Aegri Somnia Speculates Transhumanism in the new album Nusquam
The dire conceptualist behind the previous entropic drone epics, Endtime Psalms and Monde Obscure, has returned to the Cryo Chamber for another esoterically foreboding offering of drones and soundscapes. Nusquam is the title for the new Aegri Somnia album, the third in the artist’s oeuvre as Aegri Somnia, and like the previous works, it offers a robust palate of drones, but this time offering a more cerebral and cybernetic infusing.
Nusquam is a presentation on the prospects of transhumanism, a topic that while dreamt, hypothesized, and even prophesied for centuries, has only really risen into conversations in the most recent decade or two. As with previous Aegri Somnia albums (and quite honestly, most of the Cryo Chamber roster), this album never directly presents itself as a “horror” album, yet the brilliance of the composer weaves such moods into the music, leaving the emotions and musings of the genre solely to the listener; the horror is ultimately left to the interpretation of its witness. Is this timbre frightening? Perhaps the very subject brings thoughts of trepidation to the listener? Is this something to fear, or is it something of awe and beauty? While the juxtaposition of the merging of human with machine is fascinating, ultimately, the perception is left to the “Ear of the Beholder”, if you will, as to how they will perceive the cold, calculating nature of the Singularity and the melding of the human consciousness.
Ethereal yet moribund drones create a tension and aura resonating throughout the whole of the album, with field recordings and mechanical and electrical sound effects injected, giving the songs a digital inflection while remaining organic. Nusquam is a musical consummation of Digitalis - speculating the Singularity made flesh, a construct of metal and meat; silicon and sinew.
Nusquam is available now via the Cryo Chamber bandcamp page, in CD Digipak and digital format.
Read more within the Museum of Macabre Media on Monsters, Madness and Magic here: The Mysterious -S- Offers A Meditative Journey Through The Experience of Killing Time