Atrium Carceri - Void

Atrium Carceri is the Swedish Dark Ambient/Industrial project of Simon Heath, also the owner of the 24-bit Dark Ambient label Cryo Chamber. Similar to artists like Lustmord and Dense Vision Shrine, Atrium Carceri uses synthesizers, sound effects, piano and other distorted instruments to create slow, atmospheric rhythms and complex textures, generally based on themes of desolation, isolationism (solitary confinement) and environmental decay. Atrium Carceri translates to "Prison Hall" in Latin.

Most Atrium Carceri albums have been released on the famous dark ambient label Cold Meat Industry. However, his new 12 track album, 'Void', was released this past July on Simon's digital label, Cryo Chamber, as the album was constructed with a digital release in mind and was created for a 24-bit experience. Headphones and 24-bit playback are recommended. The FLAC download comes with a 6 page HD booklet.

'Void' is not your typical Dark Ambient album. It appears to contain a few different elements of many sub-genres of Dark Ambient and this album seems to be more of a storyteller, giving us a vibe that we are listening to a soundtrack for a movie or perhaps a scary video game. It takes us on a journey down a narrow path leading to the darkest corners of our imaginations. I noticed that the album uses a lot of distortion and noise to surround ambient samples, such as fire crackling or the sounds of someone walking along a stone path.

"Dear Diary" is a short song that uses distorted vocal samples to speak of a diary entry. The filtering used kind of sounds like a Mondoshawan from The Fifth Element, and seems to decay over time as it's speaking. This song has a beat to it, as some of the other songs do, but most of the tracks on this album are flat out Black Ambient.

"Humanity's Cradle" kicks the storytelling aspect of the message from this album into high gear. We hear someone walking along a stone path and possibly a metal walkway. It appears he's on a journey, looking for something. Whether he finds what he's looking for or not, we never know, but we follow him on his journey, all the while hearing what appears to be white noise or distorted animal sounds surrounding him. I think this song is a metaphor for the journey that some of us take when we soul search.

"Curved Blade" is a song that sounds more like a track for a video game. It reminds me a lot of something you would hear from American McGee's Alice (very Vrenna inspired) as it has quite a cinematic quality to it. We hear creepy choir voices among distorted piano that gives it a childlike lullaby quality to it. This song uses more beats and I wouldn't consider it ambient, but rather Industrial IDM.

As you can see by a few of my track descriptions, you will be engaging on quite the sonic journey. As I was listening, I couldn't quite help but feeling that I was Alice, tumbling further down the rabbit hole. Atrium Carceri uses real life noises to tell a disturbing story that envelops the listener into a sinister world of darkness and chaos. Fortunately for you, you will make it out alive. Our traveler though, his adventure may not end in his favor. We'll never know... Dec 17 2012