Dark and cinematic ambient label Cryo Chamber is about to release a new tribute to H.P. Lovecraft's mythos, a double album entitled Juk-Shabb, on 10 December. This is a two-hour dark soundscape album recorded by over 20 ambient artists.
Juk-Shabb is a Great Old One who communicates by changing colour and using telepathy. The being is a powerful psionic and has extensive knowledge of magic. The cult of Juk-Shabb was well known for its brutality and sacrifices to appease their deity. The priests of this cult were feared throughout Egypt for their knowledge of dark magic and rituals involving human sacrifice.
"A great collective of shadows fell over the sky like the lid of a tomb, crushing the world's light into a feral darkness. A torrent of vague manifestations of transparency mixed with moving colours formed an impression of disintegrating brilliance across the cloud base, embroidering the darkness with a shimmering inconstancy which never aspired to a true substance. Nor was any of this seen coherently with the naked eye—but with the mind's eye, only. It was perceived as a mode of feeling across the firmament, without revealing a physical structure. But it invaded the anima of the multitudes who witnessed its tumults—affecting every single person on Earth. Within days, the populations of the continents and island groups had become infected with a devastating melancholy. Within weeks, a febrile madness took hold. The world had entered a phase of destruction that fell upon the eons of history like a contagion." - Excerpt from Juk-Shabb Booklet
So is this a compilation? No, this is a collaboration and a 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.
Juk-Shabb was written, performed, produced by the following artists: Council Of Nine, Atrium Carceri, Oljus, Onasander, Skrika, RNGMNN, Alphaxone, Northumbria, God Body Disconnect, In Quantum, Gydja, Sjellos, Duga-1, Ugasanie, Dead Melodies, Neizvestija, Mystified, Keosz, Dronny Darko, ProtoU, Ruptured World, and Lesa Listvy. Link
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"Goth people want to have fun sometimes too. I guess if your listening time is 99% dark, sad songs or evil black metal songs, sometimes you want 1% joy, and here I come." - Franck Hueso
"I can call our show an emotional exhibitionism. If you want to drink beer and cry, please come to our show, haha." - Nokt Aeon
"We're really into oxymorons and that sort of thing. Years and years ago, we came up with this idea—well, we didn't invent it, but we called it "happy sad"." - Matt James
"There's much more detail in our music now than 20 years ago. It's also much easier nowadays because you can do many things at home." - Morten Lybecker
