Lost in Kyiv - We're All Going to Be Fine (2026)

The release of the 5th album from the French band turned out to be the perfect occasion, in the artists' eyes, to have a small lifting to their name. Small but significant, as the outfit, closely tied with the Ukrainian nation's struggles and war effort, decided to honour this and from now on use the Ukrainian way of spelling the country's capital's name. Consequently, the new album kind of got lost (sic!) in this commotion. And it shouldn't be the case, cause they band never disappoints.

Lost in Kyiv are almost perfect when it comes to making "modern" post-rock. One that is both melodic and impactful, with heavy use of synths and some unorthodox elements to the compositions. Within this subgenre, they manage to be very exciting while always delivering what is supposed of them. This post-rock is heavy, but not too heavy, it's melodic, but not too melodic, modern-sounding, but also not deprived of emotions. I love Burst with its synthy flow, Eclipse for its glitchy moments and Euphoria for its... well, euphoric vibes. This is not going to be THE best post-rock album of the year for me, but it certainly will be one I'll be coming back to a lot. But not to the track with Rebecca Need-Menear's vocals. Sorry, it just doesn't agree with me.

Interestingly, the album's title really fits the trend of hopeful and warm messages sent by post-rock(ish) artists. Suffice it to say, only this year we had Million Moon's You Be Good, I Love You or VLMV's There Will Come Soft Rains. I guess this is ONE way of responding to today's world, especially when you are (like LiK and like me) emotionally invested in a brutal war we have here, in Europe. Cheers to the trend then.

We're All Going to Be Fine costs 5 EUR.

Check: Burst

Country: France

Genre: modern post-rock

Label: Pelagic Records

Lost in Kiev - Rupture (2022)

Lost in Kiev - Persona (2019)

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Ingrina - Nåværende lys (2026)

Nåværende lys or The Current Light in English, makes the third instance in the Lys trilogy from the French band Ingrina and their third LP at the same time. The group of nihilist whose motto says "The meaning is lost and it always has been" creates a surprisingly hopeful music that balances the darkness and the light, the heavy and the modern in the most exciting way.

The central motif  of the album is this rogue kind of hope that is born out of losing everything, but also escaping the worst possible ending. As the band puts it, it "celebrates a vivid present in which life forms have succeeded in rendering their existences limitless, abolishing the borders, walls, and prisons that had confined them until then". The freedom you can get drunk on, the ecstatic feeling that makes you fly and cry at the same time as I understand it. And it is also the feeling the high-paced, modern-sounding post-rock/post-metal of the Frenchmen gives you.

Driven by the rocket fuel of guitar effects, the music here is fast and rich in flow. It makes me think of Ingrina's compatriots from Dragunov, this kind of modern take on post-rock that is less about the guitar riffs and more about the pace and the smoothness of the sound. But it doesn't mean it's not heavy because heavy it really is, especially in the inspiring opener in Time or slightly slower and doomer Grips. But the fast pace of the compositions making the 40 minutes feel like a blink of an eye, is the core of this album. You are suddenly transported into the future and the chaos of And All the Deadly Frontiers.

Nåværende lys costs 5 EUR.

Check: Time

Country: France

Genre: modern post-rock

Label: Medication Time Records

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BRUIT ≤ - The Age of Ephemerality (2025)

As I have stated a couple of times, I respect bands who decide not to use Spotify and this kind of streaming platforms while it still makes me sad. Because I can't freely access their music (even if I buy digital files from Bandcamp) and because the world of music industry is what it is. Nevertheless, there are bands like BRUIT ≤ whose music HAS TO BE listened to, even if it's not that easy. And the French band confirms that with their spectacular second album.

This is the most complicated post-rock music ever. In the sense that it is made with guitars, orchestral instruments as well as the electronic manipulations. I can't think on any other band who goes to so many places to make their music and make it sound so coherent at the same time. There are almost math rock parts on the new album and they sound like weird collages made of drones and social media, but they are mostly used as intros and backgrounds. The music is made with instruments and later heavily packaged into the modern, glitchy post-rock form which makes it double as attractive in my ears.

This correspondents with the band's world view that is really this kind of technocratic punk, rebelling against the oppressions of the modern world, politics, society. Everything that hurts us even if we don't recognize it. This album is for everyone who would want to start recognize them and follow the band in chanting "We hope to be among the damned who refuse to have faith in their masters and who do everything to escape the cameras in the streets".

The Age of Ephemerality costs 8 EUR.

Check: Progress / Regress

Country: France

Genre: modern punk post-rock

Label: Pelagic Records

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Timelapse Aurora - In Defeat, I See the Future (2023)

Timelapse Aurora are from Italy and they create heavily guitar post-rock music with a story to tell. This sci-fi-sounding instrumental music is shown on their first ever album called In Defeat, I See the Future.

The album is described as a "wonderment of space that is both haunting and hypnotic". While their premise suggests a heavy use of electronica in their compositions, the post-rock here is still very guitar-oriented. But the artists prove that they don't have to resort to the sci-fi electronica to make sci-fi music. The very first sounds of the album prove that sci-fi is its important piece with a sampled voice saying about living in 2355 AD, not to mention the interesting, retro-futuristic cover art or track titles that show the artist interest in space exploration. But also the music itself is very often slower, more spacial thanks to the synth sounds and samples, making it a story from somewhere in the vast universe written with very solid post-rock music.

In Defeat, I See the Future costs 5 EUR.

Check: From Mars to Jupiter

Country: Italy

Genre: sci-fi post-rock

Label: Eternal Colossus Records

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Mindless Paradise - Faerie's Aire and Death Waltz (2022)

Usually when a band combines traditional post-rock music with electronica, I have big expectations and I'm very glad when they are confirmed by the music itself. The Ukrainian outfit Mindless Paradise is a good example here: a band I hadn't heard about before, after a series of EPs, released their debut LP and Faerie's Aire and Death Waltz is definitely a something worth checking out.

No wonder that the band presents very modern, electronica-infused take on the genre as it is led by Fatum Black, an Ukrainian producer and soundtrack composer. But the music here is not overwhelmed by either the guitar nor the electronic side; I feel like it is perfectly balanced and creates a blend that meets expectation of a broad range of fans. It is fast and loud, can be overwhelming with its heavy sounds, especially when guitars take over and create this kind of black blizzard that can be felt on the listener's shoulders.

And it's also not a surprise. The track titles show that the ongoing war had been something that influenced the music here and these vibes: the adrenaline-fueled energy, the heaviness, the darkness, but also hints of hope, definitely mirror what is currently in minds and hearts of people in Ukraine.

Faerie's Aire and Death Waltz costs 6 USD.

Check: The Light Gets Brighter

Country: Ukraine

Genre: electronic post-rock

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Shadow Universe - Subtle Realms, Subtle Worlds (2022)

This year is marked by the comebacks of the piano-based modern post-rock bands and now, after Nordic Giants, it's time for the Slovenian Shadow Universe to show their third album. For me, their debuting The Unspeakable World was one of those surprising hits I hadn't seen coming and til this day it remains one of my favourite albums of the genre. Subtle Realms, Subtle Worlds feels slightly different but it's not a bad kind of different.

A very big accent is put on the piano bits. The whole tracks are driven by the piano keys without sounding too depressing; instead, the piano makes them vivid and energetic in a different way most post-rock compositions are. Somehow even the inclusion of strings in Don't Look at It and You'll See It doesn't mean it's automatically a melancholia-infused song; it's slower and perhaps more beautiful but the pace is still there and it's quite surprising. Obviously, the moments of the neoclassical beauty are more often then not interrupted by the modern-sounding post-rock music that introduces a huge-scaled grandeur feeling, not so different from what Nordic Giants did this year. 

This multitude of various sounds complimented by subtle electronica and trumpets (or trumpet-like samples) in Losing Home and the glitches in Antares Goes Supernova is what makes the album a must-go-to for the fans of less traditional, more modern and eclectic post-rock music.

Subtle Realms, Subtle Worlds costs 8.5 EUR (7 GBP).

Shadow Universe - The Unspeakable World (2017)

Check: Don't Look at It and You'll See It 

Country: Slovenia

Genre: modern post-rock

Label: Monotreme Records

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YRRE - Luhlae x The Witch (2022)

When talking about Swiss music this year, I am excitingly waiting for E-L-R's sophomore album. But there is something else that proved to be as compelling and gloomy. YRRE's debut album Luhlae x The Witch is a soundtrack of fear and noise disguised as modern drone post-metal album and I love it.

This very special album is "an adaption of a ciné-concert composed to the movie ‘The VVitch'" by Robert Eggers and was created for the festival 2300 Plan 9 les Etranges Nuits du Cinéma and performed for the first time at Bikini Test in La Chaux-de-Fonds under the name Luhlae x The Witch (thus the title of the album of course). The movie itself grew up to be an icon of ambitious horror genre and the original music by Mark Korven is masterpiece on its own. This album seems to be an interpretation of the movie through post-rock and post-metal sounds. There won't be any surprise when revealed that the album is particularly dark and heavy. It achieves that with very modern post-rock/metal means though.

While the band describe themselves as dark ambient noise, there's way too much of the guitars and drums and other effects. It is, yes, soaked in noise which makes the angry and desperate post-metal vocals that sound in the backgrounds even more poignant. And in general, the feeling of horror is very well tangible in every second of this fantastic release. There's quality of sound, there's inspiring noise, there's captivating ambiance. Fantastic.

Luhlae x The Witch costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Uhtceare

Country: Switzerland

Genre: noise post-metal

Label: Hummus Records

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Nordic Giants - Symbiosis (2022)

The third album from the British dark-folk-inspired electronic post-rock duo Nordic Giants is here and, as always, Symbiosis is a must-go-to for anyone who subscribes to the atmospheric post-rock music, even if it's delivered by very modern means.

The Rôka & Löki duo make a real experience when seen live. The attention to the band's image with the audiovisuals, costumes and the show in general, is beyond spectacular. I remember them from their Kraków gig back in 2017 and the memory is very vivid, no wonder that they advertise this aspect of their works even before mentioning their own music by saying that this "visceral experience that goes beyond the normal descriptors". This image is backed up by the music itself - clearly very fresh and modern take on post-rock music, but, at the same time, extremely atmospheric and massive. They create their music based on the prominent role of keyboard and synth beauty that is turned into loud post-rock by electronic noise and drums' tenacity. I love this balance between the traditional and the modern, the catchy and the atmospheric which is, again, especially well-tangible during the live shows.

This multidimensional approach to music is only strengthen by the inclusion of guest artists with Freyja (who cooperates with the duo frequently; here, in my favourite track on the album: Spheres), Welsh Chae Antony Winter and indie folk singer/songwriter Alex Hedley as vocalists as well as the addition of strings that always bring some fantastic atmospheric value. While the album clearly is quite diverse, it creates one very coherent, Nordic-inspired spectacle.

Symbiosis costs 7.5 EUR (5.99 GBP).

Check: Spheres

Country: UK

Genre: synth post-rock

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Aesthesys - Alignments (2020) PL

Aesthesys, post-rockowy kwartet ze wschodu, nie jest specjalnie znany reszcie świata, a tymczasem ukazała się niedawno ich już siódma płyta. W dodatku wypełniona jest ona naprawdę przednią muzyką z unikalnym brzmieniem. Sprawdźmy więc Alignments.

Post-rock plus neoklasyka, ta kombinacja łatwo może wpaść w pułapkę kiczowatej podniosłości. Na szczęście Rosjanom udało się tego uniknąć, mimo że smyczki, klawisze jak i subtelna elektronika to zdecydowanie nie tylko dodatki, a fundamenty ich muzyki. Co ciekawe właśnie tę elektroniczną, bardzo nowoczesną stronę swojego instrumentalnego grania artyści podkreślając barwnie je opisując słowami "robotów i sieci neuronowych ulubiony progresywny zespół, wkrótce będący oficjalną ścieżką dźwiękową dla rebelii sztucznej inteligencji".

Natomiast o tym że zespół wie co robi się z gitarami świadczy choćby Transcendants, w którym surowe dźwięki gitar połączone są w niezły sposób ze smyczkami. Prawdziwy pazur pokazują jednak w Hello World, kawałku o tak charakterystycznych epickich momentach brzmiących jak inspirowane dub stepem. A po nim zespół wciąż ma kilka niespodzianek w zanadrzu, tak jak ksylofon w Better Stranger chociażby. 

Alignments kosztuje 38 złotych (10 USD).

Sprawdź: Hello World

Kraj: Rosja

Szufladka: modern post-rock

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Aesthesys - Alignments (2020) EN

Aesthesys, a post-rock quartet from the East, are not very well-known for the rest of the world but they just released their seventh (!) album. What's more important, it's filled with some absolutely top shelf music with unique sound. Let's then check Alignments.

Post-rock plus neoclassicism, this is a combination that makes it easy to fall into a trap of the kitschy epicness. Fortunately, the Russians managed to espace that and that's even though strings, keys and subtle electronics are not only ornaments but the core of their music. This electronic, very modern face is what they point out to in their music describing it in a picturesque way as "Robots' and neural networks' most favourite progressive rock band, soon to be the official soundtrack of the AI uprising".

That having said, the band really knows what to do with guitars as well and it's proved by, for example, Transcendants in which the coarse guitar sounds correspond well with strings. But the real pugnacious face is shown in Hello World, a track with so characteristic epic moments sounding like inspired by dub step. And afterwards, the band still have some aces in the sleeves, like for instance the xylophone in Better Stranger. 

Alignments costs 10 USD.

Check: Hello World

Country: Russia

Genre: modern post-rock

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Antethic - Mythographer (2020) EN

Antethic, a Petersburh-based trio, have already two good albums in their career and now they're adding the third one - filled with spectacular post-rock release called Mythographer.

The album starts in the best way possible. The first sounds of the opening I Glow make an exciting blend of traditional post-rock with unorthodox ideas, frightening mood and electronic shenanigans. These vibes of modernized post-rock are clear throughout the whole work be it in synth keys (as in Frontier) or more experimental sounds (Haoma). One To Move a Mountain is on one hand a tribute to guitar-based drone, on the other - a celebration of experimental composing and unique instrumental-electronic music.

After the great last year, one could worry that this one could be worse post-rock-wise. Meanwhile it's quite the opposite and the Russians' album is a great prove of this. Especially as not every band would decide to so bravely marry electronics and guitars. Take it and enjoy.

Mythographer costs 7.99 GBP.

Check: I Glow

Country: Russia

Genre: modern post-rock
Label: Holy Roar Records

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Antethic - Mythographer (2020) PL

Antethic, trio z Petersburga, ma za sobą już dwie udane płyty, a teraz dodaje trzecią - wypełnione widowiskowym post-rockiem wydawnictwo Mythographer.

Płyta fantastycznie się zaczyna. Pierwsze dźwięki otwierającego ją I Glow to ekscytująca mieszanka tradycyjnego post-rocka z nietuzinkowymi pomysłami, przerażającą atmosferą i elektronicznymi wstawkami. Ten duch unowocześnionego post-rocka unosi się nad całą płytą, czy to w postaci syntetycznych klawiszy (jak w Frontier) czy bardziej eksperymentalnych dźwięków (Haoma). Takie To Move a Mountain z jednej strony jest pochwałą gitarowego drone'y, z drugiej celebrą eksperymentalnej kompozycji i nieoczywistej muzyki instrumentalno-elektronicznej.

Po znakomitym zeszłym roku można było się obawiać, że w tym post-rock przeżyje lekki kryzys. Tymczasem jest zupełnie inaczej, a płyta Rosjan jest na to kolejnym dowodem. A cenna jest również dlatego, ze rzadko kiedy zespoły decydują się na tak odważne ożenienie ze sobą elektroniki i gitar. Brać i słuchać.

Mythographer kosztuje 40 złotych (7,99 GBP).

Sprawdź: I Glow

Kraj: Rosja

Szufladka: modern post-rock
Label: Holy Roar Records

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