Atrium Carceri & Eldar - Sacrosanct

[Trance2MoveU]

 

Artist: Atrium Carceri & Eldar

Title: Sacrosanct

Label: Cryo Chamber

Date: August, 2012

 

1. Withering

2. Tomorrow's Dust

3. Freeman

4. The Vault

5. Betrayal

6. So They Speak

7. Sol

8. Of Salt

9. Burial

 

 

 

"Hey there! Do you like excitement?"

 

"Do you like suspense?"

 

"Do you like Nell Carter?"

 

"Good cause you won't find her here. This is the house of horror and for you it's absolutely free. Step right in."

 

-ICP

 

 

What? No Nell Carter? Give me a break...

 

 

This is the side project (can you really call it a side project when he has released 9 albums?) of Simon Heath of Krusseldorf fame. Actually I think he has been more prolific with this project, so maybe Krusseldorf is the side project. Whichever is right Simon has been producing the dark spooky ambient that will have you recalling images from every horror movie you have ever seen. Be it a Japanese asylum or abandoned prison he creates the atmosphere that will stick with you. On this album he joins forces with another dark ambient producer Eldar. But you have to listen to this at the right moment. You can't bump this in your 64.

 

Because like a husband that is stupid enough to truthfully answer his wife's question, "Does this make me look fat?" there is no bumping. I was gonna say like Dr. Dre with a broken subwoofer, but...you get what I mean.

 

But 4am and you can't sleep cause you've had 4 glasses of caffeine heavy sweet tea? Oh hell yeah.

 

So I sit in a comfy chair in the dark and put the headphones on and immerse myself in this macabre nightmare and hold up...did that...did that shadow just move? Nah, just a chair, I'm stupid.

 

Withering begins the show with a science fiction feel as the cold impersonal sounds of higher technology hum to life. Ok, I'm thinking Event Horizon and the deep cold of an abandoned space freighter. Tomorrow's Dust brings the sounds of wind blowing through the twisted remains of some metal structure and it grows in noisy intensity as a continuous bass note strums. The Matrix when we realize that life outside of that computer program is a shell of yesterday. Man that tension builds.

 

Freeman is my favorite with the percussive pattern and warning pads make this a dark delight. It moves slowly gathering fear of what's around the corner as a primary weapon. This is a lurk with an evil sneer. The Exorcist. Definitely the exorcist.

 

The Vault is the discovery of a tomb that hasn't been opened in a very long time. It breathes with malediction, as if angry its slumber has been disturbed. But what I see is Johhny Depp's Jack the Ripper and the terror that must've enveloped London at that time. Deliciously evil as you can hear the cries of lost souls.

 

Betrayal has more motion and I'm kinda like what the f*ck? This doesn't fit with any of the previous tracks. Perhaps it could be a chase scene before the pads dominate on the way out. I wouldn't have put it there.

 

So They Speak hits you with a 19th century Dickensian London feel. Dark pads and eerie piano melodies slowly ring amidst the winds of early winter. London can be a dreary place anyway, but just imagining it back then and I'm looking for old Xanax prescriptions. Pull the coat closer as the heat begins to escape rapidly.

 

Perhaps Sol could see you wandering the halls of a dilapidated building just waiting for that fat f*ck with the pig mask to fire up that chain saw. Where the f*ck is he? The dark pads rumble (yeah they do) while melancholy piano strings are plucked with remorse.

 

Of Salt didn't impress me. It seemed unfocused and not something you want at over 7 minutes. Maybe unfocused isn't the right word. Lack of cohesion would work here. At times it was hopeful and others dark. In the end it didn't maintain the uneasy or fear quotient. Or...maybe it's the burning of the dead as the flames spit and crackle. Ohhhhh! You so qwever!

 

Sorry, Asian slant. F*ck, that was an accident. I should stop talking.

 

Simon ends with a great closer. Burial was dreary and unending and must've been how Europe felt during the Black Plague. Mountains of bodies, the very fabric of society ripped apart...

 

Man that was 50 minutes well spent. Dark and apocalyptic in places it hit me just right. At 4 am. In total darkness. Look at the track names, this is not a carnival. Unless it's a dark carnival and then I'm sure ICP will have some copyright issues with you. There were some tracks I felt were misplaced, but the mood was maintained most of the way through. His music paints an avid picture and the let's your mind deal with the sordid details. Good stuff as usual.

 

Cryo Chamber

 

Mdk