Skrika Continues the Post-Earth Epic of Humanity in Soludenia
The saga of humanity fleeing a dying Earth continues in a new installment of cinematic sound design from Skrika. Soludenia continues the epic tale of struggle and hope from our race in the far distant future, a grim future of a dying planet, and the last remnants of humanity - whose bodies are already synthetically enhanced and reconfigured to survive the failing atmosphere - banding together and fleeing to the stars, frantically searching for a new planet to inhabit. Soludenia is a frozen planet, its blueish tints exuding its alien nature, and yet, it is a new hope for mankind, and our story begins with the humans arriving via stasis pods onto the planet’s surface. The prophetess named Cerria leads the post-humans on their new frontier voyage in the hopes of humanity establishing a new colony on the planet’s surface. Then something goes wrong, as there are microorganisms that live under the ice floes of the planet, and those organisms begin to mutate the colonists. Some are able to adapt to new life forms, and live symbiotically, while others are horrifically mutated. The mutants, “The Chimera” gather together and flee to the dark side of the planet, plotting their revenge against their former brothers and sisters, “The Augments”. This is the brilliant storytelling and presentation of which Cryo Chamber stands at the top of this genre, and Skrika shows masterful use of such devices.
Swelling pads and layered synthetic sound effects undulate and pulse along these tracks, each one a textured layer of sound design presented as a chapter of this epic tale. Field recordings and additional sound effects help give this album a broad scope of science fiction journeys and exploration, the textures of the sounds helping to “ground” the music onto the icy planes of this new planet; the sound effects help to give a scientific, unnatural flavor to the overall tones, much as the humans in Skrika’s tale have been augmented beyond natural existence, so too is this music augmented beyond purely natural forms. Adding to the ethereal aspects of this tribal vision of a hopeful post-humanity is the beautiful voice of the Prophetess, Cerria (sung by Peyee Chen).
Soludenia is Skrika’s second album on the Cryo Chamber and proves the brilliance of writer and composer Monty Adkins. The inspired narrative synopsis combined with the intriguing artbook and story included with the album are complemented perfectly by the soundtrack that accompanies them, six tracks of perfect narrative sound design and soundscapes - ultimately this album accomplishes exactly what was intended: a sci-fi epic that can only be realized through the imaginations of the listener and Soludenia has excelled in that.
Cryo Chamber seems to be saving the best for the last part of this year, as these past two months have seen the best releases of the year 2022, and with one month remaining, I am certainly looking forward to what else is coming. Soludenia is one of the best albums of the year, and you can pick up Skrika’s second album in CD Digipak and digital formats on the Cryo Chamber Bandcamp page.
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