DRONNY DARKO & PHAEDRUS – QUASI 
You’ll only need one look at the cover image to know you’re in for a deeply immersive sci-fi journey. And a rather dark one, because that is what Cryo Chamber specializes in.
Dronny Darko (Oleg Puzan, from Kiev, Ukraine) and Phaedrus (Johan de Reybekill, from Aarhus, Denmark) do not disappoint.
With the help of some friends (Bryan Hilyard, Phelios (Martin Stürtzer), Tineidae (Pavlo Storonski), and Silent Universe (Pavel Malyshkin)), they take the listener on a journey into the far regions of outer space.
“The structure lies silent except for the creaking bulkheads. You swap the mainframe battery and flickering lights spread down the ships hallways. Inky growth swallow most of the walls. Up close the slithering microscopic fractal patterns whisper something you can’t make out. In the med quarters the cryo pods stand empty, crew gone. You check the logs, all shuttles are still docked, no sign of airlock activity for 6 months and no distress call. Where are the bodies?”
Read the liner notes, take another look at the cover. That’s enough to trigger your fantasy and descend into a sonic version of Solaris.
Or Alien, if you prefer.
AJNA & ONASANDER – CANIDIA
Also extremely dark but with a different context: Canidia does not refer to outer space but to “one of the most highly attested witches in Latin Literature: Canidia.”
“Canidia is one of the most well-attested witches in Latin literature. She appears in no fewer than six of Horace’s poems, three of which she has a prominent role in. Throughout Horace’s Epodes and Satires she perpetrates acts of grave desecration, kidnapping, murder, magical torture and poisoning. She invades the gardens of Horace’s literary patron Maecenas, rips apart a lamb with her teeth, starves a Roman child to death, and threatens to unnaturally prolong Horace’s life to keep him in a state of perpetual torment.”
(Canidia: Rome’s First Witch)
Ajna (Chris F from New York) and Onasander (Maurizio Landini) evoke the atmosphere of the “heinous deeds of Canidia the Witch”, but in a way that is surprisingly pleasant to listen to. ‘Pleasant’ in the sense that it can be satisfying to watch scary horror movies from the safety of your own home.
It’s not gore slashy blood & guts kind of horror, but the suspenseful atmosphere that sends shivers down your spine and will make you want to turn the lights on before you go to bed.
Experience a satisfying ‘state of torment’, not ‘perpetual’ but just for the 45 minutes this album lasts.