O SAALA SAKRAAL - Oastar (2025)

If you check the RYM page of the Dutch project O SAALA SAKRAAL, you will find that it consists of four drummers. The drums in this tribal ambient pagan outfit are in the spotlight, indeed, but they are not everything that is going on in this chaotic and eclectic music. It's time to dive into this spiritual experiment for the third time.

The album is said to be an artistic response to an event nobody from outside of the Netherlands heard about: the "destruction of an ancient solar temple by local authorities in the eastern region of Hamaland, a land still shadowed by the enduring influence of the Church". This alone shows the vibes that dominate in O SAALA SAKRAAL's music: the spiritualism is here, but it's spiritualism that is much, much older than what people may think and it involves tons of drumming, humming and whispering. The dark ambient meeting tribal sounds is such a unique experience! I sure would love to see the project performing live one day!

The album is meant to be a response to "a yearning for restoration, for a return to the primordial harmony that once bound all things". The mesmerizing compositions transport the audience in time and not so much in space, but basically to whatever was there, at the location of your home, when it was still the wilderness. Listening to the dark but profound music of the talented artists, you can be sure that they "come cloaked in the guises of the woods".

Oastar costs 8 EUR.

Check: (We Come) Cloaked in the Guises of the Woods

Country: The Netherlands

Genre: dark tribal ambient

Label: Cyclic Law

O SAALA SAKRAAL - Heven (2021)

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EERIÆRMOR - EERIÆRMOR (2024)

Kevin Gan Yuen known from the black noise Sutekh Hexen and as Fermentae released his first album under the moniker of EERIÆRMOR. The self-titled LP makes a great combination of two sides of electronica: the lively ambient and industrial noise. And those contrasting vibes go together surprisingly well.

The album is designed to convey "a powerful emotional imprint, guiding the listener from states of liminal ecstasis to expressing unification of beauty and brutality". The way the artist achieves it is combining beautiful ambient () passages with moments of harsh noise, creating this kind of contrast that is very satisfying to listen to. Although, to be fair, the harshness of the noise is softer than I'd expect so the barrier to entry is not that significant. 

EERIÆRMOR costs 7 USD.

Check: I, Rainmaker

Country: California, US

Genre: noisy electronica

Label: Cyclic Law

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Pascal Savy - Simulacra (2023)

Pascal Savy, a French artist based in London, is said to create "organic ambient and drone music as a way to reflect on erosion, transition and decay". This makes him a perfect match for the French label, Cyclic Law, which released his new album called Simulacra.

This album is the artist's answer to the nervous political situation around the world with the music here  that is filled with "feelings of alienation and powerlessness as well as convey(ing) ideas of anger and latent violence". The industrial, aggressive dark ambient is a perfect way to express this kind of atmosphere of constant danger and uncertainty. But there's another layer to his music: the always-changing, looping backgrounds create an otherworldly atmosphere that can feel airy and soothing as well as dangerous and poignant at the same time. A lot of approaches towards the same goal: unnerving space/dark ambient.

Simulacra costs 7 EUR.

Check: Hyperspace Without Atmosphere

Country: France/UK

Genre: industrial dark ambient

Label: Cyclic Law

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CHAIGIDEL & NERATERRÆ - Lama​š​tu (2023)

Alessio Antoni is one of the ambient artists I respect the most. This time, he joins forces with CHAIGIDEl, making it a duo of extremely dark ambient music from Italy. They released their album Lama​š​tu  through Cyclic Law in March.

Once again, Antoni delivered what can be only described as a perfect dark ambient music. The gloomy and unnerving electronic drone soundscapes are made even more touching by whispering vocals and even some throat singing vocalization in A'Arab Zaraq. This theme of oriental-sounding elements is actually the unique leitmotif throughout the album, although it's not overwhelming. Because the overwhelming part is the darkness that speaks through the duo's music so well.

Lama​š​tu costs 8 EUR.

Kegaal - Pillars: Seeds of Ares (2020)

NERATERRÆ - Scenes from the Sublime (2020)

NERATERRÆ - The Substance of Perception (2019)

Check: A'Arab Zaraq

Country: Italy

Genre: dark ambient

Label: Cyclic Law

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øjeRum - Reversed Cathedral (2022)

The Denmark-based artist with mysteriously Polish-sounding name Paw Grabowski, makes his absolutely fantastic visual art as  øjeRum. Additionally, he creates ambient music and his newest LP is called Reversed Cathedral.

The droney soundscapes, the artist creates, feel very complex and artsy at the same time. There's a lot going on, but it's all drowned in the slow-paced, static drone that makes your mind going to various places. It's like a fossil inside an amber: life enchanted in the beautiful stillness. And of course, as it should be expected from a graphic artist, Grabowski's cover art is exceptional. I love his style and I have to say that his cover arts are ALWAYS exceptional.

Reversed Cathedral costs 8 EUR.

Check: The Smile

Country: Denmark

Genre: lively ambient

Label: Cyclic Law

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SHRINE - Nausicaä (2022)

I learned about Hristo Gospodinov's music from NERATERRÆ's album Scenes from the Sublime on which Shrine featured. This year's Nausicaä is my first time with the artist alone and I must say, I am so impressed with his unique attempt at dark ambient experience.

The album is said to be inspired by a Japanese manga called Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - which doesn't mean anything to me, but apparently it is a text about a gloomy, post-apocalyptic world and it is all clearly audible on the release. Gospodinov achieves this thick and unnerving atmosphere by mixing the soft and dreamy ambient soundscapes with dark and extremely overwhelming industrial parts. It is unbelievable how easy it is for the artist to create this dangerous world the soundscape of which we are lucky to explore from a safe (for now) place at our homes.

Nausicaä costs 8 EUR.

Check: Like a God of Death

Country: Bulgaria

Genre: industrial dark ambient

Label: Cyclic Law

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ASHTORETH - Rites III​-​IV (2021)

Peter Verwimp released his Rites I and II in 2019. Since then he was involved in other projects and cooperations but it's finally time for the followup in the form of Rites III-IV, making the Cyclic Law's release one of the highlights of the ambient music at the end of the last year.

As Ashtoreth is "the preeminent goddess in the Bible, and the plural Ashtaroth is a generic term for goddesses", it's no wonder that Verwimp's music is all about the pagan-sounding, sacral and dark ambient. It is a sea of gloomy, minimalist electronica that is filled with horror-like, unnerving whispering vocals and distorted instrument sounds. The soundscapes he produces sound mystical and very mysterious and are supposed to explain people's "interconnectedness with nature as a whole and the necessity to acknowledge and use this connection as an amplifier of thoughts, ideas and emotions". One thing is certain, this is one of the darkest ambient pieces of the year.

Rites III​-​IV costs 8 EUR.

Check: Rite III 

Country: Belgium

Genre: dark ambient

Label: Cyclic Law

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Saáadon - мреть (наутро ночь) (2021)

That's a great story on itself: two music projects Sádon (a Russia-based duo) and Saåad (Romain Barbot from France) came together to make music so they called this collaboration Saáadon, I think it's brilliant. Their album is called мреть (наутро ночь) which translates to "Die (in the morning night" which makes it clear that its content is going to be dark and poignant.

And the opening notes of heavy organ-like keys are certainly an emotional treat. The very slow soundscape the artists create have those heavy qualities, it's clear for the audience that the music i made to overwhelm and make them feel things. It's noisy, it's tear-jerkingly beautiful and, to top that, there are dispersed vocals that are based on Sádon's Donat Mavleev's poetry. They talk about "the end of time, its horizon and beyond" - quite bombastic themes but also, for ambient music, this is the most grandeur-invoking music you can get, especially thanks to the organ-like parts that make me think of Anna von Hausswolff's collab with Godspeed You! Black Emperor - similar dark and sacral vibes here.

мреть (наутро ночь) costs 8 EUR.

Check: Явь

Country: Russia/France

Genre: heavy soundscape

Label: Cyclic Law

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O SAALA SAKRAAL - Heven (2021)

Three years after the album Etmaal, the Dutch collective O SAALA SAKRAAL is back with a much shorter release. The mysterious band creates a unique, innovative take on dark ambient/electronica and showed it on Heven, released by the great people of Cyclic Law label in July.

The album is meant to be an act of rebellion against religions as complex organizations of mind-altering ideology, a way of "cleansing and expulsion of the dogmatic metaphysical corruption that is dominated in today's mass religions". There's so much to the messages of each of the tracks and I'm not going to lie I understand all of this, you are welcome to read about those on the Bandcamp page provided. However, to achieve all that, the musicians serve a complicated and multi-layered mix of tribal-paced industrial electronica and dark ambient with a big chunk of sacral music (the project's name is not a mistake) within. The latter is achieved by including a four-piece choir that adds to the uniqueness of this project that consists of an ever-changing (sometimes this means "textural changes, sometimes organic and evolving, sometimes abrupt and overwhelming"), meaningful music.

Heven costs 6 EUR.

Check: Apokatastasis

Country: The Netherlands

Genre: sacral dark electronica

Label: Cyclic Law

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All My Faith Lost ... - Untitled (2021)

The Italian folk/darkwave band All My Faith Lost... started making their music at the beginning of the millenium. A decade ago they released their last album called... Decade, and it made the fans talking about bad omens. Fortunately, the artists came back this year with an LP called Untitled, and it's a comeback worth waiting for.

Their music is based on Viola Roccagli's oldschool, very genre-relatable female vocals that makes you think of the classics like Dead Can Dance, but also about all the atmosphere they bring. They're non-invasive but very clear, not loud but poignant. And quite beautiful. They echo over a slowcore take on dark folk music based on acoustic instruments, mostly guitars that carry this music on. This is a rather unusual way to create darkwave music (as far as I know) but there's hardly a better genre for this release to be classified in. You can safely add acoustic, folk or art in front of it and the definition is complete.

What makes the album even more artsy is that the tracks here are inspired by paintings by such surreal artist as Ruas, Tara McPherson, Nicoletta Ceccoli and Ray Caesar. The most striking song here is, and it's an easy choice, We All Die Sometimes. The combination of unreal melody, slow pace and unnerving theme that is being performed with soul-stirring violins and peacefully mournful guitar makes it a long-lasting, darkwave hit. (Also, what a beautiful cover art!).

Untitled costs 8 EUR.

Check: We All Die Sometimes

Country: Italy

Genre: acoustic darkwave

Label: Cyclic Law

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Grande Loge - Mantras (2020)

Hailing from France, Grande Loge is a collective made of former members of the metal bands Malepeste and Tower of Silence, who turned towards highly spiritual and dark ambient music. Back in Decemeber they released one, long mesmerizing trip in the form of the album called Mantras.

Their music consists of folk-inspired chanting, dark airy ambient and mesmerizing tribal parts. This thick and extremely attractive atmosphere is also the result of the use of more or less exotic instruments like buzuki, nafar, shaman drums and tanpura, as well as mantras and a very unorthodox languages, namely Ancient Greek in Hekaten. When you listen to this album, there's always something that makes you say "no way they can get more mysterious" and then it does. The atmosphere also reaches further than just the music and strongly influences their appearance which means that their live gigs must be absolute madness. In a dark and spiritual way of course.

Warning! Mind this hilarious note from their FB: "We are a group of artists, not fucking freemasons!". And remember that!

Mantras costs 7 EUR.

Check: Hekaten

Country: France

Genre: tribal dark ambient

Label: Cyclic Law

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Beckahesten - Vattenhålens dräpare (2020)

Beckahesten, Swedish ambient trio is the latest addition to Cyclic Law impressive portfolio of ubelievable artists. Their debut album is called Vattenhålens dräpare and mixes most of the most atmospheric genres into one, mesmerizing work.

One of the most striking features of the Swedish project is the way Viktoria Rolandsdotter's vocals are incorporated into the industrial/horror ambient adding mysterious, ethereal but also as much as frightening vibes to the project. Especially when, in the second part of the album, she's all in for folk chants. But there's so much more too. The folk influences as well as some dark ambient layers of heavy, overwhelming sounds make the project's music catch the audience with no intention of letting them go.

Vattenhålens dräpare costs 7 EUR.

Check: Dödsfålen

Country: Sweden

Genre: ethereal dark ambient

Label: Cyclic Law

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