Every year since 2014, Oregon-based dark ambient label Cryo Chamber puts out a new installment of their Cryo Chamber Collaboration series. The Cryo Chamber Collaboration is an ongoing tribute to H.P. Lovecraft's mythos, with Rhan-Tegoth having just been released earlier this month. If you're in the mood for a massive two-hour journey into the dark, you can stream both discs of Rhan-Tegoth below and get it here. Rhan-Tegoth features contributions from:
- Atrium Carceri
- Onasander
- Apocryphos
- Neizvestija
- Gdanian
- Tineidae
- Skrika
- Alphaxone
- Northumbria
- RNGMNN
- Dead Melodies
- Fractalyst
- Ugasanie
- In Quantum
- God Body Disconnect
- Keosz
- Beyond the Ghost
- Council of Nine
- Flowers for Bodysnatchers
- Gydja
- Void Stasis
- Kammarheit
- Darkrad
- Sjellos
And if you're sitting there saying "is this metal?", the answer is yes. Dark ambient is metal as fuck and has been bleeding into the world of death metal for years. Get into dark ambient music.
Cryo Chamber had the following to say about Rhan-Tegoth: "Rhan-Tegoth is a fifteen foot tall, medusa-like, insectoid amphibious god-being (Great Old One) of little power but vital to the return of the Old Ones. It lived in the warm seas of Yuggoth before coming to Earth. Come journey deep into the underground depths, where long forgotten temples guarded by insectoid creatures stand untouched by human curiosity
"'They found the box in the basement of the British Museum. Inside it there was a leathery integument, like some muddy garb from pre-history. It was essentially colourless but with an underlying mottled green lustre. Jenkins, the anthropologist, was somewhat mesmerised by it. It was as if he had discovered something of great value, like some antique ceremonial shroud for an ancient bloodletting rite.
"'Maybe he had.
"'But Professor McIntyre was more of a mind that its anatomical qualities were of much more interest than its mystical aura. Especially so because there was nothing about the integument that seemed to correspond to the standard taxonomies of animal life.'
"So is this a compilation? No, this is a collaboration and huge undertaking. Over 20 artists linked studios and sound for over a year so that they could work with each other. This led to a deep collaborative exploration of the Mythos and Rhan-Tegoth
"2 CD album comes in a Deluxe 24 page Hard cover DigiBook. Artwork is served on Matte Laminated pages that makes the colors deep and preserved. Journal written by Alistair Rennie, art by Simon Heath. Digital booklet included with download."
