Here are the dark ambient albums that we at This is Darkness have been listening to this month – some are new releases, but a few are older gems we’ve just (re)discovered.
Please check these out by clicking on the Bandcamp link next to each review, and please consider supporting the featured artists.
Enjoy!
If you have a Bandcamp release you’d like to be considered for inclusion as one of our picks of the month , please email richdodgin-tid@virginmedia.com. Bandcamp download codes for albums to be reviewed are always very welcome, but are not essential.
Alphaxone & Dronny Darko – Invisible World
Cryo Chamber have released some amazing albums in recent months, and this latest one from Alphaxone & Dronny Darko is one of the best! With soaring soundscapes, deep dark ambient tones, and an underlying sense of calm running through it all, this is one of those incredible albums that gets better with each and every listen. I’ve had this on non-stop replay since I first got my hands on it, and I’m going to be listening to it for a long time to come yet. Very highly recommended for fans of multi-layered dark ambient with heart. Gorgeous!
CrAwE – Hypnogogic Music For Hypnogogic States Pt.2
Regular readers will know that I’m a huge CrAwE fan, and am always thrilled when I discover he has a new album out. Hypnogogic Music For Hypnogogic States Pt.2 is a little different from previous releases, in that this time the music was created using a minimal desktop electronic set up alongside tape manipulated field recordings – rather than the usual, primarily guitar based set up. The end result is an album that provides something a little different from previous releases – while still retaining that unique CrAwE “sound”. This is a must buy for those who like atmospheric deep drone and soothing sonic soundscapes. Marvellous!
Sándor Vály – Early Works 1988-1992
Unexplained Sounds Group continues to be one of my favourite labels, with each and every release offering something new and exciting to discover. This latest album is no exception – collecting together the early works from Hungarian artist Sándor Vály, recorded between 1988 and 1992. Created using homemade instruments, rudimentary electronics, and cassette gear, the resulting music is as unsettling as it is rewarding – perfectly encapsulating the years of trauma that he lived through – experiencing exile, confinement, political escape, and cultural rebirth. A definite must have for fans of experimental drone / electronica. Awesome!
Sequences – Aluxes
Aluxes, the latest release from Belgium based Sequences, is one of those wonderful albums that effortlessly merges drones, dark ambient, and field recordings, to create something truly beautiful. Using guitar, zither, magnetophone and a eurorack modular system, with field recordings recorded while travelling through Mexico in 2022 and 2023, the resulting music is intriguing, surprising, and delightful in equal measure. With multi-layered textures, and hidden depths, this is an album you will be drawn back to again and again. Fantastic!
Substak – Dark Horizon Call
Dark Horizon Call, the latest album from Athens-based artist Substak, features six tracks of minimalistic drone, with an electronic glitchy edge. The album blurb says “As you listen, you will feel the deep sense of solitude and the realization that you are utterly alone, surrounded by a lifeless universe.” It’s the perfect description of the experience listening to this album gives you – a sense of the self, of being alone in a vast, dark universe… of a cosmos we will never truly understand and will always be an insignificant part of. Wonderful!
Sam – Keep Calm And Turn Ambient (feat. SYN)
I’ve been a fan of Sam for quite a while now – with each of his releases offering something different, but each offering a wonderful listening experience. Keep Calm And Turn Ambient (which also features SYN) is a 5 track album of experimental ambient music, which is relaxing, yet intriguing – taking the listener on an audio journey like no other. This is a definite must have for those who like their dark ambient / drone to have a sense of experimentation. Brilliant!
The Surrealist & Austin Rockman – Seek No End
Oh wow! The best thing about writing for This is Darkness is discovering amazing new music, and those special moments where you press play and are completely blown away by what you are listening to. Seek No End is one of those albums. Featuring 12 tracks of electroacoustic tones and experimental ambient soundscapes, the music here is simply divine. Each and every listen offers something new to uncover, with multi-layered textures and a wonderful array of sounds and tones to experience. Remarkable!
Dust of Time – The Waking Hours
The Waking Hours is the debut album from Dust of Time (Greek musician, Manolis Fasoulakis), featuring neoclassical and cinematic dark ambient, and with spoken words by Shane Beck – all blended seamlessly together to provide an audio documentary of Manolis‘s final moments with his father and the events leading up to that ill-fated day. It’s wonderfully done, with the different elements working together to produce an emotional audio experience with an underlying melancholic edge. This is a beautiful album and one that cannot be recommended highly enough. Stunning!
Abul Mogard – Quiet Pieces
New from Abul Mogard is Quiet Pieces, a 5 track album of gorgeous evolving drones and unfolding dark ambient soundscapes, each running through with a sense of contemplative introspection. There is a dream-like feel to the music here, meaning this is one of those perfect albums for listening to on headphones as you lie back on the sofa and let yourself get lost in the experience of listening. Absolutely beautiful!
SAD MAN – ART
The latest release from SAD MAN is this fantastic 12 track album of dark ambient and experimental electronica. Based on a short story inspired by Midlands based surrealist artist and painter Emmy Bridgewater “… each track loosely soundtracks chapters from the story, whilst more broadly exploring the potential for surrealist approaches in music making…” The resulting music is experimental, even quirky in places, with a real sense of adventure underlying it all. It’s wonderfully done, and I fund myself drawn back to the music again and again. Awesome stuff!
loscil – Lake Fire
Lake Fire is the new album from Vancouver based artist loscil (Scott Morgan), an album of stunning drone / ambient of the highest quality. With subtly evolving drones and ethereal ambient soundscapes expertly blended together, this is jaw-droppingly good! On the basis of this remarkable album, I’ve already started checking out his back-catalogue and added loscil to my list of artists to keep an active eye on. Highly recommended for fans of ambient drone. Gorgeous!
theAdelaidean – TOKORO
TOKORO, the latest album from theAdelaidean, blends subtle field recordings and minimalistic synths and electronics, to provide an immersive aural portrait of life in Japan. The music here is dreamlike, otherworldly, with a sense of wonder and beauty running through it. Listening to the music is a soothing and reflective experience, and this is one of those beautiful albums that deserves to be listened to on headphones, with no distractions, so that the music can be savoured. Outstanding!
Tremosphere – saturated solace
Strictly speaking, Tremosphere are not dark ambient – describing themselves as “Experimental, sultry, post-rock dreampop, dark wave, pop drone music…”. But, there are definite dark ambient elements to their music and – quite simply – this is so good that I felt it deserved to be shared here. This is one of those albums that gets under your skin (in a good way!) and keeps pulling you back for “just one more listen”. Highly recommended for those looking for something a little different from the usual dark ambient. Splendid!
Aarktica – No Solace in Sleep (2025 remaster)
The latest release on the every awesome Projekt Records label is this remaster of the wonderful 2000 album, No Solace in Sleep by Aarktica. The music here is a mellow affair, with a dreamy blissed-out feel to it, and quietly evolving ambient soundscapes. Thanks to the fantastic remaster (handled by ambient/electronic pioneer Taylor Deupree at 12k) this album sounds as incredible as it did when it was released 25 years ago, and is very much worth checking out if you like your ambient / drone to have a chilled out vibe. Marvellous!
Coppergear – Experimental
New from experimental ambient artist Coppergear is Experimental – a delightful album of inventive ambient / drone / electronica, with moments that are laid back and introspective, and others that are faster paced and exhilarating. It’s beautifully done, with the listener taken on an audio journey that is as rewarding as it is eye opening. Highly recommended for those looking for something that isn’t afraid the blur the boundaries of genre. Remarkable!
Jakob Balogh & Martin Tillman – Life
Jakob Balogh & Martin Tillman have collaborated together to create Life, a truly gorgeous album of warm, cinematic ambient / drone. Based on natural field recordings, listening to this album takes you on a journey – with the sounds and mood intensifying as the tracks unfold, before stripping back down again as the album nears its end. This is one of those albums that warrants multiple plays, and is a must have if you are a fan of cinematic ambient with melancholic undertones. Stunning!
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