Cryocon's Neonomicon

By Jerry Herrera

We like to use the term “cinematic” a lot because, well, much of the music we love is inspired by iconic (and some not so iconic) movies. It takes a lot to conjure up a story and compose a song that conveys the action and setting that you’re imagining. Any song can travel, but it’s an entirely different beast when trying to illustrate with music. In this respect, Cryocon has created a rich and disturbing fiction in a short but haunting EP.


Neonomicon imagines the edges of the known world, the border of natural and supernatural, terrestrial and extraterrestrial, flesh and spirit. One finds themselves alone on a derelict spaceship, washed in green and the flickering lights of computer monitors, caught between trying to find out what happened to everyone else and hiding from an unknown terror stalking the hallways. We find ourselves at a table on a stormy night, hands joined and chanting, awaiting word from the nether realms. We speed down a lonely road, and we keep passing the same hitchhiker over and over…

The music itself is less synth horror or metal than it is synth menace. Whereas we are slapped in the face and forced to look upon the face of whatever demons or zombies lurk in the minds of the producer of more aggressive tracks, Cryocon instead builds the music around an unseen entity and each track is an outline of a different creature. The instrumentation is also more of a beefier version of ‘80s scores with a sci-fi/industrial twist. I can recall similar sounds in Goblin and John Carpenter scores. The ambience is more relaxed but no less ominous than other similarly themed releases. We may be on calmer waters but we’re still floating toward R’lyeh.

Cryocon I think is a bit alone in this arena because while we hear horror and metal and cinematic score and sci fi tracks, it’s rare that we hear all these elements at once and perfectly complimenting each other. I’ve said of other Cryocon work, that it reminds me of the score for Event Horizon if it had been made in the ‘80s and directed by Paul Verhoeven. My head is full of monstrous aliens, haunted machines, and moving shadows. If you’re looking for a genuine and meaty alternative, you can do no better than Cryocon’s sci fi synth menace retro spiritual hauntcore.

Cryocon's Neonomicon EP is available for purchase on Bandcamp here and comes very highly recommended from Synthetix.FM.