Another huge week of releases. There is going to be plenty here to keep you busy for the next few days. These releases are all great in their own ways and each one definitely deserves a listen. I hope everyone is going into December looking forward to the snowy season (for those of us in the northern hemisphere atleast). Enjoy the selection of tunes and until next time, Peace!

Music Video Premiere!

Unsichtbar – “Junges Liebespaar”

New Releases & Pre-orders

Abre Ojos – New Album Released (Digital Only)
“Recorded over five days on the shore of Pambula Lake, the lands and waters of the Yuin People.”

Autumna – New Album Released (Shimmering Moods – CD/Digital)
“Lutalica.
the laundry dries in the world,
the crisp mid-Autumn air whispers,
some bonds will never break,
though I might leave
or be left.
Lutalica – or wanderer: one who travels aimlessly, a traveller. We are all travellers, constantly moving in and out of focus of one another’s lives, knowingly and unknowingly sharing experiences. It’s these experiences that shape us, sculpt segments of our personalities and give us bearing. Most people know what they want, only few truly know what they need.”

Black Seas of Infinity – New Album Released (Digital Only)
A nice blend of neo-classical, dark ambient and death industrial, Within Daathian Chasms will prove to be an interesting release for all sorts of different listeners and melts in and out of multiple genres.

A Bleeding Star – Two New Weekly Singles (Digital Only)

Bridge To Imla – New Album Released (Winter-Light – CD/Digital)
“Bridge To Imla is the duo of Hans-Dieter Schmidt and Michael Brückner, created in 2017 to distinguish their particular style of cinematic ambient from their respective solo projects. Hans-Dieter and Michael initially met at ambient group improvisations by the Frankfurt based EK-Lounge community around 2010, and had already collaborated previously on several occasions.”

Crystalline Reflections – New Album Released (ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ – Digital)
“Always moving, step by step, through the oceans of everyday noise, rivers of emotions, undercurrents of uncertainty and fear… Crystalline reflections on the surface of these waters are here to guide you in this journey to the horizons yet unseen. Serenity & melancholy. Anxiety & bliss. Everything on its own place and time. ”

Darren McClure & José Soberanes – New Album Released (Shimmering Moods – CD/Digital)
“Future Harbour is the second collaborative album by Darren McClure and Jose Soberanes. It follows their 2015 release Shelter, issued on the Eter label.
This new project combines modular electronics, processed field recordings and experiments in granular synthesis. The sound palette ranges from tactile and brittle textures to warmer ambient passages, all held together with a compositional process that favoured contrasting styles and techniques.”

DeepDark – New Album Released (Digital Only)
DeepDark unveils the latest chapter in his cosmic drone series.

Dravier – New Album Released (Shimmering Moods – CD/Digital)
“Inspired by an out of body experience in the gothic cathedrals of Paris, “Cathédrale” floats through pointed arches, past flying buttress and out over the Seine, soon lost within the clouds. Deep thoughts forever drifting through the fabric of time.”

Elderfrost – New Album Released

Evilnox – New Album Released (Dark Age Productions – CD/Cassette/Digital)
“Medieval dark ambient project Evilnox was founded in January 2012. The music itself is a mixture of medieval melodies, dark ambient and black metal, combined with a melancholic and dismal atmosphere. All compositions are based on the dark beauty of nature, medieval legends and personal philosophy.
The album ‘Dark Times Of War And Witchcraft’ is a blend of dungeon synth and atmospheric black metal and will be released as Jewel Case CD and Cassette under the banner of Dark Age Productions in late 2017.”

Flowers For Bodysnatchers – New Album Released
(Cryo Chamber – CD/Digital)
“On the evening of August 12th, 1968 in Fairhaven, Massachusetts antique store owner Ernest Semenov brutally murdered his wife and two daughters in what police investigators described as bizarre ritualistic killings. Their dismembered bodies had been rearranged to form what appeared to be crudely oblique symbols formed into a circle and connected by blood that he had drawn from his own slit wrists. Ernest Semenov was found slumped upright in the centre of his macabre creation by neighbours who claimed he was mumbling in a language they could not understand.
The subsequent investigation revealed an astounding amount of occult literature and objects at the Semenov residence. Belonging not just to Ernest Semenov but apparently to his wife Silvia Semenov also. Alarmingly police discovered various animal bones arranged in the same oblique manner attached to the underside of his daughters bed frames.
Declared criminally insane by the state Ernest Semenov was imprisoned in Ravenfield Asylum for treatment and rehabilitation and, placed under the care of one Dr Richard Lankin. Subsequently on the night of July 1st, 1971 Ravenfield Asylum was consumed by fire. Police discovered the horrifically burnt bodies of 68 of the 70 patients and staff savagely murdered and dismembered in a manner not dissimilar to the 1968 Semenov murders. The bodies of Dr Richard Lankin and Ernest Semenov were not believed to be among the charred remains.”

Hesychia – Preorder Available (Cyclic Law – CD/Digital)
“New project by Austrian Arthur Rosar (former member of Abigor, Walser…). The album is a meditation on freedom from all passions (apatheia) and repentance (metanoia) through fundamental concepts established by early christian mysticism (the desert fathers) with respect to zen buddhism and pre-christian European traditions. An aural guide to force the removal of all illusions and be in total awareness of the eternal now, forging a stillness of the soul, going beyond the mundane. The music is a savvy achievement of total surrender through improvised analog atmospherics and field recordings.”

Ian Hawgood & Giulio Aldinucci – Preorder Available (Home Normal – CD/Digital)
Consequence Shadows is a calming and restive release which seems like the perfect accompaniment to a lonely evening of reading or self-reflection. The album is set for release on 30 January 2018.

Invented State of Mind – New Album Released (Shimmering Moods – CD/Digital)
“Imaginary Country lets you through you’re lonely parts. Calm down, sit and listen.Try to imagine you are the only one on earth.
Deep ambient and drone signals will come through you. Just you and your thoughts. Based on sound of natures ISM created intense, deep musical topics by using various methods and processes to come up with a spacey musical environment.This is an emotional journey.”

Item Caligo – New Album Released (Digital Only)
Item Caligo presents us with his latest album, Procrastinating Suicide as a “name your price” release. Definitely worth a listen, as his work is always quite interesting and melancholic.

Lingua Lustra – New Album Released (Shimmering Moods – CD/Digital)
“Truth Rings Like A Bell is the reflection of a special interest i’ve always had in bells, gongs, bell-like sounds. On this recording i’ve used a series of large bells, treated them in different ways, staying close to the original overtones they produce. This mixed with homemade fieldrecordings, analogue synths and mutated vocals completed the atmosphere i was looking for, my tribute to the bell.”

Maas – New Album Released (Kalpamantra – Digital Only)
“It’s a varied and long album with substantially sized, slow building drones, linked together by interludes in order to provide a continuous experience, a story of a journey into ever tighter caves, until ultimately death as the final destination”

Maha Pralaya – New Album Released (Noctivagant – CD/Digital)
“This family duo from Russia is named in honor of the complete destruction of the Universe at the oend of the Great Cycle. The style is called a post-apocalypse raga. Compromised of field recordings of white noise generators, minor guitar scales of electro-acoustic, drone-surge polyvox, rhythms of shamanic drum, sound vibrations of Tibetan bowls, harp, voice overtones of the experiments, the breath of flutes and chimes of harmony which – paint landscapes. Bardo is dedicated to the sacred knowledge hidden in the Tibetan book of the Dead.

Misantronics – New Album Released (Sombre Soniks – Digital)
“This album follows the same path as its predecessor, ‘Artache’. Again, there is no theme, no philosophy and no message to be found here. These are musical experiments, created with guitars, found sounds and processed noise. Each track has its own identity and takes you on a different journey. Perhaps this album is somewhat harsher than ‘Artache’, a step away from the electronic music in my previous work, ‘InnerGazer’ and back to the semi-live approach of ‘Contraformance’. But mostly, it’s a brand new Misantronics album, enjoy.”

Nhor – New Album Released (Digital/Cassette)
“Wildflowers: Winter” is the fourth and last EP release of Nhor’s musical cycle about the natural seasons. Just as the previous EPs it’s only available digitally and in a small cassette print-run.”

Niculta – New Album Released (Noctivagant – CD/Digital)
“Nicultas first dark ambient album is about the psychedelic journey of the self, ever deeper and deeper to discover in the woods.
In the Woods, is about the journey of a man who is seeking for answers, willingly to let go ego and transform into his real self.”

Noctilucant – New Album Released (Noctivagant – CD/Digital)
“Bleak continues exploring the post apocalyptic world that originally started on ‘Back to the Mud’ and ‘Oblivion to you all’, but this time centers its attention to a single protagonist.”

Noctilucant – New Album Released (Digital Only)
“‘A sci-fi journey through the heart of the unknown and into the mouth of madness.’
The Original Soundtrack created to accompany the reader on the adventure through the graphic novel of the same name. Varying between deep suffocating drones, lively field recordings, melodic textures, and luminous space/sci-fi themed dark ambiance — the Descension Original Soundtrack is your guide down the path of the macabre and insane.”

North hive – New Album Released (Digital Only)
“The seventh album of the project North hive. The album is written under the impression of reading a book:
Marie-Louise von Franz – “Alchemy: An Introduction To The Symbolism And The Psychology”. Albedo is the second stage of alchemical magisteria. (sapienti sat)”

Sačquiel Måtaton – New Album Released (Shimmering Moods – CD/Digital)
“The following pieces are about the old American West, Blood Meridian, There Will Be Blood. The heat, the desert, empty towns, lost lives, hearts, minds and souls. Travelling across the old country to make a living, for adventure and to just stay alive.
Ye carry war of a madman’s making onto a foreign land. Ye’ll wake more than the dogs.”

Shedir – Preorder Available (Cyclic Law – CD/Digital)
“First solo work by Italian musician Martina Betti. “Falling Time” is an aural ticket to a non place. Swirling ambient sounds made of processed field recordings converge into a richly textured and harmonically layered narrative. The tracks scan the phases of ascension to a suspended and formless destination, free from the bounds of time and space: a rite of passage. We are nowhere, a journey with no boundaries or restrictions transforming the smallness of ordinary life into transcendent magnitudes.
Building on constant cinematic tension, frictions and collisions of sounds, through which the mind is transformed, freed from daily dualities, at one with it’s psychic abilities.”

Shock Frontier – New Album Released (Malignant – CD/Digital)
“With his dark ambient project Apócrýphos, Robert Kozletsky has shown a proven ability at creating multi-layered and highly detailed soundscapes. Working as a duo alongside Kyle Carney, he takes that skill and applies it to his death industrial alter-ego, Shock Frontier, carving out a sound residing somewhere between the “new wave” of American power electronics (The Vomit Arsonist, Steel Hook Prostheses) and the classic sound of Cold Meat Industry (Deutsch Nepal, Megaptera). “Tumult” is a world enveloped in a perpetual haze of post-apocalyptic soot and radioactive ash, where deadening percussion, reverberating factory drones, samples, and atmospheric washes of hostile electronics churn and whir into a polluted, endless expanse. The follow up to 2013’s debut Mancuerda Confessions, Tumult is a more intricate, more oppressive, and more finely honed release, and a logical extension of the Shock Frontier sound. Featuring contributions from Gnawed, Kristoffer Oustad, and Noculture, in 6 panel DVD digipak skillfully designed by Chris Angelucci of NTF Design & Print.”

Stromstad – Preorder Available (Malignant – CD/Digital)
“Few names imply mind-bending, forward thinking heavy electronics like Finnish stalwarts STROM.ec, and with every release, they seem to further stretch the boundaries of what can be a pretty rigid genre, and navigate realms never before seen or heard. Similar things can be said of Norwegian atmospheric heavy weight and Malignant staple, Kristoffer Oustad, whose particular strain of dark ambient and post-industrial soundscapes are incredibly dynamic, at times surreal and cinematic, other times more driving and heavy, but all with a recognizable, highly emotive touch. Put the two together, and you get the debut of their collaborative project, STROMSTAD. Spread out over 8 tracks, this is a dizzying exploration of sound and vocal fury, where mechanized pulsations, writhing frequency oscillations, and grinding machine loops meet stretches of drifting darkness and touches of musicality, suggestive of a future that’s dystopic and bleak on one hand, yet highly innovative and revolutionary on the other. Featuring a guest appearance by Grutle Kjellson from the mighty Enslaved, mastering by Nordvargr, paintings by Jeff Klena and design by Alonso Urbanos.”

System Morgue – New Album Released (ΠΑΝΘΕΟΝ – Digital)
“One could not step twice into the same river, nature of the time forbids. And the one is not the same with every step, and the soil for these steps is different and if you are going far enough in this there is no certainty at all, reality collapses, vision faints… The tremble of this, the awe, the dread and the bliss – it’s hidden so deep, so we barely feel it. Even the shores are changing, so what could we know about rivers? Yet, something stays still. Something which is not us, because we are the many, we are riverbanks. Maybe the most elusive thing is the most real one? Something like music, perhaps?”

Taylor Deupree & Marcus Fischer – New Album Released (12k – Cassette/Digital)
“Lowlands began when Ester Vonplon traveled to Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean in summer 2016. She sailed the ice-clogged seas of the Arctic Ocean on a three-masted sailing vessel, to capture the impressions of the calving glaciers and melting ice.
This journey in the Arctic Ocean was the perfect beginning for Taylor Deupree & Marcus Fischer to compose and record Lowlands.”

Victor Imaginator – New Album Released (Cephalopagus – Digital)
“BECOMING A GHOST. Everyone will die eventually. But what next? How will the mind act, being cut off from the body? A mind without any biochemical processes behind it. How to feel stress without cortisol? How to feel joy without dopamine and serotonin? All these unnoticed habits of a living person can be incredibly strong. As result, a weak mind will refuse death. Instead of moving further, adapting to the new condition of freedom and evolving into something different – the mind can bind itself to the world of the living. Endless failing attempts to live as before. An eternal cycle of pointless thoughts and actions trap the lost soul. That’s what “becoming a ghost” means.”

XUUN – New EP Released – (Grey Matter – Cassette/Digital)
Shamanistic rituals taking influence from Native American, Aboriginal, Tibetan and Thai culture. Featuring members of BYYRTH.

Sales

Flowers For Bodysnatchers – 50% off
To celebrate the release of the new Flowers for Bodysnatchers album Asylum Beyond released on Cryo Chamber I’ll be offering all Flowers for Bodysnatchers albums from my BandCamp page at 50% off! That’s only $3.50 an album and $1.50 for an E.P. Or alternately the entire discography for $6.00! This excludes albums released through Cryo Chamber.
https://flowersforbodysnatchers.bandcamp.com/music

Latest on This Is Darkness

Cadabra Records – Fungi From Yuggoth – Review
Artists:
Andrew Leman (Spoken Word)
Theologian (Soundscapes)
Jason Barnett (Art)
Album: Fungi from Yuggoth by H.P. Lovecraft
Release date: September 2017
Label: Cadabra Records
“Cadabra Records has, by this point, solidified themselves as the forerunners in the genre of spoken word arts. Not that they have a ton of competition in this field, but even if that were the case, the works that they have been creating could only be described as premium in every element. Each chosen theme is given the absolute best presentation one could hope to find. Original album artwork, professional well-rehearsed readings and soundscapes that give the perfect atmosphere to each reading all come together in a packaging that is itself top-notch.”
Read the full review here.

A Cryo Chamber Collaboration – Yog-Sothoth – Review
Artist: A Cryo Chamber Collaboration
Album: Yog-Sothoth
Release date: 7 November 2017
Label: Cryo Chamber
“As I stated earlier, this album has a bit of a different feel to it than the previous three releases in the Lovecraft series. Many of its deeper characteristics will take multiple listens before any concrete judgment could be made about the album. That in itself is a positive to me. The digibook adds another new element to the series. I highly recommend picking up the physical version of this release to have a hands-on experience of browsing through these selected passages from Lovecraft’s texts as well as admiring the brilliant artwork created by Simon Heath. Cryo Chamber continues, with Yog-Sothoth, to push the boundaries of their genre and the industry standards of dark ambient. The music is incredibly thought-provoking and the visuals are in a class of their own. I, for one, will be pleased to see this series continuing for years to come, Lovecraft’s mythos and the pool of talent at Cryo Chamber are both fertile for many more iterations of this sort of release.”
Read the full review here.

Nhor – Wildflowers: Winter – Review on the Periphery
Artist: Nhor
Album: Wildflowers: Winter
Release date: 1 December 2017
Label: Self-released
“’I now come to think of Autumn as a knife that was thrust into Summer,’ Nhorsays about the cold months creeping upon him. Indeed, the holiday season often seems detached from the underlying significance of the winter, something English artist Nhor has set out to rectify with the final release in his season-themed piano ambient EP cycle called Wildflowers. His skeletal arrangements filter out the shopping blitzes and overpriced decor, allowing Winter to epitomize the shrouding of the past in an enveloping sheet of white.”
Read the full review here.

Please consider making a donation!

This Is Darkness has gone live with the help of friends and supporters. I have been disabled since 2015, due to a spinal injury. Any support that can be given is greatly appreciated. Donations will go toward the maintenance of this site as well as additional promotion to increase its reach and influence. You can help through the donate button below,  or follow this link to the This Is Darkness Patreon page here.