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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Wombed - Still Nothing (2021)

Last year I was shocked and then super sad over the news about Medicine Boy splitting up and eventually amazed by the way they said their good byes to the audience. It hasn't been long to find out what half of the duo, André Leo, is up to. He just showed his debut solo EP called Still Nothing and it's exactly what you would imagine it to be.

Leo describes his music as coming out of his "love of acoustic roots music and minimal, melancholic ambiance" and then adding an extremely picturesque statement that it's "cough syrup blues". And yes, the blues/folk/americana vibes are oozed on by pitch black atmosphere and slowcore pace that both are taken from your blackest but not necessarily worst dreams. The whole material sounds surprisingly but also absolutely not surprisingly like it could be featured on Medicine Boy's album, perhaps as b-sides. It's obviously not a bad thing as the band reached unbelievable levels of black dream pop class and it was very much Leo's credit.

Also, I love how he still works with Lucy Kruger, his partner from Medicine Boy, on some stuff and even dedicates the last but one track to her. Cute.

Still Nothing costs 5 EUR.

Check: Wire Wig

Country: RSA/Germany

Genre: slowcore dark folk

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Harkane - Fallen King Simulacrum (2020)

I'm a sucker for atmospheric post-metal, sometimes it means I listen to cringy and kitschy stuff but not this time. Harkane are Italian black metal band whose monumental music is not only dark and heavy but also extremely touching, just like their new material from Fallen King Simulacrum.

Dusktone, probably my favourite metal label, describes their music as "multifaceted barrage of coalescing poignant and orchestral parts, exploding in a unique, yet tremendous atmosphere". On one hand the vocals are very traditionally scream-oriented and rough, always making my throat hurt only from listening. On the other, the vital choir/orchestral parts add up to the massive atmosphere with no trace of kitschy falseness. Yes, it is monumental and absolutely breathtaking but it's only in good way. The themes the band draws inspiration from include the past of the Apennine Peninsula with ancient Rome appearing all over the place, being especially intriguing in Caligula with the opera-like "Ave Ceasar" as a chorus. Equally interesting a track is Hidden Amongst the Ruins of Ur as well as the single one, already appearing on the blog before, Fallen King Simulacrum. 

Fallen King Simulacrum costs 4.90 EUR.

Check: Caligula 

Country: Italy

Genre: atmospheric black metal

Label: Dusktone

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Michael Denny & Simon Sylvester - Imaginary Mountains (2020)

Michael Denny is a composer, Simon Sylvester is a writer, both are related to the land of Cumbria, and together they created an album with music stretching from ambient soundscapes to mild post-rock ornamented with poems read by Hilary Pezet. This is Imaginary Mountains.

The album makes a "soundtrack to a walk in the wilds of another Cumbria" that was created for Aerial Festival, a festival of sounds and words in the Lake District. Very folk culture vibes here. And so the presence of the land and its people with their folklore and history is extremely audible throughout the work. This is, first of all, due to the lyrics/poems with the themes of last year's tough experiences of pandemics and lockdowns situated in the first rows but also considering a lot of other burning matters. 

But there are also samples of nature sounds and people's lives incorporated into the music and being its vital parts. Some pieces are extremely touching, most notably Fools We Are with its existential theme and very post-rock-like composition and ecologically engaged Ever Smaller Circle. There's a lot of  difficult topics here but aren't they all parts of our life now? 

Imaginary Mountains costs 6 GBP.

Check: Fools We Are 

Country: UK

Genre: spoken word post-rock

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Plaisir - Sap (2020)

A new trio consisting of a French, an Italian and a Swede, and hailing from, surprise, surprise, Berlin, the most multicultural city I can imagine, released their first material in the form of an EP called Sap. A very short one, like the title itself, but impressing enough to catch my attention.

The suggestive (though in fact innocent) cover art hides some dream pop with a warm, intimate atmosphere (perhaps also because of French language they start in). The dreaminess of their music is only strengthen by the mesmerizing guitar backgrounds and some occasional bell-like sounds. This doesn't mean they don't do catchy music, with the best examples in Bread for the Dead and, primarily, Poste Francaise (with the best use of spoken word ever and also directing the whole album towards more coldwave-like areas). The EP is very short but also so genre-rich I am extremely curious what they come out with next time. Lovely album.

Sap costs 5 EUR.

Check: Poste Francaise

Country: France/Italy/Sweden/Germany

Genre: dream pop-wave

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Sun Sleeps - Care Less (2020)

Sun Sleeps or Heft or Zwel Mun Wint, ambient artist, producer and the head of the Urban Gut label. Simply saying, a Renaissance man of ambient music from Myanmar.

Under this moniker, the artist focuses on "piano improvisation on atmospheric layers and psychedelic loops" - the impro part is important here as the artist wanted his music to reflect life that's inherently filled with smaller or bigger errors. Still, the effect is very much soothing with the ethereal soundscapes  ornamented with extremely subtle neoclassical elements dripping out of the speakers like pudding, after all it's been created "to lean back and take some self-care when the time comes to take away what you have in your life with no warning".

Care Less costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Fatal Petal

Country: Myanmar

Genre: soothing ambient

Label: Urban Gut

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MANTIS - Glint (2020)

MANTIS, the Belgian one, is a band that has been on the border of post-rock mainstream for some time now. I remember them from their debut LP called Magnolia but there was also a number of EPs. At the end of the last year, they came back with another LP called Glint, released by dunk!records, and proved they have everything to be more recognized in the world.

Complex but not hasty compositions on heavy, almost post-metal-like guitars with occasional violins and vocals (by Jacques Nomdefamille in quite ethereal Altamont with those shoegaze'y vibes) - this is their music. Big role of the bass line makes it very melodic in a darker way, something like math-rock meeting post-metal, the chaotic energy and heavy atmosphere together make their music roll. This feels best when the musicians give themselves more room to fully develop the compositions like it is in the longest tracks on the album. Especially in the already mentioned Altamont in which they reach some tribal-trance-pure energy levels or, though a shorter one, Hessian, flowing with loud and crunchy guitars and lively pace. It makes me wonder how awesome their live gigs, can't wait to see them somewhere in Europe.

Glint costs 7 EUR.

Check: Altamont 

Country: Belgium

Genre: heavy math-rock

Label: dunk!records

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