This is one creepy ambient album. The theme is a prison and it must be some kind of hellish prison out of the best kind of horror movies. The whole album feels like it has been made for a horror movie & I'm sure that if they made the movie with this as the sound track it would be one scary film. Throughout the album there are dark voices, some sound human some do not. There are creaking doors, dripping walls and piano that sounds so creepy in that it is both out of place and the most in place thing. Of course as you'd expect there are a lot of drones, all dark, all horror, but not drawn out like a lot of drone work is. The sound of a gun being cocked in Black Lace as a sense of danger from a regular source while the static rushes in Machine Elves add a sense of danger from something much more paranormal & malign. The chaos of Blue Moon subsides halfway through leading into an unexpected pulsating rhythm and descending back into chaos really sounds like this story is set in cellblock Hell. The deep throbbing bass on Depth rattles the inside of my brain. The Japanese sample in Crusted Neon is creepy in that it is so human yet so alien. The beat that comes in is so throbbing that it vibrates my living room floor. Halls of Steam is very descriptive in that it sounds like a corridor with pipes rattling & venting more than just steam. The creaking in this track sounds at times like a demonic laugh. Reborn has footsteps slowly edging forwards and what sounds like hellish cries in extreme pain. The machine like sounds in Red Stains is like some dark underground forge in some dark land and finally Inner Carceri feels like the culmination it should be, more relaxed than most of the other tracks but just as scary. The choir like voices mixed with scratching sounds like small hellish creatures make a "the horror's passed but only because you're dead" feeling. Scary, hellish, horror, demonic, human, suffering, pain, dark, creepy, all of these are great adjectives to describe Cellblock. It is a fine dark ambient album but it could have been better. It could have been a nine or ten out of ten album but falls short only on it's lack of flow. Each track is very separate from the preceding & following track. The atmosphere stops before it comes back in & this slightly disjointed feeling spoils the flow for me. Still that is a small gripe & I'd highly recommend this album to any dark ambient lover, it avoids cliches & just concentrates on being dark, therefore it becomes scarier than if he was trying to be scary.

I have been wanting to write a review for this album for quite some time now but words always seem to fail me. Cellblock is truly one of the most terrifying experiences i've had the pleasure of hearing from CD audio. The 12 tracks range from 2 to 4 minutes in length, and while dark ambient tends to usually run longer, this makes Cellblock that much more enjoyable because its straight to the point and easy to swallow in one sitting. For me, a definite highlight is track 4, Corridor. I have no idea what is used to make those chilling sounds but it sends shivers to my spine every time. Atrium Carceri got more rhythmic and industrial with releases after this... But in my opinion Cellblock is the ultimate release for cinematic quality dark ambient. Listen in the dark for full effect.

One of my favorite dark ambient releases... Cellblock is one heck of a terrifying journey into the world of Atrium Carceri. The theme is simple enough - what would be a good sountrack for an old, abandoned and possibly haunted prison? This album doesn't have your typical stretched out drones that you'd might expect. Instead Cellblock is full of classical instruments (quite a few tracks feature an eerie piano), sound effects galore (everything from doors opening to people gasping to footsteps from afar). Its hard to pick a stand out track seeing how this album is meant to be listened to as a whole.. But I find that the track "Corridor" has an incredible amount of fear and hopelessness packed into it. From here on Atrium Carceri went on to produce even more intense ambience, but Cellblock is my personal favorite of his.

Atrium Carceri is my favorite when it comes to dark ambient. His first album, Cellblock, is a haunted trip through an old broken down, abandoned prison. These 12 tracks recreate the type of mood and setting you'd be in if you just so happen as to be in this nightmarish building. There are no real standout tracks in my opinion, all form and function as one piece. You can't really just listen to select tracks as you won't be getting the entire experience that was meant to be heard. While this album does use a lot of creepy sounds and backdrops - there is also a piano present at times to add on the ambience. Very reccomended if you enjoy dark, scary ambience.