Gazing Too Long Into The Abyss: Erasing the Sun
It’s been too long since we last had the abyss stare back at us. With the recent super blood moon opting to spare our planet from complete annihilation for another, more convenient time, let’s explore three dark ambient releases and imagine when that might be (hint: it’s 2033).
Nothing – The Grey Subaudible
Recorded over a decade ago by Agalloch‘s J. William W., The Grey Subaudible is a malevolent collection of fuzzy, thumping static tape effects, early dungeon synths and man-I-really-fucked-this-thing-up found sounds. Tracks like To Draw The Things and In Command of the Constellations embrace the limits of audio clipping and distortion, allowing certain sound elements to blow past the edge of the mixing board and crudely suck the rest of the mix down with it, like a hidden patch of quicksand eagerly swallowing you further with each flailing movement to escape. Other tracks feature elegantly simple synth melodies, sparse lo-fi beats and spoken word, recalling dungeon-esque artists like Summoning.
Dirty Knobs – True Norwegian Black Drone
Like the somber wind of a particularly bleak winter, Dirty Knobs (huh huh) presents a haunting and slow-building hymn to unsettling solitude with field recordings from the chilly expanses of Norway and Minnesota. Listen to the aching, end of the world atmosphere in Låtefossen Tåke posted above, and imagine yourself climbing the hill posted in the artwork to take a final, knowing breath of air before the world permanently clouds over and snuffs away all life in oppressive blackness.
Cryo Chamber Collaboration – Azathoth
Finally, no Gazing article would be complete without a nod to my favorite label. When we interviewed Cryo Chamber’s mastermind in September, he mentioned the upcoming collaborative release of a swath of CC artists. That release date has come, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint. Paying audio homage to a Lovecraftian deity from Cthulhu Mythos, Azathoth begins as it should with a immediate forceful submersion into an encompassing sea of nothingness as hollow and unending as the indifference of an Elder God itself. Question your momentary blink of mortality (and rue it, rue it I say) as you find yourself in the presence of entities whose very existence will drive you to utter madness, drooling and rambling like so many drunken FFDP fans tailgating the Mayhem Festival.
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