Atrium Carceri – Forgotten Gods (Album – Cryo Chamber)
Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient, Ritual.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: By the end of 2023 Simon Heath (involved with numerous projects and Cryo Chamber-owner) struck back with a new album of his main sonic project Atrium Carceri. The album has been released twenty years after Atrium Carceri’s first album ever “Cellblock” (released by the defunct Cold Meat Industry). “Forgotten Gods” invites the listeners to explore the underworld beneath our cities.
Content: Atrium Carceri bring us back to the essence of good-old Dark-Ambient music; obscure sound waves accentuated by deep sound resonations, the unavoidable field recordings and mysterious, Ritual, chants. Simon Heath even added a few passages with slow rhythms.
+ + + : Simon Heath remains a prolific artist but I get the impression he patiently composed this new Atrium Carceri moving back to the early years of the project while injecting, explicit, Ritual elements to the work. It creates a freaky, fascinating, experience. It feels like looking at what’s happening behind a closed and forbidden door. This work has a strong visual appeal which is coming through at multiple tracks. I can’t fully say Heath reinvented Atrium Carceri but he strikes back with an overwhelming and ultra-accomplished production. Hard to say if this work is the ‘best’ one he ever composed under the Atrium Carceri moniker but it definitely belongs to the best ones in time. I also want to say a word about the front cover of the album which is intriguing and totally matching to the sound.
– – – : I don’t see any minus points.
Conclusion: This is a true masterpiece bringing Dark-Ambient and Ritual music together in a freaky experience.
Best songs: “Chamber Of Rebirth”, “Revelation From The Book Of The Flesh”, “Throne Room”, “Ritual For The Abyss”, “Pathway To Nothing”.
Rate: 9.
Artist: www.atriumcarceri.com / www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063521439906
Label: www.cryochamberlabel.com / www.facebook.com/CryoChamber
About Atrium Carceri
Atrium Carceri is the dark ambient project of Swedish musician Simon Heath, born in Stockholm in 1977. Heath debuted the project in 2003 with the album “Cellblock” on Cold Meat Industry. In 2011 he left Cold Meat Industry and founded the dark ambient label Cryo Chamber, which has since become Atrium Carceri’s home. The project’s discography includes “Seishinbyouin” (2004), “Kapnobatai” (2005), “Ptahil” (2007), “Souyuan” (2008), “Phrenitis” (2009), “Reliquiae” (2012) and “Void” (2012), alongside collaboration albums with Kammarheit and Apocryphos such as “Onyx” (2015) and “Echo” (2017). Heath also records as Sabled Sun. “Forgotten Gods” arrived at the end of 2023, twenty years after “Cellblock”.
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