Apocryphos - The Prisoners Cinema

A slight echo was created when the time of creation was put on hiatus for Psychomanteum. As fans clamored for something more to leave what gaping hole was left in their hearts, Robert C. Kozletski continued to make music underneath two different monikers; the death industrial sounds found within Shock Frontier as well as the dark ambient spewing Apocryphos. And it's the latter of the two that I shall be homing in on today.

Apocryphos is a continuation of Psychomanteum; I guess you could call it a spiritual successor to the old project. It was in December of 2012 that Kozletski first announced the start of this project, and you could say that things have been moving slowly throughout the past two years. Working ever so diligently and creating a product that he would be satisfied with while also giving his listeners an album worth getting excited over, The Prisoners Cinema was born.

This exceptional album attempts to recreate a spiritual rehabilitation from the drought of any sensory experiences, while playing with the title given; you are the prisoner trapped alone deep within your darkest thoughts, struggling but fighting against your inner demons. A poetic statement arises from all the sounds given, allowing you to just sink well within the boundaries of this album.

And what's to find in this album? Eight tracks spanning an hour long of some very fine dark ambient brilliance. This should go without saying, but this album is certainly one that you should listen to through headphones; you will not want to miss a single sound, a single haunting echo that pierces every aural sense you can give out to each song. Although some tracks do take a bit of a standard run of the muck sound for the genre, such as Eigengrau which introduces the album and serves up heavy atmospheric tones, there are plenty of surprises found within the album as well.

Tracks such as To Dark Cells introduce that same heavy, claustrophobic sound that accompanies most of the tracks, however, the little sounds, the slight chilling electronic waves that flows from one canal to the next, to only repeat its path, are exciting. Frederic Arbour of Visions and Havan also makes an appearance on the track with the ghostly sounding Neolithic Hypnagogia. Perhaps what I love most about this one - which is something I love about a lot of dark ambient works - is this feeling of subliminal whispers dispersed throughout; it makes me question both what I'm hearing and my sanity. The replay value on it was strong.

From the tomb of Psychomanteum a new sound has burst forth, inhabiting the once lost sounds and reinvigorating the project with new life. It might have shrunk from a two man band to a solo project, but that does not mean the creative efforts are lackluster. The Prisoners Cinema attempts to set you down in a bout of meditation and self reflection, and does so wonderfully. Trap yourself while listening to this album, let it sway you, and see if you can escape from your own little dark world. Jan 19 2015