Location: Sweden
Members: Marcus Lönebrink
Guest: Pär Boström (on Sanctum)
Mastering: Frederic Arbour
Artwork: Viktor Kvant
Type: 6-panel digipack compact-disc (300 copies)
Duration: 48:51 minutes
Genre: esoteric, mystic & ritual Dark Drone Ambient
Location: Kansas City, Missouri (U.S.A.)
Members: Allen Gingerich (strings [and drum-programming?]) & Skyler Nohrenberg (vocals & lyrics)
Mix & mastering: Allen Gingerich
Artwork: no idea who created it, yet the cover painting is just stunning!!!
Type: digipack-CD
Duration: 32:32
Genre: Brutal Technical Death Metal
Location: Poland
Members: Mister Sadox
Artwork: stunning
Type: digital only
Duration: 44:00
Genre: Harsh Ambient Noise Wall
Introduction: Another creation by the ultra-productive one-spirit entity Sado Rituals for this guy’s prolific label Gates Of Hypnos…
[a short review (once again), yet dealing with another unique recording]
Country (for what it’s worth): Spain
Members: David Muñoz (everything; also known as keyboardist for Sun Of The Dying Sun and Arwen)
Type: jewel-case compact-disc
Duration: 46:21
Genre: Dark / Gothic / Doom-Death Metal
Country (for what it’s worth): Pakistan
Members: Faiq Ahmed (guitars), Daniyal Buksh Soomro (bass & vocals), Omair Soomro (live drums)
Recording: ShockStudio
Duration: 27:34
Genre: Thrash Metal
Country (for what it’s worth): Finland
Members: Janne Tuikkala (all instruments & song-writing) & Janne Partanen (vocals & lyrics)
Mix & mastering: Janne Tuikkala (at j.sound home-studio)
Artwork: Awinita Alm (link below)
Type: digital-only
Duration: 37:53
Genre: atmospheric & epic Melodic Black Metal
Recently I had the honor to be part of a jury within a contest / award organized by Unexplained Sounds Group’s chief Raffaele Pezzella. The most interesting thing was, of course, the ‘Music’ involved. I was trusted with several acts that contributed (for some of them I did write reviews in the past), others I just knew by name, and there were some projects I did not know yet at all.
Location: Sweden
Members: Linnea Hjertén (everything; also active in Shaam Larein) + samples by Ludvig Swärd (Forndom)
Production & mix: Linnea Hjertén
Mastering: Tore Stjerna (Necromorbus Studio)
Type: digital + CD (jewel-case + booklet)
Duration: 35:40
Genre: esoteric Nordic Folk
Location: East-Anglia, Albion, U.K. (Sacred Dominions) / Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. (Hadak urA)
Members: Shadows (song-writing & lyrics, instruments & vocals, mix; Sacred Dominions) / Koppany Geczy (instruments & vocals, song-writing & mix; Hadak urA)
Mix: Shadows & Koppany Geczy
Mastering: K (master-mind behind the label)
One of the most influential and notorious labels within the (Dark / Cinematic / Space / Drone) Ambient scene is, without any doubt, Oregon-based Cryo Chamber. It’s a label run by Sweden-born artist Simon Heath, whom you might know from outfits like Atrium Carceri, Cryo Chamber Collaboration, Krusseldorf, Sabled Sun, as well as Abnocto, Musterion or Za Frûmi, which he ran, all three of them, with Simon Kölle.
