Michael’s message:
What an incredibly turbulent month! I had no time to feel sorry for myself about missing the CMI 30th Anniversary show, I’ve been moving into a new (temporary) home over the last few weeks. I’ll likely be moving again within the next month or two (hopefully to my own place finally).  In the meantime I’m going to try my hardest to keep This Is Darkness going at a reasonable pace. But the good news is that I was approved for disability a few weeks ago and have now moved out of the place that was demanding entirely too much of my time. So This Is Darkness should be my number one priority and should be updated at a much more frequent pace in the very near future.

There are a few really interesting articles in the works, some should become available over the next week, others will take a bit longer to be fully prepared. This edition of Frozen In Time is covering about 2 1/2 weeks and there were a good many interesting releases over this time. I definitely recommend that everyone watch the two music videos at the beginning of this article, they are both really awesome! I hope everyone is doing well and that everyone made it home safe from the CMI and Wroclaw Industrial festivals.

Anyone interested in helping to support my relocation fiasco, anything is appreciated. As usual, you can find several ways at the bottom of this article to support This Is Darkness. Now that my personal crap is out of the way, let’s get into the music!

Music Videos

Anemone Tube – “The Three Worlds” live set Berlin 2017
1/2

2/2

Mebitek – “The End of Everything (Funeral Movement)”
“A shortfilm by mebitek cinematics (mebitek & Serena Pilloni)
A bizarre, surreal and grotesque pantomime, in which the Unconscious (based on Jung’s thories) is explored, inside a mind afflicted by a personality disorder.
After the whirl and creation, we finally reached the final chapter: the funeral. Leading us to a Shakespearean reborn, but sentenced to survive in an eternal loop, until the end of time.”

Qeight – “Eniloctus” feat. Polina Leonteva
Get the track on Bandcamp here.

New Releases & Preorders

A Bleeding Star – New Single Released (Digital Only)
“I May Be Drownin’ Underneath Icy Current…But At Least I’m Not Homealone Reboundin’ In Regret” is the latest ‘name your price’ single by A Bleeding Star. An interesting release which incorporates many experimental uses of electro elements along with some bold percussion comes together brilliantly for a warm thought provoking track.

Ajna – Preorder Available (Reverse Alignment – CD/Digital)
“2016 saw the release of Ajna’s debut on Reverse Alignment; “Inevitable Mortality”. An isolationist journey through desolate landscapes. External, but most of all internal. On “An Era of Torment”, Chris F plunge deeper into the darkness of the soul. This time derived from psychological battlefields contemplating on lo-fi textures, blackened drones and abandon hopes.”
Releases December 22, 2017.

Alone in the Hollow Garden – New Album Released (2xCD/Digital)
“This present material is a follow up to the former “Akashic Records” double CDr released two years ago. But most of the present channellings were actually recorded prior to the above mentioned material.
The current collection celebrates the healing & renewing power of the Total Solar Eclipse which took place on the 21st of August 2017, by symbolically releasing the past to invoke a clear space for future manifestations.”

Aram 17 – New Album Released (Cephalopagus – Digital)
“’Necromancy’ is the third official album of the Armenian dark ambient project Aram 17,album idea inspired by a supposed practice of magic involving communication with the deceased – either by summoning their spirit as an apparition or raising them bodily – for the purpose of divination, imparting the means to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge, to bring someone back from the dead, or to use the deceased as a weapon, as the term may sometimes be used in a more general sense to refer to black magic or witchcraft.
The word “necromancy” is adapted from Late Latin necromantia, itself borrowed from post-Classical Greek νεκρομαντεία (nekromanteía), a compound of Ancient Greek νεκρός (nekrós), “dead body”, and μαντεία (manteía), “divination by means of”.”

The Cherry Blues Project – New Album Released (Petroglyph – Digital)
Note: As with all Petroglyph releases, this album is ‘name your price’.
“It is a collection of tracks inspired by childhood memories and vacations spent in the city of Gualeguaychu (Entre Rios province, Argentina) during the nineties. We tried to capture the feeling of the city on those days, the noise, the train, the cars, the winter, and most of all, the memories attached to that special place for us.”

Coven – New Album Released (Noctivagant – CD/Digital)
Coven deliver an album in Suicide which is filled with field recordings, crushing drones and ritual undertones. Enjoy late at night, enshrouded in incense, by the light of a single candle.

Eighth Tower Records – New Compilation (Eighth Tower – Digital)
“One of the great axioms is, “Within everything is the seed of everything,” although by the simple processes of Nature it may remain latent for many centuries, or its growth may be exceedingly slow. Therefore, every grain of sand contains not only the seed of the precious metals as well as the seed of the priceless gems, but also the seeds of sun, moon, and stars. As within the nature of man is reflected the entire universe in miniature, so in each grain of sand, each drop of water, each tiny particle of cosmic dust, are concealed all the parts and elements of cosmos in the form of tiny seed germs so minute that even the most powerful microscope cannot detect them. Trillions of times smaller than the ion or electron, these seeds–unrecognizable and incomprehensible–await the time assigned them for growth and expression.”

The Embers of Tara – New Album Released
(Grey Matter Productions – Cassette/Digital)
Grey Matter delivers some exquisite lo-fi dark ambient / dungeon synth music to drag you into the haze of night in the Realm of Sleep.
“As summer lays dead and the fiery hues of autumn fall to the ground to be covered by frost each morning, the Realm Of Sleep shall soon come to mourn the seasons of warmth and plenty, and usher in the frozen desolation of Winter.”

Fabio Keiner – New Album Released (Petroglyph Music – Digital)
Note: as with all Petroglyph releases this one is ‘name your price’! “Fabio Keiner came late to music and music making; interested in sound rather than in music. (‘I hate music, but I love sound’:)) – in the sound of wind and waves (and windharp and generative programs and humming:). if a decisive influence, than that of giacinto scelsi and of klaus wiese, whose music taught me a lot and is stull teaching me.)”

Fief – New Album Released (Digital Only)
Dungeon Synth masters Fief have returned with their third album, III. Expect the same levels of beauty and craftmanship seen on their first two releases, but taken yet again to a new level. For anyone unfamiliar with Fief this is certainly one of the better current dungeon synth acts, so definitely check this out!

The Inquisitor – New Album Released (Dark Age Productions – CD/Digital)
Note: This is a dungeon synth release!
“The debut album ‘Rise & Fall’ by THE INQUISITOR uses an epic orchestra to tell the story of an adventurer who sets out for glory only to find his path marred by dread and despair.

Lugubriousness – New Album Released (Cephalopagus – Digital)
Some harsh and deeply disturbing dark ambient music that I suppose would fall under the banner of “horror ambient”. This release is sure to take your mind to the darkest of territory.

Macelleria Mobile Di Mezzanotte – New Album Released
(Signora Ward Records – CD/Vinyl/Digital)
Macelleria Mobile Di Mezzanotte bring together the genres of dark ambient, dark jazz and a bit of harsh noise to create an album that feels truly unique and atmospheric. Not your typical dark ambient, but definitely worth a listen!

Melankolia – Preorder Available (Hypnotic Dirge – Digital)
“Ambient / Neo-classical artist Melankolia presents their fourth full-length album ‘Vividarium Intervigilium Viator’. Founded by musician Mike O’Brien, (Appalachian Winter, Veiled Monk, Ritual in Ash) Melankolia has been releasing introspective and thoughtful music since the project’s beginnings nearly 10 years ago.”
Mike O’Brien states:
“This album bridged nearly 5 years of hardship and resurrection in my life. Thematically, this album is a journey of OUROBOROS in my personal life; self-cannibalizing at one end, enigma of absolute perpetuality at the other. It wasn’t the project that changed, but me. The music was always there, but I had to learn to extricate it from the ruins of a life that was no more. In this way, the album is a study of personal catharsis.”

Mykja – New Album Released (Faint – CD/Digital)
“North Paths is the first album by Mykja. An immersive journey through frozen soundscapes.”

Poetry of Thorns – New Album Released (Kalpamantra – Digital)
Eyes To Breath is an experimental dark ambient release with ties to glitch which brings to mind the music of acts like Access To Arasaka, Subheim and Bad Sector. A worthy listen for those that don’t mind a bit of electronic percussion and other techno-leaning soundscapes.

Rafał Kołacki – New Preorder Available (Zoharum – CD/Digital)
“Rafał Kołacki’s new album entitled ‘Ā’zan. Hearing Ethiopia’ is another set of field recordings of this artist in which he aims at an in-depth analysis of the audiosphere of a big city. This time of Addis Abeba, the capital of Ethiopia, the place with an extremely wide range of sounds. A multicultural city, both ethnically and religiously, where there are many different languages and different forms of religious activity. The voice of Muezzin praying in the distance, the Christian songs sung in the church or played through loudspeakers throughout the day. It all remind us of the openness and tolerance of the Ethiopians, their ability to function in mutual symbiosis, beyond religion and politics.”

Shivrag – New Album Released (Noctivagant – CD/Digital)
An intriguing dark/ritual ambient album that includes a combination of sweeping drones, rituals which include vocals and percussions, and extended vocal samples.

Winterblood – New Album Released (Digital Only)
Winterblood gives us the entirety of the Waldeinsamkeit trilogy in this latest release. Waldeinsamkeit I-III are some of the coldest tracks yet by Winterblood and are highly recommended!

This Is Darkness Recently Published Articles

Danny Mulhern (with London Contemporary Orchestra)
Reflections on a Dead Sea – Review by: Maxwell Heilman
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.
Read the full review here.

Frigid Horizons – Dark Ambient / Dungeon Synth Mix

Follow the protagonist through the coldest and bleakest northern horizons. From cold windy shores to the peaks of the tallest mountains he moves through these landscapes unwaivering in his will to push forward, searching for new lands and better days. Dark ambient and dungeon synth come together for this calming yet bleak and unforgiving wintry mix.
Listen to the mix here.

Sky Burial – Chapel Image
Review by: Przemyslaw Murzyn
“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.”
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.

Any week when I can announce new releases by both Northaunt and Svartsinn is a monumentally good week in my opinion!  There are a ton of great new releases to browse, some interesting announcements and a LOT of new reviews from the previous week. Also there is a new mix from us for you to check out. So take your time with this, there’s a light here to absorb! Cheers!

Music Videos, Teasers and Announcements

Blåsvart Evening Vol. 9 Flyer
Dark Ambient Evening of Live Music arranged by Jan Roger of Svartsinn. If only I were in Scandinavia! The line-up for this year looks really impressive! If you haven’t yet heard Sysselmann I thoroughly recommend reading my review of their album here and giving it a listen!

Deivlforst Records – All Murgrid Releases Re-issued
Murgrind is the dungeon synth project of the man behind the Deivlforst Records label, the forerunner in the dungeon synth genre, but not exclusively dungeon synth output. Murgrind’s discography as long been sold out and now they have re-released all three albums in beautiful new digipak and A5 digipak formats. Give the Murgrind collection a listen! I personally just ordered a few of these and would definitely recommend them to others.

Endless Melancholy – New Music Video
Endless Melancholy is an ambient group that I’ve been following for a year or so. They release ambient music that is always right outside the fringes of dark ambient. This video certainly won’t be for everyone, but it’s a nice song with great video production and is worth watching for those that like some lighter sounds in their lives occasionally.

Theologian – Promo Video for New Album

Shrine – Preview of New Album
Shrine says of this preview: “This is a preview of the new Shrine full length album, which is to be released next spring on Cyclic Law Records. No artwork yet, the one above is a thematic sample. Once the album is out, this preview will be deleted.
“Celestial Fire” is a conceptual album. A synopsis will follow when the release comes closer. Until then you are left with sounds only. And the internet 🙂

New Releases & Pre-Orders

A Cryo Chamber Collaboration – New Album Released
(Cryo Chamber – CD/Digital)
You can read our review of it at this link.
Cryo Chamber says about the album: “Tomb of Druids is the third album in the “Tomb” series, 5 ambient artists join forces to delve deep into druidic history.
The chant of the ceremony swells beyond walls of wet stone. Your bare feet on red sand peak out of cloudy robes.
Figures sway among the pillars of the stone circle. Their song spirals up towards the night sky.
The stars move in pulsating patterns and combine to form the bird of light. It swoops down from it’s celestial home to push it’s claws into the red soil, it stares into your soul before it put it’s head under it’s wing and drowns in the sand. A tiny finger cymbal echo between the pillars as the voices die down. The figures are gone, only their empty robes left behind. You stand alone under a night sky drained of stars, pure black.
Druidic chanting and deep walls of sound lends a cavernous atmosphere to Tomb of Druids.”

Adeptus Mechanicus – New Album Released
(Throne of Bael – Digital Only)
A ‘name your price’ horror dark ambient release from the dark experimental label Throne of Bael. Some haunting drone atmospheres here worth a listen!

All Signs of Those Who Left – New Album Released
(Throne of Bael Records – Digital Only) *name your price*
This release is one of the more haunting albums I’ve heard recently. In fact, the last one this haunting was Anneliese Michel, by this same project! Throne of Bael usually takes their releases in the direction of pure horror darkness and this new one is no exceptions. Their blurb for the album only says this fitting pair of statements: “Switch the lights off and listen loud. WARNING:May Cause Visual Disturbances and Feelings of Unease.”

Antelogos – New Album Released
(Grey Matter Productions – CD/Digital)
This is some incredibly dark and crushing ritual ambient/dark ambient/atmospheric black metal/and so-forth. I’ll likely be reviewing it in the near future. Grey Matter Productions, ‘Musick For Dead Souls’, says of the release: “Dark ambient ceremonial rituals and mysteriis, droning on through analog electronics, chanting, throat singing and more.
This album transports you through dark dimensions towards a sonic landscape built with amazing clarity and consistency for a debut album. – A Journey through dark decomposing dimensions.”

Blakkr Seidr – New Album Released
(Noctivagant Collective – CD/Digital)
Noctivagant says of this release: “Blakkr Seidr is the amalgam of the knowledge of these two adepts, of the black arts in disposition to the spheres of consciousness beyond the created, those that dwell in the eternal emptiness and chaos. Each copy of Blakkr Seidr has been musically programmed and consecrated energetically in order to establish an acausal connection with the spirits that live beyond the veil.

Eislandschaft – New Album Released
(Lighten Up Sounds – Cassette/Digital)
This cassette was an instapurchase for me. A review will be forthcoming! Highly recommended music from the genre of winter synth which falls somewhere between Mortiis and Northaunt! Lighten Up Sounds says about the album: “Hypnotic minimalism manifests in monochrome, transversing the barren winter wastelands. “Tales of the Frost” delivers a pure vision of frigid polar ambience and melancholic synthesis from F. Curwenius (Goblintropp) of Argentina. Body temperatures plummet as the blood runs cold, wind chill cuts like sharpened blade.
Initially self-released digitally by the artist in August ’17, this edition features an exclusive all new track, as of yet unheard. Over 48 minutes of arctic isolationism for navigation through deep sub-zero trance. Behold, frostbitten serenity.”

Embers Below Zero – New EP Released
(Digital Only)
Embers Below Zero, the dark ambient project of Przemysaw Murzyn, owner of Santa Sangre, and writer for This Is Darkness, has released a new EP. ‘name your price’ so you can’t go wrong here!

Hoshiko Yamane – Pre-order Available (1631 – Digital Only)
Not dark ambient, but some neo-classical solo violin that sounds incredibly beautiful. I have only heard the preview track, “Into the Dark” but all these track titles indicate that this should be a dark themed release. I’ll be keeping an eye on it, and you should too!

Ian Hawgood + Danny Norbury – Pre-orders Available
(Home Normal – CD/Digital)
Not dark ambient, but worth a listen! Faintly Recollected is a beautiful and somber long form neo-classical piece with ambient elements by Danny Norbury and Ian Hawgood.

Las Paccariscas – New Album Released (Kalpamantra – Digital Only)
Some dark drone ambient from a talented project that is often over-looked. I’ve been following them since about 1 1/2 years ago and they have plenty of quality material. Worth a listen!

La Tredicesima Luna – New Album Released
(Lighten Up Sounds – Cassette/Digital)
Read our review of the album at this link.
Lighten Up Sounds says about the album: “Stunning shadow sound from Italian solo artist Matteo Brusa, known for his powerful Dungeon Synth work as Medhelan. This dark debut from the project (translated as The 13th Moon) offers a flawless form of foreboding night-sky synthesis and ominous drone, a cryptic key to the eternal lunar mysteries. Moonlight as filtered through branch and fog, a pristine transmission of somber atmospherics for seasonal shift.
‘Only those who are not afraid to dive into the night can follow the path traced by the stars.'”

Maha Pralaya – New EP Released (Digital Only)
These are a few of their tracks that were outtakes from recent albums. Post-apacalypse raga / ritual dark ambient.

Mike Lazarev – Pre-order Available (1631 – Digital Only)
Not dark ambient, but some neo-classical piano work that sounds incredibly somber and melancholic. Defitely worth checking out for those who enjoy some classical occasionally.

Northaunt – New Album Released (The Last Bleak Days – CD/Digital)
You can read our review of it at this link.
Northaunt says about the album: “For many many years I have hiked into the woods, trying to get away from it all. Precious days offering silence and room for new thoughts. Nights spent in the wild, watching familiar forms transform as darkness fall, feeling it stir something inside, something overlooked in the stress and clutter of everyday life. This is my channelling of these feelings, my tribute if you like, to night, the woods and solitude.
Enjoy.”

New Oracle – New Album Released (Digital Only)
New Oracle approached me a few days ago with their two latest releases and I was very impressed. Here’s their new album, Orogenesis. I would definitely recommend giving this a listen. The previous album is also available on their bandcamp for ‘name your price’. New Oracle says of this release: “Orogenesis is the process of mountain formation. These songs were formed in the same fashion—songs of intense pressure, heat, and fluidity. Hardening over time, steady refinement.
This album was started properly in 2014 in Seattle, but some of the source recordings go back even earlier. It was finished September of 2017 in a cabin in the Appalachian mountains, a fitting journey that coincidentally aligns with the personal meanings and meditations inherent in this song cycle ∞ .”

The Null Spectre – New EP Released (Digital Only)
A ‘name your price’ release that sounds very haunting and very promising. A nice addition to your collection for the Halloween season! Their album blurb says:
“As darkness spreads to the edge of dusk,
Children at play begin to rush
Back to their homes, to be tucked in bed
With tales of the Darkling filling them with dread…”

Onasander – New EP/Demo Released (Digital Only)

Scott Lawlor – New Album Released (Digital Only)
Two long-form dark and droning tracks by the prolific ambient artist Scott Lawlor. This looks to be one of his darker releases and is definitely worth a try, especially since it’s ‘name your price’!

Seetyca – New Album Released (Winter-Light – CD/Digital)
Winter-Light says of the release: “‘Winterlicht’ is Seetyca’s third full length album to be released on the Winter-Light label.
As the album title indicates the theme is that of the winter’s light and comprises of 12 new tracks, combining deep drones and sparse musical pieces to create a vast wintry landscape. The opening track ‘cold morning’ invokes images of sunlight playing across fields steeped in deep white snow while your cold breath disappears in to the morning air. The title track ‘winterlicht’ is a slowly evolving darker, deeper 13 minute drone piece. Here the heavy mantle of winter steadily envelopes the listener, drawing the darkness of the nights ever nearer, as the cold winds howl and the ice begins to form, locking the landscape in to a frozen tundra.
The play between light and dark, the subtle use of environmental sounds and carefully chosen instruments, played by a stellar array of Seetyca’s friends, is what makes this album truly engaging.”

Spycker – New Album Released (Petroglyph Music – Digital Only)
New ‘name your price’ dark neo-classical release. Petroglyph says of the album: “As multifarious as what’s inside a whale’s stomach, Spycker’s music can best be defined per album, although even that’s not so easily done. After releasing records covering styles ranging from electric guitar drones to experimental downtempo beats, Spycker’s contribution to the wonderfully eclectic Petroglyph Music netlabel explores the world of piano-driven soundscapes and gloomy ambient. Or something like that. Containing 10 short instrumental pieces, Øyedråper provides the listener with a temporary escape into an eerie, strangely consoling realm, where the mysterious is common and conformity a curse.”

Svartsinn – Pre-order Available for New Album
(Cyclic Law – 2xLP/CD/Digital)
I am extremely excited to see a new one from Svartsinn, one of my favorites! Cyclic Law says of the new album: “Now 8 years since the last full length for Cyclic Law, Norway’s SVARTSINN returns with a new opus, reaffirming his place as one of the world’s premiere Dark Ambient acts. For this album Jan Roger Pettersen is accompanied on some tracks by fellow Norwegian Amund Ulvestad on Cello, providing new elements to Svartsinn’s distinct ominous drones. Mørkets Variabler translates to “Variables Of Darkness” and it is a certain combination of such variables that fuels the urges and need to create the atmospheres translating as Svartsinn. Darkness comes in various shapes and forms and through these new pieces we are plunged into this vast and singular subject, left to our senses to explore it’s subtle meanings and impressions left within ourselves. Presented in a unique Limited Edition Hardcover Digibook as well as a Limited Gatefold Double vinyl. The vinyl version includes an exclusive remix of the track “Echoes Of Silent Cries” by Sweden’s KAMMARHEIT. Artwork by Dehn Sora. ”

Theologian – New Album Released
(Danvers State Recordings – Cassette)
THEOLOGIAN returns from a trek into the deepest internal chasms, after drowning in misery and self-defeat, to the gates of the FORCED UTOPIA, released in time for THEOLOGIAN’s appearance at INTO THE AETHER, a two-day festival in Portland, Maine. Apocalyptic industrial for the end times. The album can be ordered here.
http://danversstate.storenvy.com/products/21720773-theologian-forced-utopia-c60

Urs Wild – New EP Released (Digital Only)
Following his recent release on Eighth Tower Records, the sub-label of the Unexplained Sounds Group, Urs Wild self-releases this album of which he says: “Take a journey through space and time with Urs Wild’s latest EP of Space Ambient. ”

Zos Kia (pre-COIL) – 23 (Infinite Fog – CD/Cassette)
Not dark ambient, but likely of interest to a great number of dark ambient fans, so I’m posting it!
Infinite Fog says about the album: “Now the final and complete anthology of ZOS KIA recordings released under title “23” on 2CDs in Luxor Digibook via INFINITE FOG PRODUCTIONS. 23 tracks, more than 2 hours of exciting material in various styles, was сarefully extracted and prepared for publishing by John Gosling himself, and artwork was done by Cold Graves. Well-known track in different forms, unknown, rare and unreleased composition, and many more for the deep diving into the esoteric underground music from 80th.”

This is Darkness Week In Review

A Cryo Chamber Collaboration – Tomb of Druids
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.
Read full review here.

Dark Piano Nights Mix
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.
Listen to the mix here.

La Tredicesima Luna – Il Sentiero degli Dei
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.
Read the full review here.

Chelsea Wolfe – Hiss Spun
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.
Read the full review here.

Nhor – Wildflowers: Autumn
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.
Read the full review here.

TeHÔM – Live Assault
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!
Read the full review here.

Northaunt – Night Paths
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.
Read the full review here.

Jarl – Hypnosis Colour
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.
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.

This article covers the last two weeks, as I’ve been playing catch-up on everything recently. Once the physical therapy ends everything will be back to normal and reviews/articles will be running at their previous pace. Thanks to everyone that has supported This Is Darkness through the compilation, I’m so happy to see how great of a reception its been getting. This is a huge article and there are a lot of great albums to look through. So take your time, listen to as many as you can and have a great week!

Music Videos & Teasers

Atrium Carceri and Herbst9 – Teaser
Teaser for new album ‘ur djupan dal’ which will be releasing before the end of 2017 on Cryo Chamber.

Budowle Socjalizmu Nasza Duma – Promo Video:

Cryo Chamber – Yog Sothoth Album Art Revealed
Finally finished the artwork for our new Lovecraft tribute album, above is a page from the booklet. The album will be out in a deluxe digibook edition, stay tuned for more news soon!

Mebitek – Horror Teaser #3 The End Of Everything (Funeral Movement)

Richard Schattenwald – “Life As Ritual” Promo

Synapsis – “Continuum” promo

The Caretaker – Everywhere at the end of time – Stage 2 (Weirdcore.tv)

New Releases & Pre-orders

A Bleeding Star – New Single Released (Digital Only)
Another “name your price” weekly offering from A Bleeding Star!

Anemone Tube – Three New Albums Released (The Epicurean – CD/Digital)
“Far reaching pleasures will be at hand – Anemone Tube reveals a series of three CDs entitled “The Three Worlds: Allegory of Vanity / Forget Heaven / Vanity of Allegory”, referencing a cosmological treatise on the universe from the Theravada Buddhism of the 14th century, the subject matter of which is the description of three levels of existence of all beings and mythical creatures.
This extensive retrospective release contains selected tracks from various tapes released between 1997 and 1999 – mostly rare and unavailable today – as well as yet unreleased tracks recorded between 1997 and 2013, a.o. outtakes from the “Death Over China” recordings, handpicked and recontextualized by Anemone Tube, representing the project’s roughest and most atmospheric material up to date, ranging from depressive ritual experimental ambient over dark rhythmic industrial soundscapes to whirlwind noise. Sharply mastered by Hunter Barr for a powerful, contemporary sound, each CD comes in a 6-panel digifile featuring beautiful photography by Dario Lehner and is available as single CD as well as a limited edition 3 CD set in a lavish slipcase with poster, sticker and patch.”

Ben Rath – Pre-order Available (eilean rec. – CD/Digital)
“Ben Rath is an amateur musician currently based in Manchester, UK. He makes experimental, ambient music using original recordings of guitar, keyboard and piano, as well as samples and field recordings. He has been recording and releasing music through a variety of labels since 2014 and has also released a short EP of improvised acoustic guitar tracks under the name Slow Heart Music. ”

Blackjack Illuminist Records – New Compilation Available (BlackJack Illuminist – CD/Cassette/Digital)
By the end of 2017 Blackjack Illuminist Records will have sold their 1000th item. With 40 records (and one book) in ten years the label has been constantly growing from a bedroom project to … a cellar project. This cellar, however, has become the starting point for the worldwide travels of albums and EPs from eleven different projects. Handmade, hand painted, glued, cut, folded – every copy is personally processed by label boss Alexander Leonard Donat who originally founded BIR to give his first solo project Leonard Las Vegas a home. A decade later you can find his fingerprints on the sleeves of other artists’ releases, as well.
Celebrating the 10th birthday of the label this compilation was initiated to comprise exclusive tracks by artists and bands which crossed the path of Blackjack Illuminist in one way or another: friends, acquaintances, label mates, supportive folks, people who had an impact on the label’s philosophy.

DeepDark – New Album Released (Digital Only)
“…deep immersion in the depths of space…”

Hoarfrost – ReEdition
Boanerges Diy label has prepared the reedition of Arbeit’s album
„Budowle Socjalizmu Nasza Duma”, which was well received in 2013. The
secondary project of the creator of dark ambient Hoarfrost takes a listener
to socialist reality of Polish People’s Republic. Speaches of
dygnitaries, stertorous sounds of machines and crossed next norms of
production. „Budowle Socjalizmu Nasza Duma” is everyday picture seeing
by the eyes of ordinary worker. Social and political satire smelted in
industrial-noise furnace. Premiere: 08.10.2017r. http://www.boanergesdiy.blogspot.com

Jacek Doroszenko – Pre-orders Available (eilean rec. – CD/Digital)
“Jacek Doroszenko is an audio-visual artist, treating sound phenomena as a legitimate material of visual art and highlighting listening as a practice. The artist engages with the contemporary soundscape to select and rephrase the notion of noise as redundant element. The first artist’s release on Eilean Records contains a suite of compositions produced during Artist-in-Residence programs in Norway and Greece. Using field recording as the basis for further musical compositions, artist reveals the power of audible juxtaposition and natural potential of a certain place. Ostensibly unnecessary sound events are treated here as the key components, revealing massive landscape of possible progressions. ”

Maha Pralaya – New Album Released (Digital Only)
Experimental Space Ambient, Live improvisations from March 2017, remastered for release.

Moloch Conspiracy – New Album Released (Cephalopagus – Digital Only)
The Burned Temple by Moloch Conspiracy tells of the hidden rites of the old Gods of Persia, through different eras. Despite the burning of the sacred temple, and the murder of most of the sect, the disciples still perform their blasphemous rites to the old gods. The tracks describe the characters, the settings and stories of revenge and conspiracy through time, and the efforts to seize and regain power.

Noctilucant/HollowHecatomb – Tape Release of Latest Split
The cassette version of this split released by Gray Matter Productions. [Note: A self released CDR version will be released in the coming weeks]
Available on Noctilucant’s bandcamp for only $2.00!!!

Onasander – New EP Released (Digital Only)

Randal Collier-Ford – New Demo

Richard Schattenwald – New Album Released (Noctivagant – CD/Digital)

Scott Lawlor – New Album Released (Digital Only)
Deep Space Drones

Sea of Åland – New Album Released (Throne of Bael – Digital Only)
Experimental dark ambient. “name your price”

Sonologyst – Album Gets Vinyl Release
The album Silencers – the conspiracy theory dossiers gets a release on vinyl by the nascent NYC label Nocturnal Anomalies you can check out the album below and find links to the vinyl and digital releases within.

sound_00 + lefterna – Pre-order Available (Winter-Light – CD/Digital)
“After a series of collaborative publications on multiple experimental labels, the duo of Toni Dimitrov (Sound_00) & Boban Ristevski (Lefterna) finds its ‘Elementals: Collabs 2’ conceptual release on Winter-Light. ‘Elementals: Collabs 2’ is an ambient/experimental release of deep drone contemplations and ambient exploration, good for deep meditative and learning sessions.
‘Elementals’ gathers together selected collaborative works from the artists Sound_00 + Lefterna. All tracks have previously been released separately on compilations from the labels Fall Into Void, Post Global Recordings, HNM Recordings, AOsmosis and Crna Zemlja. For this release on our Winter-Light label, the tracks have been completely remastered by Cruel Sound Works, adding a richer, more distinctive warm feel to each piece. ”

Stuzha – Pre-orders Available (Ksenza – CD/Digital)
“Stuzha returns with the third full-length ‘Siberian Sketches Pt. II’ album. This is a logical continuation of the first part and the Winter theme dominates throughout the album. Field recordings, as usual with all Stuzha albums, are abundant and bring to a listener sounds of Siberian nature. The journey goes to cold winter forests, rural villages and even the Transsiberian railway. It is a return to original acoustic atmosphere, however the sound is even richer with layers of acoustic, electric and bass guitars.”

Svarte Greiner – New Album Available (Miasmah – Vinyl/Digital)
11 years since it´s inception, the surreal and darkly romantic Knive still sounds like a mystery and something that´s hard to pin down. Svarte Greiner´s debut album feels like a trip into the forest at midnight, with all the sounds and impressions that comes with it. Spiritual, horrific and fragile in essence, it´s melancholic core is hard to shake off, and feels as present today as it did back then.
While starting off the sub genre of “Accoustic doom” back in 2006, it´s difficult to say what else to name it now, with it´s inspiration and elements from countless genres. The record flows through the dissonant cello´s and washed out vocals of “Ocean out of Wood” past the introverted church organs of “The Black Dress”, distorted guitars and wooden beats of “The Dining Table” to the operatic finalé of “Final Sleep”. Everything scattered with field recordings from crows, branches, walking, sleeping, rain, wind and who knows what. Knive stands on many feet, wherever they may be.
Erik K Skodvin´s path as Svarte Greiner have since been dwelling more and more into this world, picking each element apart to focus on them, stretching them out or cutting them down, looping, experimenting and flooding with reverb – trying to make time stop and night fall. But for now a re-visit to where it all started seems appropriate.

Synapsis – New Album Released (Noctivagant – CD/Digital)
The new album Continuum has been released on the Noctivagant label.

Taphephobia – Pre-orders Available (Reverse Alignment – CD/Digital)
“As Reverse Alignment was established in 2007 we also made our first contact with Ketil Søraker. His guitarbased drone project Taphephobia had just a moment ago released it’s first opus “House of Memories” through the belgium label Nothingness Records. From there on we’ve been in touch more or less, (in a more constant period) when putting out “Anomie” and “Black City Skyline”, (and more or less) over the years when new production’s emerged.
Since Taphephobia’s first release in 2007, Ketil’s project is now a permanent act under the banner of Cyclic Law and has since it’s start released six albums, and a load of collaborative albums and compilation tracks.
Now, 10 years after it’s publication, Reverse Alignment release House of Memories again, with new artwork and design from Haerleif Langås and mastered by Frédéric Arbour. As a special treat follows eleven selected compilation tracks put together for this release. All a good way to summarize ten years of Taphephobia, from how the project sounded in the early days to today.”

Theologian announces new release.
Theologian – Forced Utopia is a 60 minute cassette coming October from Danvers State Recordings (label run by The Vomit Arsonist ) to coincide with our performance at Into The Aether Fest, Friday the 13th & Saturday the 14th. Mixed and mastered by Derek Rush of Chthonic Streams audio samples at soundcloud.com/annihilvs

Troum – Pre-orders Available (Black Mara – CD/Digital)
“It is a musical labyrinth in which we go from our earliest days, reliving every moment of the immense awe of the sublime. One topic gives way to another like the meandering paths. And revelation comes when seemingly no way out of a confusing puzzle. And if you’re a wanderer, your journey is complete. You’ve found yourself. ”

Winterblood – New Album Released (Digital Only)
“A selected, remastered version of the limited self-released edition tapes released between 1996 and 1999. Recorded on elementary equipment, finally back to life from a lost archive. Raw and unclean, and very dangerous.”

Sales

Cryo Chamber – Retro Sale
In this weeks sale we are focusing on some of our earliest releases, these albums will always have a special place in Cryo Chamber history. Order these albums here.

Dark Matter – How Cold is the Sun
“When I listen to How Cold Is The Sun, I go through a dimensional gate leading to an opposite universe.
I’d arrive on an Earth where the sky is red, the light dark, the ambiance threatening and the sun would never heat me up but just freeze me.
A place of darkness, sadness and hopelessness where humans are erratic empty beings heading to nowhere.
Firm industrial roots completed with gloomy ambiance and flirting with space opera, Dark Matter made a work as enjoyable as it is ominous.”

Alt3r3d Stat3 – Dubbed in Black
“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.”
Compilation – Behind the Canvas of Time
“A wonderful compilation made of desperate and ominous soundscapes. A very good introduction to the Cryo Chamber universe for every new visitor.”

Halgrath – Out of Time
“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. ”

Week(s) in Review on This Is Darkness

Anemone Tube & Post Scriptvm –  Litaniæ Mortuorum Discordantes
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.
Read full review here.

Myrkur – Mareridt
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.
Read full review here.

Vacant Stations – Clones
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.
Read 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.

This has been a crazy last two weeks! Between physical therapy, the announcement of the compilation and a storm that wiped out my internet for two days, I’ve been working like crazy to keep everything in line. So, alas, last week’s Frozen In Time had to be merged into the one you are now reading, for my sanity. As just mentioned, the first order of business is going to be introducing you all to this massive compilation I’ve been working on. 67 exclusive tracks from a range of dark ambient artists. Pre-order is now available at $5 and on 18 September the full album will be unlocked as “name your price”. If you have been looking for a time to show some support for This Is Darkness, here’s your chance! In conjunction with the release, we’ve been working on some music videos. The first video to be released is Druhá Smrt – “Contemplate Darkness” with video production by Tim VDS. We’ve also introduced a new section, Artist Spotlights. This new section will at first be used to highlight the careers of many of the artists that took part in the compilation,  but the section will continue after that list is exausted (if that is even possible with 67 artists…). Thank you all for making last week the most trafficked week we’ve seen yet on This Is Darkness! We’ll keep doing all we can to introduce new content, new artists and new features to this quickly growing zine!

The Compilation

Music Videos

Druhá Smrt – Contemplate Darkness
Video by: Tim Van der Schraelen

Altarmang – Salamander
“Salamander is one of the two new Altarmang tracks that will be released through Cyclic Law on the Void CD digipak which is currently available for pre-order!

Carbon Based Lifeforms – Accede
This is track number 1 on Carbon Based Lifeforms’s highly-awaited fifth album, “Derelicts.” The album will be released on October 6th, 2017 through Finland/USA label Blood Music (physical) and Swedish label Leftfield Records.

Jarl – Dyatlov Colours
Live at KKP VIII – Paris – 05/04/2015. Not new, but just posted!

Sum of R – New Music Video

Artist Spotlights

Altarmang – Artist Spotlight
A detailed look at the dark ambient project Altarmang. Check out their track contributed to the new compilation This Is Darkness Presents Vol.1 Dark Ambient and also find out some more information about their debut album and some insight into the recording process behind it!
Read the article here.

Aseptic Void – Artist Spotlight
Aseptic Void contributed the opening track to This Is Darkness Presents Vol.1 Dark Ambient. Check out this brand new exclusive track, and also find out some more information about the various release by Aseptic Void over the years and find some insights by the artist into what makes him tick.
Read the article here.

New Releases & Pre-orders

All Signs of Those Who Left – New Album Released (Throne of Bael – Digital Only)
“name your price” experimental combination of harsh dark ambient nad field recordings of a girl possessed. Anneliese Michel (21 September 1952 – 1 July 1976) was a German woman who underwent Catholic exorcism rites during the year before her death. Later investigation determined that she was malnourished and dehydrated; her parents and the priests responsible were charged with negligent homicide. She was diagnosed with epileptic psychosis (temporal lobe epilepsy) and had a history of psychiatric treatment, which was overall not effective. Her condition worsened with her displaying various other symptoms which she took medication for as well. Michel and her family became convinced she was possessed by demons. The case attracted media and public attention because of the priests’ unusual decision to employ a 400-year-old ritual of exorcism. The film The Exorcism of Emily Rose is loosely based on her story.

Altarmang – New Extended Album Announced (Cyclic Law – CD Digipak)
The debut album of a new musical entity by Pär Boström (KAMMARHEIT) and Kenneth Hansson. An expanded version of the limited edition cassette released by Hypnagoga Press in late 2016, this new version features two previously unreleased tracks and has been remastered by Frederic Arbour. ALTARMANG offers uniquely intuitive and hypnotic atmospherics through reel-to-reel tape loops and analog tonalities. All infused with herbal alchemy and ceremonial surrendering. Releases 22 September.

Cicely Irvine – New Album Released (eilean rec. – CD/Digital)
Cicely Irvine (b. 1990) is a musician and sound artist based in Stockholm, Sweden. She is making music and sound design for film, radio and performance art. The release on Eilean rec is her very first and a collection of music made between 2007 and 2017.

Common Eider, King Eider – Pre-order Available (Cold Spring – CD/Digital)
The triumphant reawakening of San Francisco’s masters of behemoth ritualistic darkness…
Within “Shrines For The Unwanted, Respite For The Cast Aside”, bone, antler and voice produce connective threads between the worlds, as guitar and percussion punctuate shifts in mood. Voices call to the spirits, and the spirits call back in return. Recorded in 2016 during four private, collective only rituals, the pieces pull the listener through the darkest and most overgrown trails of the blackest forest. Monumental and horizonless ritualistic black ambience. Vocal visitations by A.C. Way of Sutekh Hexen. Releases 25 September.

Daniel James Dolby – New Album Released (Throne of Bael – Digital Only)
Grimojo is an experimental ambient album with strong elements of jazz noire / dark jazz. Highly recommended for fans of Bohrnen und der Club of Gore!

Dean Hurley – New Album Released
Although Twin Peaks: The Return has hosted an array of Roadhouse performers and spotlighted music throughout its new season, a large part of the show’s sonic identity has been defined by the space between sound effects and music. Sound and music supervisor Dean Hurley’s first installment of the library-style Anthology Resource series showcases his original ambient music contributions featured in the show’s very distinctive-sounding third season. (You might also remember Hurley as the drummer from the fictitious band Trouble, alongside Alex Zhang Hungtai of Dirty Beaches, and David Lynch’s son Riley, who performed at the Roadhouse in “Part 5” of The Return.)

Dirty Knobs – Pre-order Available (Xero Music – Digital Only)
“I often have a quote from Warren Ellis’ Morning Computer in mind while working, a mental image of “places that were only ever designed to be passed through.” Maybe that’s what this music is. Music for places that were only ever designed to be passed through. Infinite anechoic chambers absorbing all vibration. Massive underground neutrino detectors catching a glimpse of the universe as it passes through their clear waters. Galaxies of dark matter and voids. Mental spaces where time stutters and anxiety flexes.
Music to be lost and forgotten. Music from a vantablack heart.”

Enearth – Last Days (Digital Only)
“name your price’ apocalyptic dark ambient music by V. Sycatrhope of the Sycatrhope Project.

Ghost Empty – Album Released (Noctivagant – CD/Digital)

Hecq – New Album Released (Hymen Records – Vinyl/Digital)
with ‘chansons de geste’ ben lukas boysen a.k.a. hecq presents a very personal release, conceived as a memorial and dedication to bygone events and individuals. the basic sources for the eleven haunting tracks were original tape recordings boysen and his family members made decades ago for private use, ranging from piano etudes to classical works by composers like j.s. bach and johannes brahms. it was hecq’s intention to restore, to revive and to re-arrange these basic sources for the existing release in a condensed and unusual way. each tape was digitized to hard disc, loops and patches were extracted from this sound pool, and the collection was recorded on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. the tapes were taken and played back inside a church where the natural reverb of the location was added and used as the master recording.

Las Paccariscas & Coven – New Album Released (Noctivagant – CD/Digital)

Michael Bonaventure – New Album Released (Unexplained Sounds Group – Digital Only)
Curating an anthology of Michael Bonaventure’s works over the last decade was not only a superb pleasure, but a privilege too. Bonaventure is one of the rare examples of a classically trained composer who, starting from his early instrumental musical education at the organ (the first synthesizer, as he loves to say), has been able to explore the most innovative paths in terms of avant-garde music, working with solo organ compositions, vocal processing, contemporary electro-acoustic techniques as well as with industrial noise improvisations. His sensitivity to different kinds of musical languages builds a natural bridge between apparently distant lands, and even the most experimental pieces possess an inner elegance that is a distinctive sign of his artistic mastery.

raison d’être & Troum – Pre-order For New Album (Transgradient – CD/Digital/forthcoming on Vinyl)
This is the second part of the collaboration that started with ‘De Aeris In Sublunaria Influxu’, released 2015. Based on a notion of the fascinating Amazonian Piraha tribe, this is an excursion into nine different micro-worlds of perception and consciousness. Music that reaches for the eternal, but it only exists in the very moment. Releases 18 September.

Sum of R – New Album Announced (Cyclic Law – CD/Digital/Vinyl)
Switzerland’s Sum Of R led by Reto Mäder (RM74) and accompanied by Fabio Costa create slow moving instrumental sonics with a sensibility for hypnotic and complex song structures. “Orga” is an immersive voyage into a shapeshifting mist of raw-boned melodies and repetitive mantras. The album is a hybrid of ritual drums and eerie percussions, atmospheric analog electronics and epic drones forming a drifting orchestral wall of sound. Darkness, light and its reflections is what emerges from this mysterious aural mist. Cover photography by Milena Kancheva. Releases 15 September.

Sumatran Black – New Album Released (Sumatran Black – Digital Only)
Minimalist Dark Ambient Blackness – Necro Chill “name your price”

Troum – Teaser for upcoming album on Black Mara

Twin Peaks (Limited Event Series Soundtrack)(Score)
features the moody instrumental material that kept you on the edge of your seat throughout the course of the 18 episodes, which means you get lots of Angelo Badalamenti, of course, along with contributions from Muddy Magnolias, Grady Tate, Johnny Jewel, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra / Witold Rowicki, David Lynch & Dean Hurley, Chromatics, and Thought Gang, which – spoiler alert – is actually the aforementioned Mr. Badalamenti teamed with the equally-aforementioned Mr. Lynch. Available for purchase here.

Various Artists – Visions of Darkness (Cold Spring/Unexplained Sounds Group – CD/Digital)
A gathering of majestic, heavy, dark ambient, ritual, drone and noise music from Iran. Highly original and monolithic, with stunning production, Visions Of Darkness stands shoulder to shoulder with the giants of the Dark Ambient scene.
In a country where youth culture has been heavily restricted for so long, it’s significant when a cultural form such as this has an opportunity to reach a wider audience – aided by the abstract nature of dark ambient, drone and noise. In comparison, the dance music scene has a harder time taking root in Iran due to the illegality of men and women dancing in public together. However, the growth of the experimental electronic scene is going to be about more than a mere novelty reaction to a political paradigm shift. The darkness here is a consequence of the mood of the artists – darker after the country was put on a black list and more restrictions were applied to many things, including monetary transactions to and from Iran. As a consequence, Iranian artists have a great difficulty getting the resources to better develop their projects. Despite this, the enthusiasm and will for Iranian musicians to promote their music shines through.
Releases 25 September.

Weress – New Album Released (Digital Only)
Demo of dark drone space ambient by Weress.
Weress is a experimental one-man-band project by P. Since 2012 on space univers. With many influences like Dungeon Synth, Dark Ambient, Drone, Space Ambient, Black Ambient, Post-Rock ..

Sales

DeepAudio – End of Summer Sale
DeepAudio are closing in on the finish of their summer sales. You can find a ton of great physical releases discounted here.

Pär Boström – Birthday Sale!
It’s Pär’s birthday on Wednesday and we’re celebrating with a 50% sale, all week on all releases from Hypnagoga Press, and on albums by Kammarheit and Cities Last Broadcast:
Hypnagoga Press: hypnagogapress.bandcamp.com
Kammarheit: kammarheit.bandcamp.com
Cities Last Broadcast: citieslastbroadcast.bandcamp.com/releases
Use the code: BIRTHDAYCAKE.

This Is Darkness Week In Review

Rafael Anton Irisarri – The Shameless Years – Review
Multiple listens and a continuous internal dialogue about the subject matter are required to fully appreciate the calamitous odyssey this album harbors within its sprawling sound collages. Its exploration of mankind’s frailty and failures compasses astride a conciliate raft of abstract sublimity. The Shameless Years is not only a bulwark of post-minimalist music, but a stunning account of the deepest insecurities of Rafael Anton Irisarri and his most lofty appraisals of stricken generations.
Read full review here.

Hoor-Paar-Kraat – The Place of Crossing – Review
As my first foray into the works of the Chthonic Stream label, I find this release to be a pleasant listen. It has enough diversity of sounds to keep the listener thoroughly entertained on an active listen, while simultaneously never pushing the boundaries so far as to be a complete disruption on a more passive listening session. The physical release is well thought-out and seems to be masterfully prepared. I would certainly recommend this to listeners who dabble in experimental music. The album is just experimental enough to be a novel experience, without ever going so far as to sound chaotic, a balance which is often missed on these sorts of endeavors.
Read 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.