Amber Asylum is a highly variable
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
-based music group that serves as a platform for composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist Kris Force. The current lineup of Amber Asylum includes, in addition to Kris Force, Fern Lee Alberts (Deathgrave), Sarah Rosalena Brady and Becky Hawk (Laudanum). Other members and performers have included
Steve Von Till
Stephen Francis Von Till Jr. is an American musician, poet, and educator, best known as the guitarist of the band Neurosis, in which he also shared lead vocals with former member Scott Kelly. Following Kelly's departure in 2019, he is now the ...
(
Neurosis
Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving chronic distress, but neither delusions nor hallucinations. The term is no longer used by the professional psychiatric community in the United States, having been eliminated from th ...
),
Annabel Lee
"Annabel Lee" is the last complete poem composed by American author Edgar Allan Poe. Like many of Poe's poems, it explores the theme of the death of a beautiful woman.Meyers, Jeffrey. ''Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy''. New York: Cooper Sq ...
, Martha Burns, long-time collaborator Jackie Perez Gratz (
Grayceon/
Giant Squid
The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae. It can grow to a tremendous size, offering an example of abyssal gigantism: recent estimates put the maximum size at around Trac ...
/Asunder), Erica Stoltz (Lost Goat, Sanhedrin), Wendy Farina, Lorraine Rath (The Gault/Worm Ouroboros), Sarah Schaffer (The Gault/
Weakling
Weakling was an American black metal band from San Francisco. The band never toured and released only one album, '' Dead as Dreams'', recorded in 1998 and released on Tumult Records in 2000.
History
The name Weakling, according to founding membe ...
), John Cobbet (
Hammers of Misfortune
Hammers of Misfortune is an American heavy metal band from San Francisco, California. The band's style has varied from album to album, at times incorporating different elements of folk metal, doom metal, NWOBHM, black metal, 1970s rock, and th ...
/
Ludicra
Ludicra is an American heavy metal band from San Francisco. They originally formed in 1998 as a quartet and later expanded to five members. In 2011, the band announced on their official website that they had disbanded,[Man Is The Bastard
Man Is the Bastard was an American hardcore punk band based in Claremont, California. The band existed from 1990 to 1997, releasing mostly vinyl splits, extended plays, and albums on obscure labels from around the world. By 1997, the group ended a ...]
,
Bastard Noise
Bastard Noise is an American noise band founded in 1991 by musicians Eric Wood, Henry Barnes, and W. T. Nelson. The project started as a type of sister band
to the trio's previous group Man Is The Bastard. While Man Is the Bastard broke-up in l ...
), Leila Abdul-Rauf (Saros,
Vastum, Hammers of Misfortune, Bastard Noise, Ionophore), Chiyo Nukaga (Noothgrush/Graves At Sea), Andrew Veskoukis (Akphaezya) and Sigrid Sheie (Hammers of Misfortune, Vhol).
Amber Asylum's music is generally within the
neoclassical or
dark ambient genres, and it tends towards the
romantic, introspective, and brooding. Violin and cello are the dominant instruments.
Discography
Albums
* ''Frozen in Amber'' (1996, Elfenblut/Misanthropy) (reissued 2003,
Neurot Recordings
Neurot Recordings is an American independent record label founded by members of avant-garde metal band Neurosis in 1999. Gradually expanding, it has showcased a variety of artists including a number of sludge metal, post-rock, and noise band ...
)
Discography from official web site
.
* '' The Natural Philosophy of Love'' (1997, Relapse Records)
* ''Songs of Sex and Death'' (1999, Relapse Records)
* ''The Supernatural Parlour Collection'' (2000, Relapse Records)
* ''GardenOfLoveAutonomySuiteStillPoint'' 10" vinyl EP, (2005, Self Released)
* ''Garden of Love'' EP, (2006, Paradigms Recordings)
* '' Still Point'' (2007, Profound Lore Records)
* ''Bitter River'' (2009, Profound Lore Records)
* ''Sin Eater'' (2015, Prophecy Productions)
* ''Anthology 1995-2015'' (2015, Prophecy Productions)
* ''Breaker Of Rings/Blood Witch'' (2019, Prophecy Productions)
References
External links
Website
* Amber Asylumat AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
American dark wave musical groups
American avant-garde metal musical groups
Profound Lore Records artists
Relapse Records artists
{{US-band-stub