Following his previous release on Cryo Chamber, Tibor Knopf returned at the end of 2024 with its successor.

The title alone, “Lifeless Ground”, along with its stunning cover artwork, leaves little doubt about what awaits the listener—an immersive journey into a dark and forbidden imaginary realm. From the outset, the atmosphere is drenched in deep, droning soundscapes, meticulously layered with field recordings and abstract sonic textures. Occasionally, a rare, almost melodic passage emerges, offering brief moments of relief.

Overall, this production remains deeply atmospheric—dark, sometimes unsettling, and ultimately culminating in a post-apocalyptic soundscape.

Sjellos masterfully blends Dark-Ambient with Cinematic music, crafting an evocative and immersive listening experience. (Rating:8).

Listen to “Transmission Lost”:

https://cryochamber.bandcamp.com/track/transmission-lost

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient, soundscape, cinematographic.

Background/Info: Cryo Chamber definitely appears to be under the influence of H.P. Lovecraft. The label already released the “Cthulhu”-collaboration featuring several label artists working together and achieving a great opus.

“Nyarlathotep” is a new collaboration between an impressive number of label formations. The story is about ‘A season of political and social upheaval. Mankind felt as if the world was at a breaking point, but no one wanted to speak of this. Seasons grew hotter. Our faith in the known gods faltered. The timing was ripe for the arrival of Nyarlathotep.’

It has been transposed into music by Kammarheit, God Body Disconnect, Dronny Darko, Ugasanie, Kristoffer Oustad, Alphaxone, Svartsinn, SiJ, Gydja, Atrium Carceri, Darkrad, Flowers For Bodysnatchers, Aegri Somnia, Randal Collier-Ford, Neizvestija, Metatron Omega, Wordclock, ProtoU, Northumbria, Sjellos, Sabled Sun, Council Of Nine, Cryobiosis, Apocryphos, Enmarta and Mystified. Three albums were accomplished.

Content: “Nyarlathotep 1” takes us away for a voyage throughout industrial metal sounds rapidly joined by dark, buzzing noise waves. The sound reveals heavy vibrations and the magic of an Eastern-like flute. We progressively join an imaginary world of obscure reverie, like entering a tenebrous universe featuring spooky voices. It also sounds like a misty sound universe made of disturbing passages accentuated by impressive sonic blasts.

“Nyarlathotep 2” definitely sounds more into the soundscape format. It’s not as heavy, but more into a dense and constant chilling atmosphere. It quite progressively evolves towards harder passages like echoing thunder in the background.

The final chapter and album “Nyarlathotep 3” takes off with a kind of signals from an imaginary, distant planet. It’s pretty astral-minded while reinforced by great sweeps and new buzzing sound waves. It moves towards a crescendo until reaching an absolute climax while the final part sounds pretty oppressive and tormenting, somewhat reminding to the early work of Lustmord.

+ + + : The realization of this work is absolutely amazing and rather unique. This is the kind of concept that wouldn’t have been possible without an artist taking the responsibility to create an interaction between all contributors. Simon Heath has been probably the one that made this enormous project come true. You don’t really have the impression of listening to a mishmash created by numerous artists. The work is pretty compact and homogenous featuring a great 1^st and 3^rd disc.

– – – : The release stands for more than 3 hours of sound and music so you really have to take your time listening to this work in the right circumstances. I wanted to discover the work without interruption, which took me several takes.

Conclusion: “Nyarlathotep” is a great conceptual release based upon an original idea, but it also reveals the ‘family’ approach of Cryo Chamber to unite all bands under the same wings.

Best songs: “Nyarlathotep 1”, “Nyarlathotep 3”, “Nyarlathotep 2”.

Rate: (8).

Label: www.cryochamberlabel.com /  www.facebook.com/CryoChamber

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

A 190 minute dark soundscape album recorded by 25 ambient artists to pay tribute to H.P. Lovecraft. That is in short what you can expect on the “Nyarlathotep” album which is going to be released September 27, 2016 as a 3CD album set (housed in an 8 panel full color digipak) and a high quality download via Cryo Chamber. Pre-orders for both formats are available now via the label’s Bandcamp page.

The release holds field recordings from the deepest dark corners of 4 continents. The release is a collaboration and huge undertaking involving 25 artists who linked their studios and sound for over a year so that they could work with each other.

Bands involved are: Kammarheit, God Body Disconnect, Dronny darko, Ugasanie, Kristoffer Oustad, Alphaxone, Svartsinn, SiJ, Gydja, Atrium Carceri, Darkrad, Flowers for Bodysnatchers, Aegri Somnia, Randal Collier-Ford, Neizvestija, Metatron Omega, Wordclock, ProtoU, Northumbria, Sjellos, Sabled Sun, Council of Nine, Cryobiosis, Apocryphos, Enmarta.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

In 2014 Cryo Chamber got some of the most prominent dark ambient artists together to synchronize their studios during a year of collaboration creating the album “Cthulhu” in tribute to H.P. Lovecraft. It was followed up by the “Azathoth” collaboration album in 2015.

Following “Cthulhu and Azathoth”, Cryo Chamber now announces “Nyarlathotep”. This time 25 artists (!!!) synchronized their studios to create this tribute to H.P. Lovecraft. The album comes as a 3CD set and will soon be available for ordering via Cryo Chamber’s Bandcamp page.

The album will be officially out September 27, 2016. And to wet the appetite (and we’re pretty sure that serious dark ambient fans will be craving for this release) here’s already the list of bands which collaborated on the upcoming release:

• Kammarheit
• God Body Disconnect
• Dronny darko
• Ugasanie
• Kristoffer Oustad
• Alphaxone
• Svartsinn
• SiJ
• Gydja
• Atrium Carceri
• Darkrad
• Flowers for Bodysnatchers
• Aegri Somnia
• Randal Collier-Ford
• Neizvestija
• Metatron Omega
• Wordclock
• ProtoU
• Northumbria
• Sjellos
• Sabled Sun
• Council of Nine
• Cryobiosis
• Apocryphos
• Enmarta
• Mystified

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient, soundscape.

Content: Last year Cryo Chamber released one of the most noticeable conceptual albums in history of dark-ambient music. “Cthulhu” was a collaboration of multiple artists in the genre accomplishing a phenomenal work around Lovecraft’s famous Cthulhu mythos and Dream Circle.

“Azatoth” is the successor to this impressive work. It again deals with the fantasy universe of H.P. Lovecraft, which has been transposed into dark sonorities by an impressive list of bands. It’s important to mention this is not a compilation, but an amazing collaboration featuring Atrium Carceri, Kammarheit, Foundation Hope, Taphephobia, Alphaxone, Alt3r3d Stat3, Apocryphos, Aseptic Void, Cryobiosis, Dark Matter, Darkrad, Dronny Darko, Halgrath, Mystified, Wordclock, Sabled Sun, Neizvestija, Randal Collier-Ford, Sjellos, Svartsinn, Tarradaemon and Ugasanie.

Each disc features just one single track. The 1st disc featuring “Azathoth 1” will hold you in its grip for almost an hour. It’s hard to imagine how this collaboration took part, but it once more stands for a real coup de force. You simply don’t get the impression this work resulted from the common efforts of all those bands. You’ll immediately get the impression of embarking on a heavy ambient trip leading you to imaginary freaky places. Low sound waves reinforced by overwhelming dark treatments are emerging to the surface creating a dark and frightening sensation.

Multiple sound treatments suddenly emerge like small pieces of a wider sonic puzzle. “Azathoth” stands for the chemistry of dark sounds, but especially for the chemistry between all those great artists. It’s hard to find the real input of every single formation, but I can assure you the impact of their common labor simply will leave you stupefied. This is for sure one of the most ambitious releases in history of dark-ambient music!

Cavernous passages joined by icy chain and humming sounds of imaginary spirits, plus multiple field recordings imprison the listener in a great, but freaky sonic cage from which you don’t really want to escape. You’ll progressively beg for more, just like reading a thriller which you cannot but down until the very end.

The 2nd disc featuring the track “Azathoth 2” will bring you more than 60 minutes of new chilling experiences. The style hasn’t changed and will directly lead you again towards the darkest corners of your imagination. I get the impression of being aspirated by the mouth of an evil force. This composition is carried by low vibrating sound waves featuring a kind of white noises. There’s a very progressive evolution towards darker and overwhelming passages.

This composition is also characterized by a few more accessible parts accentuating some prosperity. The work however remains ultra dark revealing chilling strings and echoing sound treatments.

Conclusion: It simply sounds incredible how this album has been realized while revealing a perfect cohesion between the input all of artists. I guess there’s no better sonic ode to Lovecraft than this work.

Best songs: “Azathoth 1”, “Azathoth 2”.

Rate: (DP:8½)DP.

Label: www.cryochamberlabel.com / www.facebook.com/CryoChamber

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

In 2014 Cryo Chamber got some of the most prominent dark ambient artists together to synchronise their studios during a year of collaboration creating the album “Cthulhu”. This year Cryo Chamber almost doubles the effort with a rumoured 2CD release follow-up. No less than 20 artists have been working for the last year to synchronise and co-create “Azathoth”. The album is scheduled for release in late 2015.

Note that “Cthulhu” and “Azathoth” are not compilations but collaborations.

The full artist list is as follows: Atrium Carceri, Kammarheit, Foundation Hope, Taphephobia, Alphaxone, Alt3r3d Stat3, Apocryphos, Aseptic Void, Cryobiosis, Dark Matter, Darkrad, Dronny Darko, Halgrath, Mystified, Wordclock, Sabled Sun, Neizvestija, Randal Collier-Ford, Sjellos, Svartsinn, Taphephobia, Terradaemon, Ugasanie.

Here’s a glimpse on what “Cthulhu” sounded like:

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com