“Dark Ambient” Reviews

The Scottish ambient composer employs haunting drones and delicate arrangements to explore memory and the passage of time.

The Russian composer creates a serene, otherworldly space that provides a welcome refuge in troubled times.

Two icons in the ambient genre pay tribute to Andrei Tarkovsky’s philosophical 1979 sci-fi film.

The Russian composer’s slowly unfurling drones and sonic drift evoke a sense of mystery and wonder.

Alistair Rennie’s latest album of dark ambience avoids the genre’s clichés thanks to its diverse sonic shades and forlorn musicality.

Xenoplanetary does have a slightly different tenor than previous “Planetary” albums

Interplanetary’s overarching theme concerns the strangeness of deep space travel and its effects on the human mind.

Narratively, Archeoplanetary unfolds like a classic H. P. Lovecraft story.

While there are moments of awe and even beauty, the prevailing sense is one of doom and ruin.

Who knew music inspired by Warhammer 40,000’s grimdark vision could be so… beautiful?

Inspired by a classic ’80s manga, this is an album of dark, drone-y ambience par excellence.

The latest from Johan Levin’s long-running dark ambient project is a harrowing, exhilarating journey through desolate places.

Raison d’être’s dark ambience may begin in the shadows, but it’s never content to stay there.

Hypnosis is difficult material that takes the listener on a mental journey through surreal and haunting places.

Mise en Abyme is a fascinating, disturbing, enthralling, unsettling listen, and one of the most accomplished Raison d’être releases to date.

Proof that quieter and subtler can prove more impactful and haunting than any barrage of monstrous or terrifying sounds.

For those of you who have always found Massive Attack to be too poppy and upbeat, Kairos might be just the thing.

Melancholic dark ambience that is as good as anything I’ve purchased from the likes of Projekt, Cold Meat Industries, Manifold, Soleilmoon, etc.

As with all of Caul’s work, there can be beauty, reverence, and warmth, even in the darkest and most foreboding of places and sounds.

As the title implies, this is dark, dank, atmospheric stuff, hinting at all of the aforementioned imagery.