Ugasanie & Xerxes the Dark :: Abysmal (Cryo Chamber)

Abysmal delivers a convincing assortment of layered drones and epic, oceanic noises. This album follows the path of mystical naturalism shrouded in utter bleakness. Fans of eerie and mercurial doomscapes from Lustmord or Yen Pox won’t be disappointed.

Ugasanie is one regular project which has been signed by Cryo Chamber since 2013. Coming from Belarus Pavel Malyshkin (aka Ugasanie) specialized himself in dark shifted atmospheric moods made of drone reverbs, processed micro-noises. Xerxes the Dark (based in Iran) is lesser known for usual listeners of Cryo Chamber production but he illustrated himself quite brilliantly in the collaborative and conceptual work Tomb of Seers. I’ve experienced a lot of dark ambient releases since the 90s and I generally tend to get bored by the avalanche of similar and poorly imaginative materials which rise in this field of musical experimentation—however there are always a few sonic gems which attracts my attention and enable to challenge things a little, no doubt that with its majestic, absorbing and threatening tones Abysmal is part of those. The cover artwork and its final eschatological flavor first strikes my mind—reminds me the apocalyptical landscapes depicted by splendid dark romantic painters such as John Martin, Francis Danby or Marcus Larson. The blurred, dense, panoramic and cinematic soundscapes gathered in this release clearly illustrate through timbres and textures a state of eternal torment and metaphysical dissolution. Abysmal delivers a convincing assortment of layered drones and epic, oceanic noises. This album follows the path of mystical naturalism shrouded in utter bleakness. Fans of eerie and mercurial doomscapes from Lustmord or Yen Pox won’t be disappointed.

Abysmal is available on Cryo Chamber.