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)

:bandcamp:

:facebook:
:soundcloud:

:spotify:

Los Sara Fontan - Consuelo (2026)

The Spanish duo Sara and Edi (who does look like Taika Waititi in Our Flag Means Death) was part of last year's Pohoda festival's line-up and that's how I got to know them. Their experimental music with unbelievable energy and passion was my personal highlight of the whole event. So when they released an album last month, I knew it needed to be posted about in here.

Like most of their music in general, this album is a them taking a stance against the modern world that makes our lives harder with technocracy, fascination with the right-wing politics and climate change to name just a few terrifying things. The title's "consolation" is found in "small communities that challenge the techno-feudalist logic and propose new hopeful solutions". This album and this music is part of this. The instrumental music made with violin/keyboard sounds that heavily rely on the frantic drums goes from experimental to almost post-rock in matter of seconds and I love it.

The experimental parts are heavily influenced by electronica that is more nerve-shattering than dance-able. But these are mostly introductions to the instrumental passages that are created to make you feel like dancing. It really feels like the human here fights (and wins against) the machine. Even though there are no lyrics, this album works both as a work of music and as an anthem against everything that's wrong around us. To feel it even better, check out the duo live if you have a possibility!

Consuelo costs 9 EUR.

Check: Zapatos, Selfie, Genocidio, Makeup

Country: Spain

Genre: experimental instrumental

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

Softcult - When a Flower Doesn't Grow (2026)

Whenever the Arn-Horn sisters release an album, it makes a storm in the less mainstream music world. The Canadian duo and their skillfully crafted songs (and very coherent image) charm the audience with the blend of dreaminess and punk's attitude, making the artists call their music "riotgaze".

And I feel like this riotgaze gets better and better with every release so it's only apt that the debut album (so far the band has only EPs in their discography) is their best work yet. As things should be. Short album with short songs the range of whose stretches from delicate, dreamy compositions to high-paced shoegaze indie rock of the best quality. The latter is represented by my favourite in here: 16/25. Incredible flow, the backgrounds that burst with energy and quality melody make it feel like a breeze, wishing it was longer than two minutes, thirty seconds. But that's the thing about this music: it's short and beautiful. Hurry loving the music.

But there is more! She Said, He Said is a hit banger, Hurt Me is the sisters embracing their punk side while When a Flower Doesn't Grow closes the album with delicate, airy sounds that turns into the most rock sounds on the release. Oh and very punkish of them is also that...

When a Flower Doesn't Grow costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: 16/25

Country: Canada

Genre: riotgaze

Label: Easy Life Records

Softcult - See You in the Dark (2023)

:bandcamp:

:facebook:
:official:

:instagram:

:youtube:

:spotify:

Born Erased - Birds Drink My Blood (2025)

Angel Simitchiev has appeared on this blog twice already but never under the moniker of Born Erased. His dark ambient soundscapes are of the best quality and now this is further certified by the fact that the December album was released by Cyclic Law. 

If you wonder what's the deal with the surprising and gory title of the album, its description explains it: the album is inspired by the brutal yet impressive nature of... nature. If you (metaphorically) squint a little, you can hear the album as a distorted soundtrack to documentary movie on the wonders and dangers of [insert any place that is not yet entirely tamed by humans]. Especially the moments where Simitchiev's dark ambient reveals some more ethereal sides (as in Voider). This probably means that, although still in the realm of ambient soundscapes, the tracks here are structured in a cinematic way, making them way more approachable to fans of other kinds of music.

Until, of course, this facade is completely destroyed by the industrial anxiety in Throne of Cages, but I guess it also fits the topic quite well. The nature is brutal, but the humans canbe even more so.

Birds Drink My Blood costs 8 EUR.

Check: Voider

Country: Bulgaria

Genre: cinematic dark ambient

Label: Cyclic Law

Shentov, Simitchiev, Lukanov - Pain and Power (2024)

Angel Simitchiev & Linus Schrab - Airborne (2021)

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:soundcloud:

:youtube:

:spotify:

Eveleen - falling rain and the light will take you there (2025)

Seta Respati creates his music as Eveleen and he has been doing it for over ten years now. Still, released last December album is his long-play debut so it's worth celebrating. He says that he "make[s] some noise, some people called it art" and I would be one of those "some people" since the single From Me To You I mentioned in here back in 2018.

I love it when I listen to one-person post-rock projects and am unable to say if it's really done by only one artist. This is the case with the Indonesian artist. His post-rock is delicate and skillfully crafted, it's definitely more about creating small gems of melodies than overwhelming with sound. The relaxing sounds feel like lying down on grass and experiencing the world around you from the safe and content position. The inclusion of piano keys that sound like glockenspiel in my ears, only adds to this feeling, making me think of the most relaxed tracks from Sigur Rós (yes, that's why I like dawn: an ascension the most).

So sit back, relax and get transported to the beautiful soundscapes provided by the talented artist from the far away land of Indonesia.

falling rain and the light will take you there costs 10 USD.

Check: dawn: an ascension 

Country: Indonesia

Genre: solo post-rock

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:soundcloud:

:youtube:

:spotify:

Bloed - Tranen (2025)

So I have this little tradition that before every edition of Dunk!Festival, I listen to the whole discographies of all of the announced bands. I listen to the artists I know to start celebrating this fantastic event and to the artists I don't know to assess if I want to see them live or choose eating something instead. And it's a great thing I do that as this made me discover Bloed, the Belgian band that combines everything I like in aggressive metal sounds.

A sister and two brothers make up the line up of this fresh outfit for whom this is the long distance debut. And saying they play metal is an extreme understatement. It's more like aggressive electronic music (sometimes makes me think of Crystal Castles) with aggressive vocals (the metal part here) and great bass lines-drums framework. Last year I was amazed how much I loved Igorrr's single track called Headbutt where truly impressive metal anger was combined with whatever Igorrr does to maintain their image of true weirdoes. So, in short, Bloed's music sounds like Headbutt without the weird. Electronica very rarely compliments the metal vocals so well so I give kudos to the rookies from the depth of my heart.

I believe Bloed's walls of noise will make many of Dunk!'s regulars blush while the exciting, modern compositions filled with ever-changing pace and surprising bursts of noise will force the audience to reach their limits in front of the stage. I, personally, can't wait.

Tranen costs 9 EUR.

Check: Druk

Country: Belgium

Genre: electronica-based modern metal

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:spotify:

Sunset Images - Oscilador (2026)

Back in 2018 I attended one of the best discontinued festivals in Poland. And that edition of SpaceFest was brilliant, it featured SPOIWO (one of two best post-rock bands in here, together with Ciśnienie, as we know), Medicine Boy and this unlikely hero: a psychedelic band from Mexico. And as most of SpaceFest artists, it took the whole audience far from Earth. Now, Samuel Osorio and the team come back with their third release and it's filled with the same vibes I remember.

In many places I can notice that Sunset Images is tagged as shoegaze project. While there certainly are some clear inspiration drawn from the genre, to me it's really the psychedelic rock that makes it so special about the Mexicans. Yes, there are fuzzy, ethereal vocals that add the airiness to the whole stuff, but they are accompanied by the roughest-sounding, desert-like guitars ever with a little trace of electronica. It is an invitation to the trance induced by the guitar noise that takes us to the hot and sun-kissed desolations of Central America so everyone can appreciate the psychedelic sunsets on their own.

The album, mixed by Alberto González (of Lorelle Meets the Obsolete) and mastered by Oliver Ackermann (A Place to Bury Strangers), revolves (!) around the way our world revolves all the time. "Our world is cyclical; everything repeats itself: our history, our customs, our trends, our way of communicating", the band says and, furthermore, they illustrate it with their repetition-rich music that goes on and on, bringing the audience a message of criticism of everything wrong about the reality around (!) us. 

Oscilador costs 8 EUR (150 MXN).

Check: El tiempo oscila y muere al inicio (Tommy)

Country: Mexico

Genre: shoegazey psychedelic rock

Label: Dedstrange

Sunset Images - Traumatismo Nacional (2021)

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:soundcloud:

:youtube:

:spotify: