Dark Ambient

Paysage d’Hiver – Im Wald [Things You Might Have Missed 2020]

By Dear Hollow on December 21, 2020 in Things You Might Have Missed 2020, Black Metal, 36 comments

“Always toeing the line between raw and atmospheric, mastermind Wintherr’s (also a member of the formidable Darkspace) demo work has ranged from the crystalline ambiance of Die Festung to the unrelenting rawness of Winterkälte, consistently providing an aural experience of a blizzard at its most violent and a winter’s evening at its most empty. This has all built up to this: first full-length Im Wald, which feels far too anticlimactic for this stunning project’s storied 23-year career.” Winter has come.

Sxuperion – Omniscient Pulse Review

By Dear Hollow on June 20, 2020 in Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Industrial Metal, 17 comments

“If I say the magic words “space-themed death metal,” what do you see? If you see Blood Incantation or Artificial Brain come swooping in like a half-giant on a flying motorcycle, push your disappointment to the back of your mind, because we ain’t talking about them today.” Sxuspend expectations.

Ulveblod – Omnia Mors Aequat Review

By Dear Hollow on April 7, 2020 in 2020, Ambient, Black Metal, ConSouling Sounds, Drone, Dutch Metal, Industrial Metal, Noise, Reviews, Black Metal, Industrial Metal, Noise, 28 comments

“I wanted a black metal/noise hybrid. I figured it was the trvest style out there: the ultimate form of pitch-black atmosphere that could conjure abstractness and bleakness to new heights. While there have been plenty of artists that have tried, like Enbilulugugal, Gnaw Their Tongues, and Abruptum, success has been limited, so I wished upon a star for noisy black metal.” Cut off your noise to spite your face.

Örnatorpet – Vid Himinsenda Review

By Dear Hollow on November 13, 2019 in 2019, Ambient, Black Metal, Dungeon Synth, Nordvis Produktion, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Synthwave, Black Metal, Dungeon Synth, Folk, 21 comments

I have nothing against Dungeons & Dragons. I do, however, have an issue with the one kid who kept me from lesson planning by ceaselessly listing off statistics of his paladin and barbarian like I was supposed to know what the fuck he was talking about. I have a resentment toward the game thanks to that kiddo, unfortunately, so I’m already prejudiced against the relatively new genre of “dungeon synth.” While it began very ambitiously, taking cues from Medieval and Renaissance music and fantasy literature, bearing a black metal aesthetic, its role as a challenging and world-building style of dark ambient has been demoted as mere soundtracks of D&D campaigns everywhere. Örnatorpet seeks to add to the dungeon synth genre, hoping to whisk listeners away to a “forgotten realm, an arcane age.”” Dungeon lounge muzak.

Tome of the Unreplenished – Cosmoprism: The Theurgy – Act 1 Review

By Akerblogger on January 27, 2017 in 2017, Black Metal, Cypriot Metal, I Voidhanger Records, Reviews, Black Metal, 32 comments

“I first listened to Cosmoprism: The Theurgy – Act 1 just after midnight. As I snuggled into my unicorn shaped pillow, I allowed the ambient nightmare that Tome of the Unreplenished had created into my mind. I let it capture my imagination and I was rewarded with a listening experience that, honestly, seemed to transport me into another world.” Into the uni-verse.

Gnaw Their Tongues – Hymns for the Broken, Swollen and Silent Review

By Lord Lucan on December 10, 2016 in 2016, Black Metal, ConSouling Sounds, Drone, Dutch Metal, Noise, Reviews, Black Metal, Noise, 11 comments

“Whenever I see bands like Slayer and Motörhead emblazoned across shirts for sale in fashionable high street clothing stores, I always have a little internal conflict with myself. On the one hand, I feel I ought to be enthusiastic about anything that introduces people to the world of heavy music. On the other, a childish part of me kind of likes metal being a bit of a secret society.” Join the club but prepare for hazing.

Worm Ouroboros – What Graceless Dawn Review

By Steel Druhm on November 30, 2016 in 2016, Ambient Metal, American Metal, Doom Metal, Folk Metal, Gothic Metal, Not Metal, Profound Lore Records, Reviews, Doom Metal, Not Metal, 24 comments

“The San Francisco music scene is nothing if not creative. With oddball acts like Hammers of Misfortune, Vhöl and Slough Feg calling the area home, creativity is in abundant supply. Worm Ouroboros is yet another off-kilter act providing local color to the Bay Area, lesser known but no less interesting. The brain-trust of Lorraine Rath and Jessica Way, the band’s unique blend of dark ambient goth-rock, doom and neo-folk is as interesting as it is offbeat.” Bay Area goth-waves are rising.

Urfaust – Empty Space Meditation Review

By Roquentin on October 30, 2016 in 2016, Ambient Metal, Black Metal, Drone, Dutch Metal, Reviews, Van Records, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, Drone, 14 comments

“‘…the universe is a flaw in the purity of non-being.’ It’s this thought by French poet and philosopher Paul Valéry that sprung into my mind while listening and re-listening to the latest record by Dutch ambient black metal duo Urfaust. Their style was always born out of a sense of desolation and isolation, a tribute to emptiness, owing equally to dark ambient and metal.” Of being and ambience.

Goatpsalm – Downstream Review

By El Cuervo on March 5, 2016 in 2016, Aesthetic Death Records, Ambient Metal, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Folk Metal, Russian Metal, Ukrainian Metal, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Folk, 35 comments

“It’s rare that I find music I can appreciate on a superficial, musical and a cerebral level. Too much of the former and it likely won’t stick with me in the long term; too much of the latter and the smell of shit wards me off as groups examine how far they can reach up their rectum. It’s great to hear that ideal fusion of the two, particularly when it comes out of left field – in this case, Russia.” From Russia, with folk.