SOMNOLENT
Transformative dark atmospheric extreme ambient project Somnolent was created by American multi-instrumentalist and sound designer Jessi Nihil (Noctis, ex-Lycus, ex-Necrite and countless other projects) as a development of the artist's long running fascination with occultism and the work of legendary dark ambient godfather Lustmord. Initially called Cerberus and based in the UK, this early incarnation of the project was guitar-based dark ambient, and its original recorded output first surfaced as far back as 2006 with the album "The Forgotten", released by Dark Forest Productions (USA) as a pro CD-R. Nihil changed the project's name to Somnolent in 2010 in correspondence with an increased exploration of more electronic territories. This new incarnation materialized with a first digital release called "Manifestations MMXIII" published in 2013 and then followed by seventeen other digital releases between 2013 and 2021 exploring dark ambient, harsh noise, hellish industrial and everything in between. During this time Somnolent also materialized as a live solo act between 2013 to 2018, eventually bringing in several different live session members. This new outreach expanded the project's scope further and lead to the incorporation of more instruments and dynamics being added to the mix, a development which resulted in the conceivement and subsequent recording of most of "The Infernal Expanse" during 2019. While still firmly rooted in dark ambient and ritual industrial, "The Infernal Expanse" introduced a strong affinity to fringe strains of abstract, atmospheric and experimental black and death metal (another long running influence of Nihil) due to its prominent use of drums and percussions, strings, aggressive metal guitars and a malevolence and intensity akin to that of hideous extreme metal entities like Teitanblood or Portal. These instrumental recordings casually came across Abstracter vocalist MA (also in Ash Prison and Atrament) who intrigued by the composition's scope and darkness offered his vocals services to the work, bringing it to its final form which would become the towering late 2021 first ever Somnolent physical release via Sentient Ruin and and European dark industrial label Cyclic Law.