ProtoU :: Khmaoch (Cryo Chamber)

Reverberated, resonant and massive lugubruous soundscapes are occasionally punctuated by green field recordings.

Lack of time and being busy with my own projects I missed the last four Cryo Chamber releases (post Locus Arcadia albums). However I’ve decided to review this new ProtoU (formed by Sasha Cats, from Kiev) which after a first listening experience already appears to have the necessary ingredients to satisfy avid listeners of subterranean and experimental dark ambient music. This project offered two albums in one year, both published by Cryo Chamber. We can also detect a convincing state of maturity in the compositional process. All you have here are elegantly dark and sonic meditative soundscapes with a great amount of psych-acoustic effects, already a lot and enough to be immersed and transported in a sort of blackened nebulous.

Reverberated, resonant and massive lugubruous soundscapes are occasionally punctuated by green field recordings. Primordial and entrancing are the first words which come to mind while listening this new release. From time to time Khmaoch includes nicely approached ritualistic acoustic sequences (notably provided by Ivan Ioanov) which give a rather animist-spiritual atmosphere to the dark droning ceremony. Some parts of the album are articulated around lighter and gently flowing themes for textured ambient sceneries, largely given by spaced out keyboards. Fans of Cryo Chamber (mainly works by Alphaxone, Sabled sun but also Hoshin for its mellow and contemplative tendency) Sacred space music (Robert Rich, Alio Die, Vidna Obmana) and doom electronic soundscapes (Yen Pox et al) won’t be disappointed.

Khmaoch is available on Cyro Chamber.