The press release describes “The Waiting Room” as “the music of Los Angeles while sleeping”, as well as a combination of drones and urban atmospheres. I would say that this description is not terribly far off, given that you take it in a literal sense rather than an artistic one.
Treha Sektori – Sorieh
Treha Sektori have a penchant for creating immense, blackened atmospheres through the use of layered earthen drones, just the right amount of distant clanking and banging, and a few heavily revered, somber melodies. Definitely something to check out for fans of ritual and cold meat industry-style ambient.
Empusae & Shinkiro – Organic.Aural.Ornaments
Though short, this is a great collaboration as a whole, with top-notch production and sound design – as it stands, it feels like an extended EP. Definitely a must for fans of either act; it’s not a typical Ant-Zen release, but if you like the more downtempo stuff they release (Zero Degree, T’zolkin) then definitely give this a listen.
Tholen – Neuropol
If you want to feel like you live in a collapsing cyberpunk dystopian world where pollution and human failure have caused the denizens to retreat to the murky underground, then leave this playing at all hours. It’s intricate and detailed enough for somewhat active listening, but un-intrusive enough to leave on while you do other life activities.
Karsten Hamre – Through the Eyes of a Stranger
If you can overlook the packaging, which looks like a bootleg B-horror film you’d get offered in an alley in Chinatown, you’ll find that Hamre delivers with some of the best dark ambient soundscapes I’ve heard this year.
Parhelion – Midnight Sun
“Midnight Sun” wastes no time: upon its opening it immediately thrusts the listener into the crushing, icy winds of the vacant arctic tundra… At low volume levels it may seem boring and no different from similar albums, but at a mid-level volume on a good system this album really comes alive and all its nuances are exhumed from beneath blackened ice.
False Mirror – Derelict World
“Derelict World” is the newest album from dark ambient artist False Mirror, released via stalwart label Malignant. Firstly, I must ask your forgiveness for me for being a bit long winded here, but there is much to say about this release. The major thing I want to emphasize is that it is truly an album, a coherent and calculated whole.
Aun – Black Pyramid
“Black Pyramid” is the latest release on dark ambient/drone label Cyclic Law. Typically, Cyclic Law releases are built from a standard mold: calm, droning, dark ambient. Aun is one of the few to break out of this pattern, if only somewhat.
Mystified – Passing Through The Outer Gates
On first listen, this isn’t as boring as I expected from someone who has the tendency to release over twenty albums a year. There are some genuinely interesting elements at play here: calm, dark, minimal drones, various melodic elements, and even some well-crafted tribal-esque percussion.
Allseits – Hel
One thing that I really enjoy about the Cyclic Law label is its level of consistency. “Hel” is another fine entry in a fantastic catalog. From the get-go, “Hel” seems like exactly what you’d expect from a release bearing the Cyclic Law name: an extremely dark, droning collection of deep ambience.