Line-up: Atrium Carceri, Onasander, Apocryphos, Neizvestija, Gdanian, Tineidae, Skrika, Alphaxone, Northumbria, RNGMNN, Dead Melodies, Fractalyst, Ugasanie, In Quantum, God Body Disconnect, Keosz, Beyond The Ghost, Council Of Nine, Flowers For Bodysnatchers, Gydja, Void Stasis, Kammarheit, Darkrad, Sjellos
Texts: Alistair Rennie
Mastering: Simon Heath
Artwork: Simon Heath
Format: 2-CD (deluxe hardcover digi-book, 24-paged) / digital
Duration: 129:17
Genre: Lovecraftian Dark Ambient
Cryo Chamber Collaboration is a collective of projects that are closely related to the Cryo Chamber family. Once a year, as from 2014, during the dark days of early Winter, they sort of collaborate within, or for, a tribute-like séance, to glorify the mighty imaginative world of well-known Horror-author H.P. Lovecraft. Each edition focuses on one aspect, one entity from the terrifying imaginary existence that appears within the mighty mythos. After Cthulhu, Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Yog-Sothoth, Shub-Niggurath, Hastur, Yig, Dagon and Tsathoggua, Rhan-Tegoth is the tenth ‘being’, and the tenth album within this series.
It is important to understand that this series can not be considered like a set of compilations (at all!). It always is like ‘a deep collaborative exploration’, with several same-minded artists (many of them do collaborate frequently), all of them creating an own chapter within each immense epic, every time again. Each of them has his / her specific sound and approach, yet the result always is one colossal coherent, one-directional aural adventure.
This tenth collaborative work focuses on Rhan-Tegoth, one of the Great Old Ones, a three-eyed demigod with an insectoid physical appearance, that dwelled within the warm seas of the planet Yuggoth. His body, while being in a trancelike, semi-hibernation state, is said to be found in the Arctic areas of Northern America. Anyway, it is recommendable to investigate into this wonderful world of fantasy and myth, in case of interest.
The sonic result of the Rhan-Tegoth album is, as said, an organically cohesive enterprise (and not a collection of individual fragments). It would be supervacaneous and otiose to dissect each single piece; it isn’t interesting and a waste of time, and it would surpass its purpose. Besides, the natural transition in between each project’s contribution runs so smoothly, with well-mixed passageways.
Anyway, Rhan-Tegoth builds up from the very beginning, opening with an eerie sequence of menacing drones, ominous synths, and samples like water drops and beasts of the night. Quite soon, things turn more horrific, when the drones get deeper, darker, and with the introduction of metallic percussions and noises from the netherworlds. That’s just how the story starts…
Throughout the whole two hours plus, this venture evolves and changes, permanently; sometimes expanding and developing, then again fading and withering. It balances in between the extremes of mesmerizing ambience and asphyxiating shiver, of conscious tranquility versus kinetic energy, of singular noisescapes and decadent clamor, of minimalistic integrity and exuberant intensity, and of long-stretched and narcotic soundwaves versus abhorrent and mechanoid doom. Elements from many kinds of darkened Ambient and Drone Music are fluently mingled, injected by details from Ritual Music, Film Noir, Field Recordings, Dark Industrial, Jazz Noir, Post-Rock, even Ambient Noise (Wall), all drenched in mystique, mystery, esotery, enigma and magic. Pulsating fragments, echoing soundscapes, intoxicating waves, shifting structures, metallic roars, cinematic chapters, opiate noises, industrial techniques, field-recorded collages, alienated voices, static textures, electronic effects, rumbling crepitation, occult passages, doom-gazed strings, whimsical arrangements, and so much more; it's all part of one majestic narrative; one that is so much more than a soundtrack to experience ‘as background’. It is a movie itself, defined through an aural execution; once plunged into this bleak sonic sea, visions of secret energies and hidden creatures will emerge…
https://cryochamber.bandcamp.com/album/rhan-tegoth
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/cryo-chamber-collaboration