Cryo Chamber Bestows its Newest Mythos Collaboration - Yig
For several years, Cryo Chamber has annually released a collaborative work based on the writings of H. P. Lovecraft and his Mythos, the shared pantheon and universe(s) of his stories that has found itself embedded in nearly every facet of science fiction and horror in the modern era. The album presented in this dreaded year 2020 is a two hour epic dedicated to the Cosmic Serpent, Yig, as written in the collaborative work, The Curse of Yig, by Zealia Bishop (with contributions by H. P. Lovecraft.).
Two tracks of cosmic, droning ambience clock in at over two hours in this massive work of drone ambience and sound design soundscapes presented in digibook format, complete with exemplary artwork layout by Simon Heath and a narrative journal by Alistair Rennie make this the seventh entry in the Cryo Chamber Lovecraft Mythos series.
The conferral of this collaborative work contains elements of myriad styles, each conjoined and entwined by its contributor; breathy, organic horns, tapestries of synths and sound design, even rhythmic drums, the cadenced marching of martial industrial but of a forbidden, forgotten age. The songs ebb and flow, almost reminiscent to the essence of Yig, the slithering mysteries of the Serpent god; they evoke a “foreign” timbre to the story, yet it is a story replete with Native American mystery). Yig is a collaboration of the highest caliber, boasting participation from the best in the Cryo Chamber roster, a fitting collection of music, when once considers the source material also being a collaborative work with the authors.
The songs contain moments of rhythmic cadence, draped in cloths of synth pads and strings, it is the patient, calculated indolence of a creature uncaring for the passage of time and the march of entropy; it is the musical presentation of something else that exists beyond the scope of human fathom, as such only music could be the medium to transfer the qualities of the unknown to the listener's subconscious. This is a Who’s Who among Cryo Chamber contributors, and yes, this is not the first collaborative effort, but I must mention that each successive album gets better as the years pass. The sign of a true magician is being able to fool the audience without them knowing a trick has been performed, and this album is much akin to that: while you listen, the music and droning lures you into the narrative space; you may recognize the musical flourishes of notable artists in the Cryo Chamber roster, but to pinpoint their exact entry and exit is difficult in this tapestry of sound design and narrative expositure.
As I mentioned earlier, Yig is over two hours of Cryo Chamber droning excellence, with sound design and mystery displayed before the cosmic edifice of the unknown, issued forth by the “Alignments of the Great Serpentine”, and you can purchase this masterful work on the Cryo Chamber Bandcamp page in digibook and digital format.
Read more within the Museum of Macabre Media on Monsters, Madness and Magic here: A Killer Stalkers the Streets of London in Crier’s Bane