Behold, a Colossus - An All-New Atrium Carceri and Kammarheit Collaboration
Sound design masters Atrium Carceri and Kammarheit return with a brand new collaborative effort, Colossus. Explorations of barren landscapes and ruins is de rigueur for the speculative sci fi ambient scene, as well as for those who enjoy the more subtle horror inflections to music, and who better to deliver such nuance than two of the best artists in the genre?
Atrium Carceri (helmed by Simon Heath) returns to explore dread structures and myriad Cyclopean tombs, and this time, he brings likewise renowned artist Kammarheit (Pär Böstrum), who has also carried listeners through ruined landscapes and solitary journeys. Connoisseurs of ambient music and the Cryo Chamber label will note that this is not the first time these two acts have worked together, and in fact, their earlier works, Echo and Onyx seem merely a preamble to their newest, most stimulating cooperative venture.
The curtain is withdrawn in our mind, and our ears are greeted with a gradual thrum and distant sounds of ephemeral choirs. A steady, rhythmic analog pulse keeps tempo with the swirling ambient pads that encompass the layered sounds as we are ushered onto a plain of reality standing at the base of a colossal, ruined fortress. Within its depths lie secrets, mystery buried within the folds of time, and perhaps even more dread horrors.
Muted percussions and subtle field recording hits frequently accent the evolving choir-driven pads, and much like precious works of these respective artists, the real story is often left to the machinations of the listener - often, horror and speculative science fiction go hand-in-hand, and the music of both Atrium Carceri and Kammarheit are vanguard to this sentiment. The included booklet with artwork by Simon Heath and vague texts by Pär Böstrum present just enough narrative launchpad for the imagination to allow the mind to paint its own vistas of derelict superstructures; our own internal amalgamations fueled by the writings of Arthur C. Clark and the artworks of HR Giger.
Fans of the genre - and certainly of the artists - will need no coaxing to listen to this album, and newcomers to the style will find this to be a perfect introduction to the genre of droning ambience with a “cinematic” flair.
Join Justin as he chats with author John R. Fultz about his Scaleborn series, collecting comics, crafting narratives from characters, the nostalgia of the early 90’s, and more!