DARK AMBIENT

[post-morten]

Hostia All is One LP (Dark Vinyl, 1997) -- In this age where proliferation seems to be a virtue, Hostia was truly an anachronism. From what I've heard the guy behind the project dabbled with techno/psytrance in a number of different guises, but apart from a few compilation appearances this album is the one and only release by Hostia. Which is too bad, since it is a truly remarkable exercise in dark, cavernous ambient with occult/ritualistic leanings. Imagine a 3-dimensional coordinate system, with Bad Sector, Predominance and (early) Sigillum S representing the axes, then Hostia constitutes the origo. One of the unsung greats of the genre, and total recommendation! Strangely enough, given its ltd-ness (449) it still seems to be readily available from Tesco and various other outlets after all this years. (And of course available in the blogosphere too...)

[Zeno Marx]

I didn't find that Hostia special in any way.  I went into it with big expectations and raced to order it when it was released.  Competent, but really nothing beyond that.

[P-K]

i understood the Hostia-dude went on making goatrance.....

[post-morten]

I didn't find that Hostia special in any way.  I went into it with big expectations and raced to order it when it was released.  Competent, but really nothing beyond that.

Fair enough. It doesn't break any new ground, but I find it really well executed (particulary the B side) and especially for being a one-off venture. It had been interesting to see where this project could have evolved over a couple of more albums.

[A.R.GH]

Talking about Dark Ambient...any recommendations on webzines with a main focus (or at least an important part) on this style?

[Litharge]

The new Blood Box CD, "Funeral In An Empty Room", on Loki Foundation:

http://www.loki-found.de/index.html

I'll be purchasing it the next time I make an online order from a distro that stocks the disc.

"Seven years after the highly acclaimed Iron Dream CD (Eibon) and 14 years after the CD debut, A World of Hurt (Malignant/Katyn), Blood Box finally returns with a new album, Funeral In An Empty Room. As one part of revered dark ambient project Yen Pox, Michael JV Hensley is certainly no stranger to creating epic and immersive soundscapes, and with Funeral In An Empty Room, he has yet again meticulously crafted another highly detailed, intensely atmospheric work. Awash in slow, dreamlike waves of morphing textures, and blissfully unfurling cosmic drift, this is nothing less than an aural vision down the hypnotic path to the unknown; serene yet gloomy, with multiple layers of swelling tones, subdued melodies, and ominous, spacey effects.

Comes with 12-page booklet."

[Nyodene D]

Simulacra, Phragments, Korinth, etc...

All incredible bands.

[Litharge]

Yeah, I know the many of you aren't interested in this and i'm not particularly fond of most either. However, there ARE good dark ambient out there, done with skill (not to confuse with multilayering and ten thousand sounds happening in one track). One problem many have with it is the "generic" sounds, but I tend to think there is at least the same amount of "basic sounds" around in filthy noise.

Actually, the multi-layering of many shifting, evolving sounds and sonic structures (for lack of a better description of dark ambient's frequent substitution for elements like harmony and melody) is a trait that really appeals to me; good dark ambient's dense soundscapes act as a satisfying counterpoint to the often sparser, blunter compositions of power electronics.

Although, one aspect of much of the dark ambient I've heard in the past decade or so is that while a lot of it is generally competent, and engaging while actually listening, a great many DA acts often don't truly stand out in the field, and fail to make deep, lasting impressions of their details and individual characters between plays.  I've recently purchase numerous DA releases from labels such as Malignant, Cyclic Law, and others; while the listener can usually count on not being disappointed by most of their random DA titles, I've also found that by this point I don't really expect genuine excellence from most of those labels' dark ambient offerings.

[SKY BURIAL]

Talking about Dark Ambient...any recommendations on webzines with a main focus (or at least an important part) on this style?

Not necessarily all dark ambient but a website that reviews strictly ambient: http://hypnagogue.net/

[A.R.GH]

Talking about Dark Ambient...any recommendations on webzines with a main focus (or at least an important part) on this style?

Not necessarily all dark ambient but a website that reviews strictly ambient: http://hypnagogue.net/

yes, thanks, I discovered that one recently, checking Fallse Mirror reviews

[xdementia]

The new Blood Box CD, "Funeral In An Empty Room", on Loki Foundation:

http://www.loki-found.de/index.html

I'll be purchasing it the next time I make an online order from a distro that stocks the disc.

"Seven years after the highly acclaimed Iron Dream CD (Eibon) and 14 years after the CD debut, A World of Hurt (Malignant/Katyn), Blood Box finally returns with a new album, Funeral In An Empty Room. As one part of revered dark ambient project Yen Pox, Michael JV Hensley is certainly no stranger to creating epic and immersive soundscapes, and with Funeral In An Empty Room, he has yet again meticulously crafted another highly detailed, intensely atmospheric work. Awash in slow, dreamlike waves of morphing textures, and blissfully unfurling cosmic drift, this is nothing less than an aural vision down the hypnotic path to the unknown; serene yet gloomy, with multiple layers of swelling tones, subdued melodies, and ominous, spacey effects.

Comes with 12-page booklet."

I'm playing with Bloodbox in about 2 weeks! Needless to say I'm psyched.

[Zeno Marx]

Not sure where to put this, but Tehom is said to be recording again.  Good news.

[Zeno Marx]

Not sure where to put this, but Tehom is said to be recording again.  Good news.

I thought he died from a war related illness?

check the Bio page:
http://www.tehom.org/

[Zeno Marx]

LUSTMORD

Nice 24/48 recording from 2011-06-13 Leipzig on Dime right now.  Good sound.  Great listen.  Worth hearing and archiving.

http://www.dimeadozen.org/

[cvac]

I have to agree with some of the sentiments earlier in this thread. A lot of recent "dark ambient" stuff, almost anything from the 2000s, just doesn't sound very good to me at all. Matter of fact, a lot of the bigger names from the mid to late 90s don't do too much for me either.

To me, one of the best and somewhat under-appreciated projects from the 90s was Mandible Chatter. They made four very good albums back then that hardly anyone talks about these days. "Hair Hair Lock and Lore" is probably my favorite from them.

Another favorite of mine is Jeff Greinke's first album, "Cities in Fog". Very dark without being corny and miles away from the new-agey stuff he does these days.