This is not my first review for Alphaxone, a project by Mehdi Saleh, who originates from Iran. You can find out some enthusiastic descriptions for Echoes From Outer Silence or the collaboration with ProtoU, called Stardust, both released via Cryo Chamber; and I did refer to this project in my reviews for the compilations Heresy and Visions Of Darkness too. If interested, you know where to find it.
Cryo Chamber have never been afraid to release collaboration – I am not talking about split releases, yet about recordings based on a co-operation of different artists. Label owner Simon, for example, has several collabs with his (sublime) project Atrium Carceri, but the same goes for quite a lot projects that are closely related to this label (Alphaxone, Cities Last Broadcast, ProtoU, Council Of Nine, God Body Disconnect and so on).
We go back in time. It’s thousands of years before the birth of the Christian messiah. What if a northern soul wakes up in ancient Mesopotamia, at the source of Middle-Eastern civilization?
As from September 5th from last year, we could enjoy the great conceptual album called Black Corner Den, being a collaboration in between Pär Boström’s Cities Last Broadcast and Simon Heath’s main project Atrium Carceri. Unfortunately, I just found out that I did never publish a review for that release. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!
Cryo Chamber, run by Atrium Carceri’s Simon Heath (amongst other projects), must be one of the greatest Drone / Ambient labels ever. I have never been disappointed by any release done via this source. So, it’s quite exciting when coming in touch with a project I have not heard any material of before. This is the case with Wordclock, a solo-outfit of very young Portuguese musician Pedro Pimentel.
One of my ‘favourite’ artists on Cryo Chamber must be Randall Collier-Ford – no, stop! I have no favourites, for the Cryo Chamber roster has nothing else but great Drone / Ambient musicians. So I’ll start all over…
(copy-paste from my review, posted on December 24th 2014, for Bring Down The Sky, released via the superb Belgian label Consouling Sounds, as introduction – sorry; it’s not out of laziness, and the essence remains the same):
Northumbria was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the east of England with quite an interesting history. As from about 500 A.C. on, it was quite an important and mighty kingdom, until Danish Vikings conquered the region in the ninth century. But since we’re not an online encyclopedia…
Float weightless in the void to the sound of exploding supernovas.
A solid thump closes the airclock behind you. Greeting your vision, a myriad of stars shining like beacons in black space. Rapid fingers across the uplink to the mothership ‘feed my cat while I’m gone’.
The engine roars as the plasma ions accelerates. The mothership but a pixel left behind. Your ships humming soothes your excitement as you set out for new unexplored worlds.
My first ‘meeting’ with ProtoU was last year, when I had the opportunity to review Lost Here, a grandiose full length album that was released via Cryo Chamber (one of my preferred labels within the Drone / Ambient / Industrial scene lately). The interested ones might read my thoughts and opinion about that release on Concreteweb’s update of April 18th 2016 (or just enter the name in the ‘search’ tab). A brief history can be consulted in that chronicle.
A warm, dark and subtle but complex drone experience awaits…
