For the Innermost

Artist: Ansiktsløs Album: Crushing Earthly Semblance Label: Dark Odyssey Release date: April 2026 One of the hardest tasks these days is going back to this genre's roots and striving for that trademark atmosphere conjured by the forefathers without simply aping or copying their work. That, however, is exactly what R. Ikstelzok (of Apocryphos and formerly Psychomanteum fame) set out to do with his side project Ansiktsløs, whose debut album Sideworlds was released on the mighty

Artist: Kryoscope Album: Deadly White Label: Self-released Release date: April 2025 Among the myriad subgenres of dark ambient, polar dark ambient is one of the most fascinating and simultaneously one of the most difficult to pull off. Like the endless, white, frigid landscapes that it depicts, it involves a certain level of barrenness and minimalism even for dark ambient standards. It's in this somewhat forgotten niche that the (presumably?) young new artist Kryoscope has de

Artist: Inade & Troum Album: To Pan Eon Label: Drone Records Release date: March 2026 Here comes a release that definitely wasn't on my bingo card for 2026. It's exciting enough when Troum releases anything, sure; it's perhaps even more exciting to see Inade with (as far as I know) their first new studio material since 2018. But to see these two absolute titans of the German drone/ambient scene team up out of the blue, and not even for a split release, but a full-blown colla

Artist: Brooddark Album: Deliro Label: Winter-Light Release date: March 2026 If there's one thing I appreciate in a (relatively) new artist above all else, it's the spirit of iconoclasm. It takes a lot of courage to release one's music out into the already saturated dark ambient world, but a great deal more to do so without simply trying (and often failing) to make music in the same vein as the genre forefathers or one's direct influences. Brooddark, the alias of the talented

Artist: The Black Monolith Album: Pleroma Label: Self-released Release date: December 2025 I have had the pleasure of reviewing The Black Monolith's work twice already over the previous 18 months, and before I knew it, we were treated with yet another full-length release by this prolific Greek artist. Well, take the full-length part with a pinch of salt, considering that more than half of this album is composed of standalone tracks released on various compilations and other