper, Creation VI, Particula, Astral & Shit...

SiJ is up next and SiJ is another of the giants to appear on the anthology. Like Alphaxone, SiJ will take you on a journey. You may not like how it gets you there but you will always feel better because of the journey. Few Sounds from the House Near the Sea is a long title but it’s an apt title. The track is quiet to start off with. In my notes, I called it the sound of life without life. I’m not quite sure what I meant at the time but the description still seems to fit. The end of the album is shrill and harsh, like the shattering of an illusion. In terms of the labyrinth this track was one of those times where we, the listeners, had to decide whether to keep going through the labyrinth or give up.

The next one is the collaborative work of Vladislav Sikach's project SiJ, whose first album, 'The Lost World' was also released by Reverse Alignment, who teams up with one Item Caligo, the musical project of Sergey Epifanov. The cover shows us landscapes in twilight sceneries and that  is an indication for the flickering ambient music played by these projects.

In Sevastopol, Crimea based applauded dronesculptor Vladislav "Vlad" Sikach, who is acting as SiJ has joined his forces with Textere Oris, a project of Ilya Fursov with domicile in Moscow. To be honest, I don't know too much about Textere Oris' previous releases except the fact Ilya Fursov has already teamed with Vlad Sikach on one of the tracks on his digital album "Plæntágose", which was released during 2015 on relaxedMachinery gang. However, when "Reflections Under The Sky" CD was announced during February 2016 on US dark ambient eminence Cryo Chamber, my eyebrows were immediately raised!

... this album is as detailed as it is complex.". I don't see how this album is detailed or complex. I am listening lately too many Cryo dark ambient albums, so I think of myself as relevant to this kind of music. But I just cant see to this album any reason of existence.

I think there’s no better approach than creating an evasive sensation to evoke the concept of time. That’s precisely the ambient format this album starts off with. Quite rapidly the atmospheres become darker and even reaching a state of horror by the addition of screams and other dark, resonating vibrations.