My sincere apologies for the long delay since our last Frozen In Time, but I have continued from where I left off in July. So there will be no skipped time still! Of course this means the list is rather massive. I urge you to take your time, bookmark the page if you must, so that you can give each of these artists their deserved chance.
I’ll be away again for the first half of October, so I will try to stay current on correspondences, but if you don’t hear back from me I will be returning soon enough!
Reminder of New Physical Address for Submissions!
Michael Barnett
9100 Blues Alley Apt.G
Laurel, Maryland, 20723 USA
Newest Publications on This Is Darkness
David Lynch – Nudes – ArtBook Review
Room To Dream – David Lynch [semi-auto]biography – Book Review
Artaud 1937 Apocalypse by Antonin Artaud – Book Review
The Inner Sanctum – A Dark Ambient Vlog: Episode 5
Post-Industrial Death Mix (2 hour seamless mix)
Essential Dark Ambient Mix (2 hour seamless mix)
Random News
Feedspot has named This Is Darkness as one of the top 15 ambient music blogs in their latest update. We are pleased to be alongside well known and respected zines in the dark ambient world such as Heathen Harvest and Noise Receptor. Hopefully this will help bring some more new fans to the genre!
See the list here.
Martin Bladh – New Book Released
The new novella, “Marty Page”, is a body horror romp through a self-imposed dungeon of depravity and sensory excess, written by Martin Bladh. Martin Bladh is a Swedish writer, artist and musician, leader of the post-industrial band IRM, the musical avant-garde unit Skin Area and co-founder of publisher Infinity Land Press. Stapled booklet. 56 pages. 8.5 x 5.5 in. $10 Buy here:
https://amphetaminesulphate.bigcartel.com/product/marty-page
Events
(Please inform us of your relevant upcoming events: info@thisisdarkness.com)
Autumn Electronix II – By Annihilvs
Tickets: http://garnerartscenter.org/store/autumnelectronix
Festival L’homme Sauvage 2
Tickets: https://www.hommesauvage.net
Music Videos
Apoptose – “Time-Lapse City”
“Time-Lapse City” is the first video single of the upcoming Apoptose album Die Zukunft.
Ionophore – “Blade”
“Blade” is the first offering from the new album Whetter which has just released on Malignant Records. This is a side-project of Leila Abdul-Rauf, who has also released a new album on Malignant. The video was created by: Rhea DeCaro.
New Releases:
ᚾᛟᚢ II // ᚦᛟᚦ ᚷᛁᚷ – Alpha Ænigma (Digital Only)
ᚾᛟᚢ II // ᚦᛟᚦ ᚷᛁᚷ is Henrik Nordvargr Björkk and Thomas Ekelund (not to be confused with their other project “Det Kätterska Förbund”).
With every repetition of these curses, the emanating energies are multiplied by one order of magnitude. Each current becomes a shining dagger that cuts through the flesh, and bone, and souls of treacherous men.
Abbattoir & Satori – New Album Released (GH – CD/Digital)
“Satori, continuing a project first started in the 1980’s founding member Dave Kirby brings an onslaught of industrial soundscapes, pounding drums and a dystopian vision of a world commited to destroying itself.
Comprising a mixture of harsh noise and power electronics with a harder and heavier percussive beat than before Satori enter 2018 with a collection of new songs “Dispossession” based on the physical and mental disconnect facing everyone in the modern world. A constant pervasive undercurrent of violence, the feeling of a society on the brink of a total meltdown and the fears and torments of the powerless individual.
Lorenzo Abattoir is an Italian-based noise artist and sound engineer from Torino. His work takes shape in a context of underground extreme noise music to become accessible through projects related to sound art. ‘The sound of chaos merging with order, where every detail and nuance seems to be carefully regulated and controlled’.”
Akhtya – New Album Released (Digital Only)
“Elements of Apotheosis is a recording for the ritual chamber, meditation, visualization and to inspire astral and dream projection. Akhtya recorded and presented the track at the 2018 Flambeau Noir during Michael W. Ford’s presentation on Demonic Symbols and Basic Magick. This recording explores the Miltonesq representation of Satan/Lucifer and the Fallen Angels as Bringers of Wisdom, Power and Balance in this life. The planet Venus is depicted twice to represent the Morning & Evening Star. The recordings are interwoven heights and depths of acasual streams of the adversarial current which holds dominion over the casual world and brings transformation or decay to the natural order. This balance, represented by the darksome journey into chaos finds spells and incantations upon the winds; light is that Black Flame of spirit which takes form under the Deific Mask of the Adversary and fallen angels taking many forms. Invocations and Names of Power of the Watchers, Satanic and Luciferian demons and deities are uttered to unlock forgotten gates in our subconscious, opening the Left-Hand Path to Apotheosis or becoming “As a God”. Simply put, Luciferian Theurgy is to master the self and build your own domain according to your will in this life.”
Alaskan Tapes – New Album Released (Facture – CD/Digital)
“You Were Always An Island opens with a downpour of rain. Staring out at its constant fall, listeners can only wait for it to stop. The music’s already waiting: for someone, and for a moment that will never arrive…
Alaskan Tapes aids in the clear-up operation, helping to cleanse the air if not the growing solitude. Quiet drones and sullen strings dispel the rain, but it lingers in the streets, overflowing around the mouth of its gutter. The music has been invaded by a longing which spreads like a tendril of ink in clear water, bruising the atmosphere with its purple, sour colour.
An event shakes the soul with the magnitude of an earthquake. In this case, the cruelty of distance and the greater cruelty of war which separates a couple. As a man leaves to fight, his beloved has no other choice but to wait for his return. She sends unanswered prayers. His absence grows longer with every sunset. Unable to wait and growing increasingly anxious, she sets off to look for him, a lighthouse offering a faint lifeline in the gathering gloom, only to sadly learn of his death. The separation is permanent – death us do part.”
Andromalar – Preorders Available (Reverse Alignment – CD/Digital)
“Reverse Alignment welcome ukrainian Andromalar to the fold. After three self released titles this magic drone act now found it’s way to our label. Vast, dreamy soundscapes is expected. Listen and you’ll understand what Andromalar is all about.”
Ataşehir – New Album Released (Sumatran Black – Digital)
The new side-project of Sumatran Black, Ataşehir, is a residential development on the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey. The titles for Colorful Places to Live and Play are taken from aspirational advertising slogans of various residential developments from around the world.
Atrium Carceri – New Album Released (Cryo Chamber – Vinyl/CD/Digital)
“Atrium Carceri returns with Codex, an album 3 years in the making. Dark drone, industrial beats and brooding choirs set the tone for exploration of a world beyond the illusion.
Deep in the roots of the citadel a sea of white robes ever flows. Those Fallen from Elysium kneel here, with blissful smiles and fearful eyes.
The sorrowful melancholia of a thousand whispered prayers lies heavy about the place. Prayers for the Demiurge to return, and grant them once more the warm embrace of their paradise.
The DigiBook version of this release contains artwork Simon has been working on for years with accompanying writing. A glimpse into the world beyond, where we once ruled as gods. The CD version comes in a 16 page hard cover deluxe DigiBook with matte lamination.”
Bjärgö – New Albums Released (Digital Only [currently])
Peter Bjärgö, known for his work in Arcana, Sophia and Karjalan Sissit is back with another solo album, this time under the moniker Bjärgö. Make that two solo albums! From Arcana’s Facebook post: “Peter has once again finished a new album under his project name BJARGO. And once again his beautiful soundscapes fill the room. Listen with high volume!”
Asked about a physical version they responded: “Not now, later! In the speed Peter is producing now we don’t want to wait for releases of cd’s:)”
Bonini Bulga – Sealed Now Available On CD (Hypnagoga Press/Cyclic Law – Cassette/CD)
“Sweden’s enigmatic and highly productive Pär Boström of Kammarheit, Cities Last Broadcast and Altarmang presents yet another singular project under the name Bonini Bulga. His debut Sealed was originally recorded and released in 2017 as a limited edition cassette on Boström’s own label Hypnagoga Press. We gladly present a remastered and extended version of this release. In recent years Boström has been exploring new sonic territories through his various projects, and with Bonini Bulga he’s chosen a more lo-fi loop based approach to his musical creations, bleak and minimalistic, we journey through a careful blend of processed analog synth layers and poignant revolving passages. This expanded edition includes three new tracks, which further exposes Boström’s unique vision and creative pact with the unknown, giving listeners the complete scope of his contemplative sonic magick.”
Caleb R.K. Williams – New Albums Released (Eagle Stone Collective – Digital)
I’ve been following the music of Caleb R.K. Williams and Co. from The Eagle Stone Collective more and more recently. Williams has a pretty grueling release schedule, with something new usually every month. But, unlike many artists rolling through such an enormous amount of material, each album seems emotional, fresh, and different from his previous works. With everything on their label set as “name your price”, it can’t hurt to give them a try! Highly Recommended.
The Caretaker – New Stage Released (HAFTW – CD/Vinyl/Digital)
“Stage 5 – September 2018 (K+L+M+N)
Post-Awareness Stage 5 confusions and horror.
More extreme entanglements, repetition and rupture can give way to
calmer moments. The unfamiliar may sound and feel familiar.
Time is often spent only in the moment leading to isolation.”
Common Eider, King Eider – New Album Released
(Cyclic Law/Sentient Ruin Laboratories – Vinyl/CD/Cassette/Digital)
“A Wound Of Body is the first chapter in Common Eider, King Eider’s Wound “duology”, forming the group’s most focused and fully realised work to date. Offering a sprawling, audial exploration of wounds at once physical and spiritual, social and societal, natural and environmental. A Wound Of Body is a beautifully stark soundscape, dolorously dense, suffocatingly oppressive and utterly claustrophobic. An immersive black hole of bleak, cavernous drone music and disquieting, desolate ambience, each track a hushed and harrowing ritual; the surface minimalism underpinned by a churning morass of sound, a layered liturgy of blackened invocations and nebulous strings hovering in the shadows. Presented in a beautiful black and silver duotone sleeve, adorned with images of micro-landscapes rendered in bone, stark images of the alien, otherworldly topography that lurks beneath the skin, emblematic of the inevitable decay and disintegration of our physical forms: the ruin we become, and the ruin we leave behind. Layout Design by Yoli at Aponeurotica.”
Corona Barathri – New Album Released (Grey Matter Productions – CD/Cassette/Digital)
“A new ritual material written on the eve of the Great Sabbath, dedicated to all the dark souls – Faithful to Diabolus! ”
Corona Barathri & Emme Ya – New Album Released (Noctivagant – CD/Digital)
Renowned ritual ambient musician Emme Ya has come together with Corona Barathri, a much younger ritual ambient project, which has torn through the scene over the last few years. You can find out some of the specifics about this release in our new episode of The Inner Sanctum!
Deathstench & Phurpa – New Album Released (Digital Only)
“Evoking Shadows of Death is a collaboration between Russia’s ritual collective Phurpa and California’s occult misanthropists, DEATHSTENCH. Fusing ultrasonic vibrations and grim necro-atmospheres with the harmonious chants and deep, droning reverberations of the tantric voice, these two tracks are designed to help the chod practitioner tap the power of absolute terror. Only those who have visited one of Tibet’s charnel fields and witnessed the offering of a corpse to vultures may be able to understand the full impact of what the Chöd tradition refers to as places that inspire fear.”
DeepDark & Noctilucant – New Split Released (Noctivagant – CD/Digital)
“Paginae Nigres pairs the work of DeepDark (Russia) with Noctilucant
(USA) on this split album where both projects step away from their
familiar sound and explore more ritualistic dark ambient stylings while
still maintaining the cinematic sound they are known for. DeepDark and
Noctilucant take the listener on a ill-lighted path through profund
dream/nightmarish realms, barren landscapes and clandestine ritualistic
sanctums.”
Desiderii Marginis – New Album Released (Cyclic Law – CD/LP/Digital)
“Long awaited new material by one of Sweden’s most revered Dark Ambient acts. Vita Arkivet translates from Swedish as “The White Archive” and is an official document detailing ones funeral arrangements. In death our existence is whitewashed, the slate wiped clean. We start all over and we bring nothing with us where we go. We lose the agency of our own memory and leave it for those left behind to attend to, to continue our story, to write our eulogy. Vita is also the latin word for Life, so the meaning could also be “The Life Archive”. White is the colour of the casket lining, the plaster death masks and the walls of the chapel, it is the colour of the first and last pages. What is kept in between the covers of our life archives? This record is a personal reflection and manifestation of that process, the loss and the great detachment from life, from others, and from ourselves.”
Note: Along with this new release, Cyclic Law has released a re-issue of Deadbeat, which sees a new CD/Vinyl pressing.
Draugurinn – Preorders Available (CD/Digital)
During the winter of 2017 Erik Gärdefors of GRIFT invited DRAUGURINN to perform at his special and unique harvest fest TREDINGSRITEN in Hällekis, Sweden on August 4th 2018. Inspired by the harvest theme, the circles of life and death and – as always – the forces of Nature, DRAUGURINN created an exclusive live ritual for this occasion only. With percussion and meditative chanting, the four songs invites the listener through birth, life and death. Spíra will take you on a journey along the circle of life. Transcend into Spíra and ride the circle of life through the eyes of DRAUGURINN.
Emerge – New Album Released (Required Rate of Return – Digital)
Maze is a deceptively complex pair of drone tracks. Emerge creates something that balances the lines between dark ambient and noise very well. With contributions by: elektrojudas, Niku Senpuki, Danijel Zambo, Prinzip Nemesis, and Deep.
Endless Chasm – New Album Released (Chthonic Streams – Cassette/Digital)
“Endless Chasm hails from Lawrence, Kansas with sonic and ritual explorations into the unknown. Saṃsāra Eternal is a contemplative journey into dark tones merging the organic and the synthetic, almost worshipful with an undercurrent of dread.” Read our new review of the album here.
False Mirror – New Album Released (Malignant – CD/Digital)
It’s been 8 long years since the release False Mirror’s highly acclaimed Derelict World, and SIGINT marks the return of one of the giants of the dark ambient genre. Thematically centered around the gathering of intelligence via the interception of signals, SIGINT is an hour long creation of desolate beauty and isolated intricacies, where droning textural flow is incorporated with floating wasteland debris, distant transmissions, and fluid layers of climatic tones. Like all False Mirror’s work, the attention to detail and subtleties are unparalleled, striking a balance between field recordings and synthetic sounds in a perfectly conceptualized harmony of calming warmth and barren isolation.
Flowers For Bodysnatchers – New EP Released (Digital Only)
“Alive With Scars is the prologue mini album to the forthcoming full length album Alive With Scars. This album begins to explore the life long struggle of living in a diseased body. A body slowly being destroyed from the inside out by its own central nervous system. A body that with the passing of time will waste and wither to its own unique sonnet of pain and torment.”
Haft Teppeh – New Album Released (Autarkeia – Cassette/Digital)
“Yume’ is the first full length work by Romanian project Haft Teppeh. We must admit, the way they approach the dark ambient music scene is really impressive. Despite being formed in 2013, the full length is the first material ever released by Haft Teppeh, and it sounds highly professional so far. All the compositions are very complex, skillfully polished and produced. Abstract and massive waves of sound are very dramatic and deep. The whole album seems like a one solid piece. each track floats smoothly, with extremely beautiful and natural transitions from one theme to another. Dark, mysterious and brooding; the tension stays with the listener throughout the whole release. With every new track, after brief moments of quiet, it strikes again with a heavy atmosphere, which keeps you hypnotized and holds you in your place until the very end of the composition. We pledge – Flavius Ion, the mastermind of Haft Teppeh is a truly promising artist whose first release is as impressive as if it would be crafted by Par Bostrom [Kammarheit] or Peter Andersson [Raison d‘Etre].”
Hiemal – New Album Released (Digital Only)
Smooth and highly contemplative melancholic drone ambient with rain recordings.
Recommended for fans of Mount Shrine, SiJ, and other field recording heavy drone projects.
How To Disappear Completely – New Album Released (Digital Only)
“A study in deliberately soothing textures designed to give the listener space to find stillness and collapse into rest – late night lullabies.
How To Disappear Completely presents Mer de Revs III, third installment of our experimental sleep music project. Almost eighty minutes of new music composed and recorded over twelve month period (a song per month), 2017/2018. Recording this album we wanted to keep the same aesthetics as on the last two volumes – simple as possible, minimal amount of gear as possible. Volume III of Mer de Revs is a culmination point of the trilogy and a summary of the first two installments.”
Item Caligo – New Album Released (Digital Only)
Item caligo is a one-man project of Sergey Epifanov. Based in Volgograd. The tracks “Painful Sleep” and “Wishing Only To Die” parts I & II were written especially for the short film “MER” by Hesam Rahmani.
Jinthra – New Album Released (Sombre Soniks – Digital)
“Psychopathy originally meant pathos (suffering) of Psyche (the Soul). Therefore I can also see the Path of Psyche as a way of pathologizing (logos of pathos); an autobiografikal need to understand my daimonikal wounds from a deeper perspective of the Underworld. Let’s pathologize!”
Julia Kent & Jean D.L. – New Album Released (Gizeh – CD/Digital)
“Recorded in Charleroi, Belgium in 2015 during a video installation with Sandrine Verstraete, the music was created using field recordings, processed guitar and cello and serves as a soundtrack to the video of the same name.
The album is an aching, ambient wonderland that ensues beauty at every turn. It was built as a whole and, indeed, should be consumed as a whole. The repetition is hypnotising, a lulling sense of calm entwined in hints of unease that flows seamlessly in and out of sleepy melodies and broken drones. Unfolding over a brief twenty-six minutes, The Great Lake Swallows cannot out-stay its welcome. Everything contained within feels necessary, each movement informing the next, a conversation between two outstanding musicians.”
Kashya – New Album Released (Digital/”name your price”)
Since I first heard Kashya I’ve enjoyed these releases as the last thing I hear before falling off into sleep. The warm drone ambience of this project is always deeply relaxing for me.
Kirill Mazhai – New Album Released (Shimmering Moods – CD/Cassette/Digital)
“This album was made between August 2015 and March 2017, which was in some way a transition period for me. Some life stages ended, some relationships failed, some changes happened. All the tracks on the album are dedicated to several places from those times, that meant or still mean something very special to me. A house by the lake, an apartment on the first floor, a park in the middle of the city – the places that stuck with me for a long time and don’t let go.
It’s a tribute to those times, but also some kind of closure. The album was mostly a reminder to myself that when you feel attached to something in one way or another, you need to keep going, to move forward, that you really don’t belong anywhere. It was a reminder that it’s never too late to move on.”
kj – Preorder Available (Dronarivm – CD/Digital)
“kj’s third album and dronarivm’s 54th release, is a wandering into the dark side of nostalgia — labyrinthian refrains evoke the mind’s tendency to reach for the past.”
L’Égarement d’Esprit – New Album Released (Digital Only)
Laudanum Euphoria is a mind-bending new project from the man behind Embers Below Zero and the Santa Sangre zine. It’s as if he’s blended something like Cities Last Broadcast – The Humming Tapes with Blood Axis & Les Joyaux De La Princesse – Absinthe – La Folie Verte, topped off with some old film samples. Highly recommended and “name your price”!
LVMMVX – New Album Released (Danvers State – Cassette/Digital)
“Debut release from Josh Yelle (KINTAAN, HARD DRUG)’s solo “chamber noise” outfit. Heavily layered, looped, and rhythmic dark ambience is enunciated by the cavernous pounding on the hull of a beat up cello. 40 minutes of miniature horror film scores devoid of any light or hope.” Purchase cassette here.
Maha Pralaya – New Album Released (Noctivagant – CD/Digital)
Ritual dark ambient project Maha Pralaya returns with another devastatingly dark ritual on their latest album Nataraja Tandavam, which is now available on Noctivagant.
Manifesto – New Album Released (Reverse Alignment – CD/Digital)
“Magnus Zetterberg is returning with a new haunting opus of darkest industrial ambient accompanied by Axel Torvenius wonderful art. Hive is a ghastly exhibition into the foul world of humanity. A soundtrack to devastation.”
Mount Shrine – New Album Released (Cryo Chamber – CD/Digital)
Mount Shrine (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) serves us a warm and inviting ambient album.
Rain pounds the temple as you look out across snowy mountains from a lotus position. A wet furred hare seeks refuge beside you, curious about the kettle of hot tea that rests at your side.
A distress call led you here, transmitted to a frequency on your Ham radio. The journey here was long and filled with majestic sights. Isolated villages, melting snow in forgotten valleys, the robed order of the silent all calmed your mind. The rolling fog followed you every step of the way to enlightenment.
Recommended for lovers of subtle field recordings and sleep ambient. Warm, inviting and atmospheric. Best enjoyed with a cup of hot beverage on a rainy day. Read our review of the album here.
Murcof – Preorders Available (Glacial Movements – CD/Digital)
“In Lost in Time, two parallel narratives intertwine: the first follows a helmet-clad, faceless horse and rider adrift in an indeterminate landscape of ice and snow, quite literally lost in time and space, while the second seems to allude to a strange scientific experiment. Lost in Time plunges us into perpetual renewal, each ending leading to a new beginning. The protagonists – two beings bound by a certain mutual dependence – are forever trapped in a time loop where life and death ceaselessly rotate.The use of what are almost exclusively black figures against white landscapes produces a menacing, otherworldly atmosphere that is also stunningly beautiful. The original soundtrack of the film, blends the aria of the Goldberg Variations sung by Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal with a composition by Murcof. The soundtrack also exists as an autonomous work entitled Lost in Time (Goldberg Experienced.05). Coproduction Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and Casino Luxembourg. With the support of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts.”
Murderous Vision – New Album Released (Live Bait Recording – CD/Digital)
“Upon returning from a successful gig in Helsinki, Finland several inspired late night recording sessions began to take shape and morph into something a bit more cohesive. Voided Landscapes is a bleak journey into the paths of dark industrial and minimal death ambient. Using an arsenal of electronics, field recordings, strings and less conventional items, Voided Landscapes is a shifting beast that covers a lot of ground, but stays on a course that will not disappoint long time followers of the project. Features guest appearances by Robert O’Lexa (Vengeance Space Quartet), Pauline Lombardo and Rebecca Potter (Both of Cunting Daughters). Packaged in a 6 panel digisleeve with photography by Andy Henry that is printed on heavy uncoated retro paper stock.”
North Atlantic Drift – New Album Released (Sound in Silence – CDr/Digital)
“Departures, Vol. 2 is in line with last year’s Departures, Vol. 1., showcasing North Atlantic Drift’s atmospheric side of minimal ambient and presenting eight new impressive tracks in a running time of about 50 minutes. Moving away from the melodic post-rock orientation of their earlier releases, North Atlantic Drift have stripped away most of the percussive elements, glockenspiel and more prominent guitars and have achieved a captivating sound of subtle textures, overlapping tones and slowly evolving soundscapes. Built around washes of sustained and reverberant electric guitars, warm and comforting synths and glacial drones, and expertly mastered by George Mastrokostas (aka Absent Without Leave), Departures, Vol. 2 is an intimate, relaxing album with a truly immersive quality, bringing to mind the works of Brian Eno, Stars Of The Lid, Loscil and other artists of similar mien.”
The Penitential Station – New Album Released
(Other Forms of Consecrated Life – Digital Only)
“Plaintive music for the ‘ghostly’ darkness described by the anonymous author of ‘The Cloud of Unknowing’, blinded from what is both above and below; isolated from the spiritual and earthly worlds. Partially composed of fragments from the masses of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594), the music itself seems cut off – as if heard from great distance – a faint and elusive refrain of ecstatic communion, endlessly repeated but never quite resolved.”
Peter Andersson (raison d’être) – New Album Released (Old Europa Cafe/Yantra Atmospheres – CD/Digital)
“Timewaves presents moments of history in a flow of eternity. Each moment may or may not be clearly connected with each other. But when examining the past, does not every moment intertwine with some other moments, and suddenly everything is connected with everything in strange and unclear ways.
In Timewaves it is clear that those moments presented on the album are bound to civilisation. Is it our civilisation, or someone elses, or just a dream? We don’t know. It may be even a nightmare. All we know for sure is that the clock is ticking. But ticking for what? Good times or bad times? Hope or fear?
Peter Andersson (Sweden) is most known for the dark ambient project raison d’être and a bunch of other projects like Stravtm Terror, Atomine Elektrine and Bocksholm (a collaboration project with Deutsch Nepal). Sometimes he releases albums under his personal name, mostly music for museum exhibitions and short movies. The majority of the tracks on Timewaves has been used in various exhibitions in some Swedish museums. This time the music is a bit darker, more industrial and experimental than previous exhibition albums from Peter Andersson, but still enigmatic.”
protoU – New Album Released (Cryo Chamber – CD/Digital)
“Sasha further explores the themes of her collaboration album Earth Songs. While her album Khmaoch explored the roots of civilization and The Edge of Architecture probed into the future of the modern age, Echoes of the Future guides us in taking our final steps to leave Earth.
A deep space ambient album that invites you to take part in the discovery of cosmic anomalies and abandoned space stations in search of a new home.”
Ruptured World – New Album Released (Cryo Chamber – CD/Digital)
“Ruptured World is the cinematic ambient project of Alistair Rennie (UK), who is also known as an author of Weird Fantasy and Horror Fiction.
Exoplanetary features fragments of transmissions amid sonorous and distorted interpretations of narrative events as the mission faces up to the challenges of off-world exploration and the inescapable fact that, on Proxima Centauri b, the human visitors are not alone.
Cosmic horror combines with ambient evocations of a real-life futuristic drama in the face of alien estrangement and a prevailing aura of existential persecution. Radio transmissions are superseded by melodic inferences of atmospheric detail and the otherworldly drones of cosmic landscapes and the mysterious twilight roaming grounds of the Krivren.
The Exoplanetary CD package comes with a documentary booklet featuring a 16-page executive summary of the mission’s objectives and a detailed profile of the planet’s geophysical characteristics, as well as its inherent dangers. Digital Booklet also included with download.
It offers a unique listening and reading experience that integrates sound orchestration with speculative dark fiction to present a quasi-scientific account of future possibilities rendered in sound.
Recommended for fans of cinematic dark ambient and spoken word.
You can read our interview here, and our review here.
Sacra Fern – Preorders Available (Black Mara – CD/DVD/Cassette/Digital)
“Protected by forest spirits, shining in the rays of magic fern, this stone has absorbed all the power of the Sun. It will open doors to a world of magic in the shortest night of the year for who follows his own willpower.”
Sana Obruent – New Album Released (Digital Only)
Sana Obruent delivers another hauntingly dark release, this time a ghostly affair entitled Songs about Death and Redemption.
The Serpent – New Album Released (Noctivagant – CD/Digital)
The inspiration of this dark ritualistic ambient album has been the story of Ani’s soul passing through the Egyptian underworld – Duat as well as the soul’s voyage in general through the dark realm of the dead, judgement and test. The conceptual background is being expressed in a way which aims to progressively narrate a story regarding the stages of the after-death experience as mentioned in the ancient Egyptian texts which is deeply tied to a wide variety of the mythos and tradition of ancient religions and Orders.
Silent Vigils – New Album Released (Home Normal – CD/Digital)
Molenbrook, Mossigwell, Zwartewall, Fieldem… places neither here nor there; half in the world, half in the mind. We began this project as an exchange of gestures across the water, a dialogue motivated by mutual respect and revolving around our shared love of the minimal, the graceful and the understated. We completed it on 23rd March 2017 – the day of the Westminster attack, one year to the day after the Brussels bombings. These four pieces have become our personal dedications to the quiet strength of blended culture, free thinking and open borders. Silent Vigils.
Skadi – New Album Released (Digital Only)
Finally we see a brilliant new release by the well respected dark ambient project Skadi, founded in 2001 by Alexander Leßwing. The project combines dark ambient scapes with ethnic and ritual passages.
In a place where the heart is not allowed to flourish its emotions, darkness will grow.
In a place where the soul is not held with care, only emptiness remains.
SiJ – New Album Released (ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ – Digital [currently])
In memory of Dmitriy Vasilyev.
Featuring Singing bowls by Akoustik Timbre Frekuency and additional samples by Erik Osvald of Keosz. “A new installment in Shrine series, exploring deep minimalistic sound structures and imaginary landscapes. Inward journey through the memory, dreams, and contemplation on things which are inevitable.”
Sysselmann – Re-issue of The Northern Chronicles
I reviewed this brilliant debut here last year and really love the physical copy, I’m pleased to see it’s back in stock! A word from Sysselmann:
“Dear listeners, closing in on two years after the original release date we still get requests to buy this cd, finally we can happily announce that Sysselmann’s debut album is coming back into stock. We are very humbled by the continuous support for Sysselmann. Gorgeous vinyl style CD, booklet + some extra goodies for you not previously available…”
Tapes & Topographies – New Album Released (Simulacra – CD/Digital)
Insomnia Drones seems to share similarities to both the drone heavy releases like Fathoms as well as the more field recording laden Signal to Noise, beautifully melancholic, highly recommended, under-rated artist.
Taphephobia & Bleak Fiction – New EP Available
(Reverse Alignment – Digital)
“Reverse Alignment has always been about making good relations and keeping artists long term. It seem to have been working with Taphephobia at least.
Leaving the ship when moving to Greytone in 2010 and leveling up to Cyclic Law 2013, the guy behind the strings; Ketil Søraker, returns once more to the label. We´re happy to see Taphephobia prosper, happy to meet again with a dear old friend.
This time we present a collaboration with Ezequiel Lobo’s Bleak fiction that’ve been releasing on m.i.s.t. records and GV Sounds from 2012 onwards. A new face to the label, another welcome. Nuuk is here.”
Theo Calis – New Album Released (Petroglyph – Digital)
Inspired by the beautiful wildlife sounds and pictures of Glacier Bay. And the commitment of NPS to preserve nature. Stop global warming!
Tim Six – New Album Released (ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ – CDr/Digital)
It is generally believed that noise is the creation of human hands, while nature is even more full of noise simply of a different kind. Such an actual problem of “sound ecology” as opposes urban noise to either sounds of nature, or just silence – while silence in nature is not so easy to find. This record can be considered a non-dualistic approach to this problem. This album, in the best traditions of drone music, consists of one track made of field recordings. Night rustles and bird trills collected in the woods near Ivanovo, Russia, remote city hum and agricultural works in the Crimean steppe, recordings of bird nests in an abandoned feed mill and all sorts of audio situations along the irrigation canals of Crimea – all this is repeatedly layered on each other and built in gradually developing composition. Presence of Noise is not a verdict but a reality within which we exist. The fact that nature is full of noise does not negate the problem of “sound pollution” of the urban environment, but gives an illustrative example for the reconstruction of urban acoustic environment “in the image and likeness” – striving for softer forms, smoother corners and fluent transitions of the acoustic landscape. Infinity of aural interpretations in the simplicity of everyday noise.
Vacuum Templi – New Album Released (Weird Tapes/Svbterrean – Cassette/Digital)
“God is always the shadow and the nightmare of the human being,even though we’ve have just passed the post-human phase.
Despite our civilization level,religion is surviving and give us our daily fear towards life and death.
“Death Chamber Musick” is an anti-religion sound collage composed by seven spells,recorded with (un)sacred reversed samples,ruined organ and anguishing synths.
The pessimistic and blasphemic mood reign in this new record,where the catholic religion and the figure of the suffering Christ are the mirror of the human destiny.
The ideas of religion and faith are raped and the hopeness for Human being is destructed,in a liturgic black reversed-mass recorded on magnetic tapes.”
Valanx – Pre-order For New Album (Reverse Alignment – CD/Digital)
“Water is flooding. Land is obsolete. Scattered tribes rule their part of the world. Struggling. Adapting. Tidelands is Valanx soundtrack to a post-apocalyptic future where water is abundant and the circumstances of living has changed radically.”
VelgeNaturlig – New Album Released (Winter-Light – CD/Digital)
“Having previously released the full length Opalescent Pust on our label, the Portuguese sound sculpture VelgeNaturlig returns with an album of deep, immersive ambient drones – Kundalini.
On Kundalini, Ivo Santos presents us with an album, layered with a rich tapestry of dense drones, reverberating sub-bass and circulating processed sounds, cleverly woven together with field recordings.
As with most, if not all of VelgeNaturlig’s work, on Kundalini the tracks flow together as one, creating vast musical landscapes to traverse within the minds eye. The music weaves an infinite pathway between the light and the dark, sometimes isolating but always keeping the listener engaged.
Kundalini is an album of true awakening, invoking a clash of primordial sounds and energies. Let the currents flow…”
On the Periphery
Antechamber – New Album Released (Instruments of Discipline – Vinyl/Digital)
“Antechamber’s debut explores the ghost architecture of industrial music, etheric and oppressive in its suspension.
The newest alias from Mahk Rumbae a.k.a. Codex Empire and one half of Industrial act Konstruktivists, Antechamber sees a spacious almost dub influenced realm being explored, a dark-ambient nether in which lurching rhythmic giants consume the fragments of their composition, as though some military exercise had arrived at the collapsed edge of history and remained forever there suspended, war-games in the ether, anodic purgatory.
The LP is at times drone-scape, at times big-room stepping; white noise carved into shuddering rhythms & barrel bomb impacts; Antechamber’s debut shows a producer who is able to both summon and resuscitate worlds with only the bare minimal elements, a contained violence and a violent restraint.”
Ashtoreth – Second Disc In Sleep FUSE series (mini cdr/Digital)
“Ciuthach is one twenty three minute atmospheric drone folk masterpiece, based of a Scottish folklore creature myth of the Ciuthach.”
BRUTALISM – Debut Single Released (Anathemata Editions – 7″ square lathe)
“Deterritorialization. Intimate Brutality at the very moment of participation in surrounding nature.”
Debut of Atmospheric-black-metal inspired by Brutalist architecture from Terence of Locrian. Full-length The Charged Void available 2019 from Annihilvs and Cloister Recordings.
Clearlight & Owl – New Album Released (306- CD/Cassette/Digital)
306 recordings is proud to present Inverted Horizon by Clearlight & Owl. A deep piece of ambient music which takes you into your deepest thoughts, traveling between darkness and enlightment. A total of 10 tracks spanning 68 minutes, which take you to the deepest, darkest & inverted horizon.
Ionophore – New Album Released (Malignant – Digital/CD[delayed])
Ionophore is the project of the Bay Area/London-based multi-instrumentalists Leila Abdul-Rauf, Jan Hendrich, and Ryan Honaker. The trio weave dark electronics and neoclassical soundscapes with heavy drones, seamlessly melding the orchestral strings of Honaker, the horns and voice of Abdul-Rauf, and electronic interpretations of Hendrich. Whetter is the follow up to 2016’s well-received Sinter Pools, and continues along a similar trajectory; gauzy, ethereal ambience augmented by late night textural smear, rhythmic pulsations, and abstract, affected glitch, drifting in and around and through each other in hazy patterns, warm and enveloping, pulsing and reverberating, an indistinct blur… almost tangible, but ineffable.
Keosz – New Album Released (Vinyl/Digital)
No Future Vol:2 shows a more beat-driven, slow-tempo, bass-laden version of what we know from Keosz’ Cryo Chamber releases. The production of this one is really epic, highly recommended for late night driving or other inward adventures.
Kintaan – New Album Released (Annihilvs/Danvers State – CD/Cassette)
“The long awaited official debut from Providence, RI’s premier extradimensional post-music trio. A disgusting mix of industrial tinged noise and sparse, dissonant doom metal with hints of psychedelia spread across four tracks, totaling 31 minutes. Thick, saturated production battling minimal, jarring composition. This is living, breathing terror from absolute masters of their craft.” Purchase cassette here:
https://danversstate.storenvy.com/products/24588543-kintaan-untitled
Michael Idehall – New Album Released (raubbau – Digital)
“to those who enjoyed michael idehall’s ‘prophecies of the storm’ release on ant-zen, raubbau is proud to present a further outing of this outstanding artist’s self-coined ‘seancetronica’ sound exploration – a one-of-a-kind combination of death industrial, apocalyptic tunes with a subliminal song structure and dark, structured ambience. once again the swedish producer/performer evokes a crude, vicious force carrying intense tempers of menace, aggression and sadness with a strong streak of esoteric themes and personal poetics shaping the mood and tone.
Idehall’s rich baritone intoning ritual chants and secretive whispers with a solemn atmosphere, highlight the arcane bent of the heavy electronics pushed with striking tautologic sequences. from sparse throbs and slow paced beats to cinematic ambient elements and industrial overtones, ‘aion reborn’ displays a captivating mixture of alluring vocals, throbbing bass, pounding beats, ominous drones and metallic tremors.”
Morego – New Album Released (D.M.T. – Vinyl/Digital)
Similar to the above release by Keosz, we have a side-project of a well known dark ambient artist, (in this case Morego Dimmer of Xerxes The Dark) creating crystal clear production on glitchy bass-laden tracks, predominately with accompanyied by various percussions. For the dark ambient fan, this (along with Keosz) is an album that will be perfect for those times when you want to hear something much more active, but don’t want to sacrifice the brilliant craftsmanship of a top-notch dark ambient artist. Highly recommended.
N.K.R.T – “Cantus II” from Confiteor
The next release of Cold Dark Matter Records (Red Harvest, Ende, Fange) is a collaboration with NKRT, the ambient and ritual project of Frater Stéphane (Rosa Crux, Spleen XXX). “The equinox, the moment when everything is extremely ephemeral, Confiteor is a rite of repentance to all the sordid things to raise his soul to the summit”
For lovers of Zero Kama / Abruptum / Gregorian chant
Paleowolf – New Album Released (Digital Only)
Fifth full length album by Paleowolf. Archetypal stands as a powerful, monolithic fusion of ancient prehistoric archetypes that have been shaping and challenging Mankind since its dawn of the planet.
Powerful and energetic tribal drum-works are pumping the adrenaline and awakening the inner strength of a Warrior, Shaman and Survivor archetypes. Shamanic chants and voices that echo through timeless caves and archaic forests are calling and praising the divine forces of Nature. The tribe grunts and shouts to charge the collective body, mind and spirit with the eternal energies of the Wilderness.
As the charge completes and fires slowly extinguish, the ancestors enter the Old Dream, while moonlight is reflecting the shadows of giant megaliths in the distance.
Archetypal is definitely one of the strongest and most intense Paleowolf releases so far.
Rafael Anton Irisarri – Preorder Available (Umor Rex – Cassette/Digital)
“Rafael Anton Irisarri continues his string of post-minimalist releases with his third for Umor Rex: El Ferrocarril Desvaneciente. While composed as an ode to an overnight train journey through Spain he took many years ago, the music picks up sonically where his previous album Sirimiri left off. Irisarri focuses on deploying sonic cycles throughout these four shorter pieces, basing much of this sweeping ambience around looped sounds and distant pulses. The sound is however kept in a state of forward motion and constant evolution, invoking the slowly rumbling night train that inspired it —not to mention its cargo of misfits and travelers. Irisarri’s skill, set as a manipulator of minimal sound input, is at full strength here, imbuing even shorter pieces such as “El Espectro Electromagnético,” with chasms slowly cresting drama. The phantasmagoria of “Un Saltador” was even composed as a departure for him, toying with synths and pedals in a “modular kind of way,” letting an experiment unfold with minimal interaction.”
Randal Collier-Ford – New EP Released (Digital Only)
“The first chapter in a new branching storyline, featuring the newest protagonist, ɒm.OS. Season One will serve as the thematic and musical push into this layer, tying together the roots of the ‘main’ storyline.”
Self Harmony – New EP Released (Digital Only)
An interesting combination of a lot of different styles which the artist describes as: “Pan-Dimensional Night Bass, for Silver Cord Cutters and Mystery School Dropouts.” This seems about right. Definitely should be a nice midnight drive soundtrack.
Understated Theory – New Album Released (Sparkwood – CD/Digital)
“With each of the two half behind the project bringing new perspectives from their respective solo-endeavours to the drawing table – Tom Moore (Dead Melodies) and Colin Crighton (nil.co, Sorrow Floats) –
Understated Theory leaves the vast expanse of treacherous seas (Critical Drift EP and Juxtapparition) to continue their journey across dry land. The desolation blues remains however, as we follow in the footsteps of what might be one of the few survivors roaming a post-apocalyptic wasteland, commonly just referred to as The Shadowlands.”
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Over the last few years we’ve seen a huge increase in the output of 
All Internal is a quick and enjoyable read. One that you could knock out rather quickly, if the story so engrosses you. I found my playlist of dark ambient awaiting review was the perfect accompaniment to this story, at certain times playing things on one end of the spectrum, but as the story took twists, I was adjusting the music’s themes accordingly. An all around enjoyable experience. I’m definitely hoping Hannum does more future work in this vein!
Mortiis is hailed by many/most as one of the greatest originators of the now greatly expanding dungeon synth genre. His Era 1 releases considered classics, and highly sought out by the dungeon synth community, as well as by fans of the Cold Meat Industry label, in general, which was home to Mortiis Era 1. With a new round of concerts featuring Era 1 material, a re-issue of his book ‘Secrets of My Kingdom’, and re-issues of all many Era 1 albums, it seemed like a great time to have a conversation with the man behind Mortiis and pick his mind about the new book, his re-emergence within the Era 1 context, the Cold Meat Industry 25th anniversary festival and more!
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“Miles to Midnight is a brilliant and novel release for Cryo Chamber. Following on the footsteps of their recent release Heralds by Wordclock, Cryo Chamber takes the dark jazz elements in an even more focused direction. While they are obviously a dark ambient label at heart, it’s great to see them taking chances and testing the waters of different genre influences, which should ultimately make for a more diverse catalog of releases and widen their fan-base even further. A highly recommended release especially, but certainly not only, for fans of dark jazz!”
“Shock Frontier have absolutely proven their worth on Tumult. The album is challenging at times, but always at maximum intensity and always drenched in negative emotion, even during its more reserved, dark ambient leaning tracks. This new vision was given the full treatment by Malignant Records, housed in a beautiful DVD digipak with irradiated, irreligious, apocalyptic art created by Noculture. The sounds are mastered by death industrial veteran John Stillings of Steel Hook Prostheses. Kozletsky and Carney have bared their souls, grinding out tracks which surely took them into the darkest recesses of their psyches and Malignant gave them a platform to spill this deviant heresy on the post-industrial world. It is now left to us, the listeners, to share this dark beast with the unsuspecting masses. May they bask in its deviance… or crumble beneath its iron grip.”
Bridge To Imla delivered a strong debut. An album which could have only been created by artists with a lifetime’s experience in the field of ambient soundscapes. The album is equally as delightful when given full undivided attention as it is when played in the background, as an augmentation to some other activity. After this strong debut, we can hope to see more albums like this in the coming years from these two gentlemen. Until then, there should be many hours of enjoyment as one floats along on The Radiant Sea!
“Ur Djupan Dal should be a welcome release for any listeners that have been following the “second wave of dark ambient”. Atrium Carceri and Herbst9 have both been performing at the top of their game for over a decade each. Ur Djupan Dal is a perfect example of how artists can come together to create not only sounds which delight, but storylines which have direct connections to each of their past works. I would recommend this album to any dark ambient listeners who enjoy the perfect blend of ritual, cinematic and traditional dark ambient music.”
“It is not hard to imagine Alchymeia as the magnum opus of raison d’être. A return to form after years, Alchymeia is sure to delight and fully enrapture listeners. It is the perfect modern connection to the older works of raison d’être. If Peter Andersson will see this as his defining and final work, we will all likely hope for otherwise. But it is undoubtedly defining. It takes all the elements Andersson has been perfecting over two decades (closing in on three decades) of music creation and puts them to perfect use. The darkness is as dark as anywhere else in his discography, and the light is soul-gripping, heart-rendingly beautiful. Alchymeia is, in my humble opinion, the album we’ve all been waiting for from raison d’être. Truly a magnum opus in every sense.”
“Martyria aren’t interested in simply recording interesting textures, instead taking listeners to the source through their authentically mystical expression. From its opening bell toll until its last notes fade into the annals of time, this tremendous debut succeeds not only as an incredible amalgamation of ritual ambient and world music, but an exercise in eschatological internalization.”
“Langås has been working these various aspects of his Northaunt sound since the late 90s. Istid III brings the old together with the new in a unique way giving us the best of both worlds. This release is also a step outside the ordinary, as it’s been released through Glacial Movements, a label out of Italy that specializes in various types of polar ambient soundscapes. This should hopefully bring a new group of listeners to the Northaunt sound, as all the die-hard listeners will certainly find their way to his work regardless.”
“With An Era of Torment, Ajna proves that he is still developing as an artist, each album that comes along shows improvements on techniques and a focus of vision. Much of the music is incredibly subtle, so fans of the more active varieties of dark ambient may not find what they are looking for here. But, if you enjoy artists like Svartsinn, Kave, or Dronny Darko, that create passive, but intricately crafted drone-work, you are likely to find much to love on An Era of Torment.”
“It has been apparent since his debut, Endless, that Pimentel was a musician to keep an eye on. That sentiment has never been more apparent than now. With the release of Heralds, Pimentel shows the staggering extent of his ambition and skill as a musician and a studio technician. I simply can’t overstate the magnitude to which this album has moved me, and I strongly suspect that it will have the same effect on many, if not most, readers of this review.”
Matteo Brusa is the man behind the dungeon synth project, Medhelan, and the dark ambient project, La Tredicesima Luna. Hailing from northern Italy, Brusa’s cultural and geographical histories have played a big part in his identity as a musician. I was able to pick Brusa’s mind for this quite extensive interview, which will look into the background of the man, as well as the beginning and future of his musical projects.
“TxRxP has broken new ground for the death industrial sound while paying proper respect to the style’s inaccessible nature, something Ekelund’s contemporaries often struggle to accomplish. Many projects embrace outside influences as they try to push beyond their template, but this album remains firmly rooted in brain-bashing claustrophobia. Trepaneringsritualen produces something hardcore fans of this music will adore, but also provides enough glimmers of approachability for those lost in the sonic fray — making Kainskult one of the most potent death industrial releases to drop in recent years.”
“Veteran listeners of the Aural Hypnox label will find nothing unusual with Catacomb Resonator. It is a welcome addition to an already impressive catalog of releases. For newcomers to the label, Catacomb Resonator should prove to be a perfect album to introduce to listeners. The ritual elements are strong, but the energy levels are more subdued than will be found on many Aural Hypnoxreleases. I can safely recommend this release to any fans of the ritual ambient genre. Arktau Eos are tried and true leaders of the genre, and Catacomb Resonator serves perfectly to reinforce this claim.”
Asylum Beyond serves as a perfect template for the dark ambient community. It shows how one may focus on themes that could be considered unworthy to the more philosophically driven artists of the genre; and how these themes are still absolutely worthy of our attention. When undertaken from the right perspective, horror ambient can be as entertaining as the best of horror movies. Even more so in many ways, since “seeing the evil” ultimately brings about disbelief and sometimes even humor in horror films. Horror ambient is able to bring us face to face with these horrors without ever removing the fragile veil from the listener’s imagination.”
The album 2145 will take you to the desolate landscapes of a fallen future, where a mans voyage after being released from deep freeze hibernation turns into a realization of his own shattered mentality.
The follow up to the album 2145 takes us to the second year after our
A shattered man self taught to survive in the harsh world left empty by it’s predecessors, only it’s mechanical children left behind. The protagonist journeys through a burned out world towards the Outer Zones and the rumored space center there, in search for answers.
The fourth album from the Sabled Suns 21xx series, about a man in Hibernation waking up to a world in ruins, takes us through the fourth year 2148. The album starts with our Protagonist finding The Ark. It takes us through robot filled chasms, overgrown laboratories, uplink stations and deteriorated civilization.
Sabled Sun – Signals, is a series of space ambient works that portrays signals that the protagonist from the albums 2145 and 2146 finds on his journey to find out what happened to humanity after waking up from hibernation deep sleep to an empty world void of human life. As such this is an optional look into what happens in the periphery of the main project.
Sabled Sun – Signals, is a series of space ambient works that portrays signals that the protagonist from the Sabled Sun – 21xx series finds on his journey to find out what happened to humanity after waking up from hibernation deep sleep to an empty world void of human life. As such this is a look into what happens in the periphery of the main project.
A horrific 3 hour seamless mix of the most chilling and tenebrous dark ambient music released over the last year or two. Dive into this one with all the bravery you can muster. The outer gods meet the most human of fears for an intense experience of 100% dark ambient desolation.
“Stuzha once again proves their talents with Siberian Sketches II, this time taking what they learned from Siberian Sketches I as well as Butugichag, and crafting an album that is incredibly relaxing. It could be the sole companion to a lonely evening by the fire during these upcoming winter months. It could also be allowed to fall into the background during any reading, study or writing sessions. Between the combined albums of all his projects: Stuzha, Algol and Black Wanderer, Daniil Kazantsev proves himself to be an incredibly capable force in the genre of dark ambient, and one which I hope will become more well-recognized by the community as time passes.”
2017 was an interesting and eventful year for the UK project Nhor. He pushed the atmospheric element for his approach to its minimalist limit, which resulted in a quadrilogy of EPs that formed the Wildflowers cycle. Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter shed light on aspects of their respective seasons not often explored in any art-form — let alone through piano ambient music. As this portion of Nhor’s existence closes out, the artist was kind enough to sit down and give some insight into the creative process, hidden meanings and personal significance of Wildflowers.
Minimalism and atmosphere are nothing new to contemporary composers like Mulhern, but Reflections on a Dead Sea bridges the gap between dark ambient and modern classical in ways not often heard on either ends of the spectrum. Rich compositional potential commingles with introspective sonic platitudes, yielding a profoundly stimulating experience.
“You may think of dozens of expressions to describe Sky Burial music, but “intimate” or “austere” definitely are not one of these. Michael Page surely knows how to overwhelm the listener with his vision and this album proves it once again.”
Mørkets Variabler is an absolute success and well worth the long wait since the last proper full-length release. Svartsinn proves that he is still at the very top of his game on this one. Each will have their own opinions, but to me this is the apex of his work. The further addition of Amund Ulvestad’s cello and the bolder format of the majority of the album give Mørkets Variabler a character of its own, allowing it to distinctly stand out from the rest of the Svartsinn discography. If you are looking for pure and utter darkness, one need look no further than Mørkets Variabler. This is darkness in its purest form.
For those familiar with the previous works of Aural Hypnox, and Aeoga in particular, there should be little motivation needed to purchase this release. For those, likely many, dark ambient fans that have not experienced the music from this label, Obsidian Outlander is a great starting point. It showcases some of their more stripped down ritual ambient style, while other parts of the album move into that more subtle and hypnotic territory, which I find to be such a draw to these projects.
Funeral doom stands apart from metal stereotypes in that its exploration of death goes beyond something to deal or be dealt, instead exploring the philosophy behind finality and the combination of fear and serenity it entails. Since Funeral’s first demo sparked the genre into existence, no band has embodied a metallic procession quite like Bell Witch. The duo have done to funeral doom what Sleep did to stoner metal with Dopesmoker — taking the genre to its limits while epitomizing its potential on a grand scale. Mirror Reaper will be remembered as a triumph for this movement, an encapsulation of its most moving attributes.
Tomb of Druids is an absolute success. When I saw that it incorporated all new artist that had never participated in the series previously, with one track each, I was hesitant about how well it would work out. But after a number of listens, it’s absolutely clear that this album is worthy of the Tombs Series and, as I’ve previously mentioned, it is likely the most successful at extracting the correct psychological and perceptive responses from listeners. At this point the series could move in any direction. Taking it into these ritual grounds is certainly an interesting path and one that continuing to follow would likely bring about even more levels of success. Highly recommended for the cinematic and ritual ambient listeners.
Dark Piano Nights is a combination of dark ambient with some various other styles that all come together to form a peaceful yet melancholic nighttime listening session. This is mostly free of vocals, but there are a few exceptions throughout. The music becomes more active at times than that of a strictly dark ambient set-list, but I think the flow is good and the music, which includes classical, jazz noir, and a mix of others, is all highly enjoyable. I hope you will also enjoy this mix on a lonely dark rainy evening, when you are alone with only your thoughts, a good book, and an internet connection.
Brusa has done what I’ve been hoping to see over the last few years since discovering Medhelan. He’s severed the tie of Medhelan between his dark ambient and dungeon synth output and created an entity for the sole purpose of dark ambient releases. As he moves further into the depths of this cataclysm it’s likely that an already polished sound will be even further refined on future releases. We might be seeing the beginnings here of a big deal within dark ambient circles. Brusa has already proven capable of this feat in the dungeon synth community.
Wolfe’s unique delivery translates into goth metal confines incredibly well, packing an emotional punch others could only dream of mustering. That being said, her sound has never sounded this conventionally doom, a byproduct of the less nuanced approach she took. This record sees her wrestle with her identity in the midst of hardship, and ultimately transcends her indignations in steadfast resolve. While Abyss remains her darkest and heaviest record, Hiss Spun stands as Chelsea Wolfe’s spiritual manifesto by way of smoky riffs and pitch-black melodies.
At 23 minutes, this is the longest and most dense Wildflowers EP so far. Using stark minimalism and extreme simplicity, Nhor has again created a cohesive narrative unique to the season in question. Autumn blows with crimson leaves towards a snowy blight, pacifying the maddening race to prepare for winter through its gentle chords.
Live Assault is one of the best live recordings I’ve heard. I really wouldn’t be able to notice that it was recorded in a live setting other than a few minor moments. The sounds are full and the music is precisely executed. The change in tempo makes the release have a totally different feel than the original album, which absolutely warrants its release as a separate entity. If you are a fan of TeHÔM, I would highly recommend this release to you. If you have never heard of the project, this is a great place to start!
Night Paths is an absolutely worthy album to be added to the Northaunt discography. While it might not have the same stylistic and thematic consistency that we would hear on a proper full length, it’s full of great tracks, each one I am very pleased to have a chance to enjoy. We get a little something from all the different periods of the Northaunt sound, giving us a sort of time capsule back in time. For any fans of the older Northaunt music in particular, this is a must have. For newer fans, this is a way to get an idea of what Hærleif Langås has done in the past, a perfect introduction to his previous styles. Knowing that Istid III is right around the corner as well, we should all be quite content this winter, with plenty of fresh Northaunt music to act as a soundtrack to these upcoming cold, dark months.
Long-time fans of Jarl will have every reason to love Hypnosis Colour. It takes his sound into a direction that makes the most sense yet in his career, the building of layers in order to create an actual mind-shift in the listener. Readers that are new to the sounds of Jarl should be warned that this isn’t light listening. You will have to approach this album in a different way than you would with the usual dark ambient release. It is meant to be an active listening experience and headphones are mandatory. With that said, Hypnosis Colour as well as it’s predecessor Amygdala Colours are two of the most technically and thematically successful releases of Erik Jarl’s to date, and both should be perfect entry points for beginners. It will be interesting to see if Jarl will continue on this path with his next release or if he has plans to switch gears into a different direction.
“When I listen to How Cold Is The Sun, I go through a dimensional gate leading to an opposite universe.
“A great album on the Cryo Chamber label. Created as a tribute to the Silent Hill video game, we get another dark,industrial oriented soundtrack like work that is just stunning. If you like the label or the other artists on Cryo you won’t be let down. Doom comes in all kinds of unpredictable ways.”
“This is a great first offering from Halgrath. In keeping with Cryo tradition it’s a mixture of field recordings and more industrialized ambiance marked with occasional beautiful female vocals. Vastly different from Halgrath’s second album showing this artists immense talent and diversity. I love them both but favor this one just because I love it’s shifting feel. This is dark ambiance at it’s finest! Halgrath takes you into the primordial dreamworld with fire and ice. ”
Litaniæ Mortuorum Discordantes is clearly a triumph for these two veteran artists. The album succeeds in its attempts at creating an atmosphere of religious blasphemy, a kind of funeral music for the dark-minded and irreligious. For a veteran listener of dark ambient and other weird and “spooky” music, I’m delighted to say that Litaniæ Mortuorum Discordantes manages to instill an unsettling feeling of dread and anxiety in my soul, a feat that is not often achieved. Listen to Litaniæ Mortuorum Discordantes in the midnight hours, alone in the dark, incense burning and mind open to the dark entities of the night. Or, if it is possible, play this in a cathedralic setting, and witness the utter disgust and terror of some unsuspecting clergy, the effect should be a delight to witness.
Mareridt sees Myrkur improve sonically, but the room the project has to grow remains. Its distinct atmosphere and instrumentation are a beautiful testament to Brunn’s upward tangent, and upping her songwriting will make her an inexorable force in black metal.
The music doesn’t distract you, there are no rhythms, no samples of any kind. It is all based on the layers of deep drones intertwining one with another. They mostly are kept in quite dark shades, but there are a few moments of reflection, like in the composition called “Reprieve”. Everything is perfectly mastered by Cruel Sound Works, so you may sleep well.
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Artist: Atrium Carceri & Cities Last Broadcast