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)

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

Amek Collective always brings to my ears something that is worth mentioning. This time the ambient label from Bulgaria released a joint-effort from three their compatriots: Ivan Shentov (aka Krāllār), Martin Lukanov, and Angel Simitchiev (aka Mytrip).

This is the second collaboration of the gentlemen after the 2022's Palimpsest. Like on that album, Pain and Power offers minimalist but extremely dark ambient sounds that build up the reflective state in one's mind the longer the album plays. This is music that feels like the earth's subtle movements, like the dark caves look, like a persistent call to go back to the simpler times. It should be listened to in complete darkness and then it's felt in your bones.

Pain and Power costs 5 EUR.

Check: Light Barrier

Country: Bulgaria

Genre: minimal dark ambient

Label: Amek Collective

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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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slntsqencs - haar (2021)

The duo slntsqencs consists of the Gdańsk-based producer Arkadiusz Krupiński a.k.a. random_orb and guitarist Petar Petkov. The latter is better known as ate and under this moniker was posted about on this blog back in 2018. Together they have been playing since 2019 and now can show their debut album haar to the audience.

Although it starts with rather harsh sounds of tibor, it quickly gets smoother and calmer. However, there are still moments of sonic anxiety, the best example being abode with its ambient electronica sounding almost like neoclassical composition and the guitar drones that feel dark and dangerous on top of that. This opposition of the pleasantly calm backgrounds and nerve-stimulating coarse guitars is present throughout the release and fits its title as "haar" refers to a weather phenomenon in which the smooth fog freezes over seas. The whole, industrial-flavoured album creates a perfect balance of the two opposition and transfers it onto the listeners.

haar costs 5 EUR.

ate - Secondary Drowning (2018)

Check: abode 

Country: Poland

Genre: guitar soundscape

Label: Amek Collective

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LATE - Far North Eleven (2021)

Emil Mitov, the Sofia-based electronic music artist is better known as LATE and, after two EPs, he showed his experimental and poignant at the same time music on the debut LP called Far North Eleven, courtesy of, as always, Amek Collective.

The audience can find here the "deeper and lengthier descent into thick atmospheres and sparse, contemplative melodies, soaked in despair". This is not a soothing soundscape inspired by the Far North, it's definitely coarser, sharper, uncomfortable in many places just like the rocky side on the cover art is not a white sheet of smooth polar ice. The electronic bits are harsh and unheralded, taking a lot from industrial heaviness and rapidness but also made a bit tender with the ethereal voices appearing from time to time in the backgrounds. Or some neoclassical traces like in my favourite track here: Evocation.

Far North Eleven costs 5 EUR.

Check: Evocation

Country: Bulgaria

Genre: industrial electronica

Label: Amek Collective

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Cyberian - Dark Orphism (2021)

Stefan Bachvarov is another Bulgarian ambient artist who I got to know thanks to the amazing label Amek Collective. Better known as Cyberian, Bachvarov collaborated with Angel Simitchiev as Vague Voices and now shows his own album called Dark Orphism.

The album is filled with very fittingly dark music. It stems from the artist's interest in "paganism, nature, and the occult". The title suggests inspirations taken either form very psychedelic art (Cubism derivative so it must be veeery psychedelic) or Greek mythology (pretty dark part of it if you ask me). Anyway, it may be both, as Bachvarov's music is filled with trance-inducing soundscapes kept in a very bleak and gloomy atmosphere. But it's absolutely not all about homogeneous soundscapes; there's a lot of noise and a lot of broken rhythm that makes it almost danceable. Almost.

Dark Orphism costs 6 EUR.

Check: Seeds of Death

Country: Bulgaria

Genre: dark experimental electronica

Label: Amek Collective

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Angel Simitchiev & Linus Schrab - Airborne (2021)

So it happened that I knew Angel Simitchiev as MyTrip and Linus Schrab as V I C I M before, but when they joined forces on this new album, they decided to leave their nicknames behind and instead use their real life names. And so Airborne happened, yet another fantastic ambient album with which the Amek Collective label brings the Eastern European gloomy electronica closer to the public.

The two artists bring to life what's best about industrially unnerving ambient soundscapes. Their compositions can have some beautiful and peaceful moments, but there's always the feeling of the incoming danger somewhere within (check out This Is Our Garden with its disquieting bass that haunts the backgrounds). Not to mention that some tracks are straight up dark and overwhelming with atmosphere, just like the brilliant, war-like-sounding A Smoke That Will Never Clear. Either way, the balance is shifted towards the dark and this is what glues the audience to the speakers throughout the whole album.

Airborne costs 5 EUR.

Check: A Smoke That Will Never Clear

Country: Bulgaria

Genre: industrial soundscape

Label: Amek Collective

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Zguba - Potwarz (2019) EN

Zguba is a Polish artist residing in Bulgaria. This fact alone makes it already interesting. But there's more, he creates a great quality neoclassical ambient. You have to listen to it on his second album called Potwarz.

The album was released by the Polish Opus Elefantum Collective and you have to admit that the label is present all over it with guest appearing Foghornu, or Tomasz Turski (who also released an album not long ago) and Maciej Jurga (known from Vysoké Čelo) who created the cover art. The artist's music offers a lot of good stuff: beautiful instruments, slow and climatic pace, experiment and mystery in Raróg and finally also aggressive and industrial vibes of the title track Potwarz. And although the music here is mostly reflexive, there's no way to get bored listening to the album. Especially during the closing track Szlam.

Potwarz costs 3 EUR.

Check: Szlam

Country: Poland/Bulgaria

Genre: ambient neoclassical

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ate - Secondary Drowning (2018) EN

ate is a project created by Bulgarian artist Petar Petkov (actually Poland-based), who elevated his experimental drones to the unbelievable heights of melancholy. "Secondary Drowning" includes tons of emotions expressed with this calm and at the same time overwhelming music.

The title of the album is a phenomenon where a person drowns with their lungs filling up with water long after they were rescued. It is a fitting metaphor here as the density and massiveness of the music generated by the Bulgarian knocks down and makes you want to give up and just let the currents of music carry you. The album is divided into four parts and they offer condensed melancholy you can't ignore. Especially in the most beautiful here "Wave III" while getting this airy angelic vibe.

"Secondary Drowning" costs 5 EUR.

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