� � Chthonic Transmission (Abysmi Vel Daath) is the most malevolent recording I've heard from this Colombian ritual industrial outfit yet, a collection of deep-earth delirium far darker than the last couple of albums I've picked up from 'em. This is the second album that Edgar Kerval's solo occult ambient project has delivered for the UK power electronics / dark industrial institution Cold Spring, and it is as steeped in the raw sonic material of nightmares, Fortean visions and spirit-transmissions as the title would suggest.

� � The disc opens with "The Vortex Ov Primigenian Sun", setting the black-mass atmosphere with the sound of rumbling cavernous reverberations and distant reverb-drenched chanting, this sinister subterranean ritual spreading out across echoing metallic clanks, monstrous hissing and creepy dungeon-like ambience. Primitive rhythms emerge alongside the intermittent crash of a gong. From there, the surrealistic vibe expands. Demonic voices seethe in trans-dimensional discourse. Ghostly melodies from deformed horn sections tumble through the blackness. Droning strings and fearsome metallic screeches cut through the thick, humid haze. When "The Light That Is Not (Consecration Rite)" kicks in, it's a blast of orchestral drone that extends into infinity, while the sound of chains and other metallic textures are looped into hypnotic forms. "Reversed Kundalini (Transmutation Rite)" resembles a resurrection rite for long-dead jazzmen, with an eerie clarinet-like melody snaking through the catacomb fog of spectral moans, swells of shimmering cymbals, and glacial, clanking percussion. That distant, sometimes almost subliminal rhythmic pounding and ghostly bathysphere rattling is a presence throughout this particular piece of dreamlike darkjazz, giving this a continuous black pulse that stretches out to the end. "Descending To Astral Void (Solve Et Coagula)" is another creepy glitch-riddled mass of incandescent black drift, more of those deep droning chants and vague ethereal voices emerging from the depths, strange electronic noise flitting through the gloom, distant funeral horns echoing over the horizon as the album slowly tumbles, finally, into the abyss.

� � A killer disc of black ritual ambient - if you're into the likes of Funerary Call and the Aural Hypnox label, this is a recommended dose of creepy, immersive blackness.