Phonothek Propels Along A Dread River of Textured Ambiance in the Newest Album 'Styx'

Self-described as a “...dark and atonal atmospheric journey... by following the river that flows between two worlds, all the memories, the fragments of life melts away". Atonal - that it is - a soothing, meandering between worlds, nuanced with gossamer interstitials of music passages, fleeting and wafting away, without the listener being able to grasp at one particular train of thought - this is the music of the passage of the spirit between existence. The surreptitious bubbling and pulsing of the waters of the Styx is ever-present, and keeping the spirit of the listener "grounded" upon its banks, as the journey continues alone, inward, yet always forward with the various impressions of life unattainable wax and wane along the sides of the listener's periphery

Atrium Carceri makes an appearance in the third track, "Shadow of the Ferry", as we are ushered along the waters of the Ebb, and while wholly unique, there is a familiarity to the sounds and presentation - fans of Atrium Carceri will recognize this feeling, and yet, the music stays just out of reach, as if merely brushing against another life, as we are conveyed further into the Between.

Of particular note to this author is the track titled, "Hades" - thematically one of the best evocations of tension and horror I have heard on a dark ambient track. The relentless, rising trepidation and myriad plucks and stabs of the unnerving strings and cascades of tremolo elements building on tension is truly an evocative aural experience. Each instrument ebbs and flows from within and without itself, coiling layers and unfurling them, with textures slowly approaching from varying sides, only to wistfully trial away; the album is constantly moving forward, yet lazily taking you with it - truly evoking the feeling of traveling along the River of the Dead, naught a care anymore for the mortal woe.

Some tracks haunt, others are ambiguous, and this entire collection of transience carries the calm of the afterlife, uncaring and serene as the soul is carried to the Beyond. Phonothek shows a mastery of aural texture with this album. Styx can be purchased on CD and in digital format on the Cryo Chamber Bandcamp page.

Read more within the Museum of Macabre Media on Monsters, Madness and Magic: Ruptured World Delivers Another Exquisite Tale of Cosmic Dark Ambience