concreteweb - Ivan Tibos.

Aneraxt

Dirk — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 20:07:36 +0000

Artist:

Aneraxt

Album Title:

Democide Aftermath

Release Date:

Friday, September 4, 2026

Label:

Ardawahisht Kollective

Distribution:

Ardawahisht Kollective

Review Type:

digital

What is told here, is the truth within you, me, all of us; which no one can see, or hear, but deep inside, one can feel that it’s breathing, watching every minute we walk this earth in darkness.

First a personal manifest. As mentioned a six hundred and sixty five times before, and I’ll repeat it once more: Concreteweb focuses on dark-edged Aural Art in the first place. It’s an independent webzine that writes about sonic efforts, not about politics.

Yet then again, I am a human being (I really am after all) with an own opinion; that’s why I often want to dedicate a specific review to a person, to a band, a situation, a thought, or to an event that is happening right now. So, this one is for those who suffer for being born on the wrong place or in a wrong era, and, as well, for those who combat against hypocrisy, greed, useless destruction and oppressive governments all over our lost planet. We all have to redeem our existence…

This said…

Ardawahisht Kollective is a family of musicians from Persian soil, formed by Harpag Karnik (Menakeret, Erancnoir, Forelunar etc.). It exists as an ideological collective, gathering bands and projects that share a same vision, based on Zoroastrianism, focusing on transcendental inner travel and historic truth. One of the members involved is Tehran-born Nihil Satan aka Aneraxt. Once active as Xvarmart, this project evolved into a mostly uncompromising, merciless act of, as the core member labels it, a Persian Warpunk Attack. Who am I to discuss this fitting identity.

The newest effort by this quite productive one-man battalion is called Democide Aftermath, and it defines this guy’s intolerant vision on society. This testament of mass slaughter is another critical outlet on what’s happening right now in Iran: repression and terror from the inside, and both ignorance and hypocrisy at the outside. It’s sad, it’s true. This anger, this frustration, this frenzy, it gets canalized through Aneraxt’s sonic expressions, with Nihil Satan offering Noise and Testament; as said, it is a Warpunk attack.

The artwork says it all: a picture that shows cleaning workers, washing confronting pools of blood from the streets; it’s the aftermath of a mass slaughter, the result of a democide execution by the authoritative troops of a repressive regime, after the (mainly peaceful) protests of January 8^th. Hundreds, probably thousands of (innocent) people were ruthlessly killed; massacred for their urge of freedom and their right for self-determination. It’s not A.I.; it’s reality, it did happen, and it’s still happening. This incident is one thing we cannot tolerate. Another intolerable aspect is the silence of those who watch, of those who know, and of those who look the other way. Quote: the world remained silent / the world accused us / the world deserves to suffer for that… We’re all victims, we’re all responsible…

As from the beginning (more specifically: 2023’s EP Face Of Annihilation), the ‘Music’ of Aneraxt (which means ‘redeemed’, by the way, in Pahlavi language) used to be a filthy, barbaric form of Black War Metal with a sense of Punk in it. Well, Democide Aftermath is comparable, yet it’s even rawer, even more chaotic, boisterous and noisy; hence the infuriated malice - an evolution that started with the No Title They Killed More Than 12,000 Thousands In 4 Days EP.

Introduction To Democide is a short opening sequence, offering a grim lullaby of Black Noise Wall, a Death Industrial laden periphrasis of what ‘democide’ means. It’s a rough opener, yet insurmountable for sure. Two-Day Death Toll 40k then again returns to this project’s elementary essence: grooving Black Punk nastiness, like legendary Amebix un-sweetly malformed into archaic proportions. The end is surprising, that volcanic eruption of apocalyptic disfiguration, Wall Noise elegance… Executioner Democracy then again is a blasting Black / War anti-anthem, industrial in perspective and execution, like Mysticum being molested by Funeral Of God. Democide Unfolding then again returns to severe eras of extreme Power Violence, nihilistic / annihilating Noise Terror, blackened and industro-electronic in nature. Mass Kill Documentation might initially be more ‘melodious’ in execution (for what it’s worth), yet it is at least as blasting and blackened, with an approach so hallucinating, mechanoid, grinding and offending… Blood Asphalt Concrete then again returns to the Punk Anarchy Black essence, mingling a sense of Amebix / Saw Throat predominance with archaic Anarcho-Black Punk sweetness. The short Vermin To The Cause interlude offers purest industrial grime (in its most fair core), while the last piece, Warpunk Supremacy, focuses on the purest essence of blackened elegance; this track being a paragon of timeless obscure-sonic extremity, a dexterous execution of both harmonious elegance and boorish severity.

No left, no right - no below, no high - no center or extreme; just fondle the white dove of sonically obnoxious, rebellious anarchy. Democide Aftermath might be the sound-score for revolution…

Ivan Tibos.

Dandelion

Dirk — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 19:12:11 +0000

Artist:

Dandelion

Album Title:

Dandelion

Release Date:

Thursday, April 30, 2026

Label:

Centipede Abyss

Distribution:

Centipede Abyss

Review Type:

Once again, several members of the Centipede Abyss community join forces under a new constellation; this time under the moniker Dandelion. The band’s name comes from a genus of plants, the taraxacum, characterized by their multiple petals, mainly white, yellow or orange colored. But this isn’t an essay about the beauty of nature, but about the beauty of sonic delirium.

So, let’s come back to the band, not the plant, with the name Dandelion. It’s a combo consisting of the next pretty faces: drummer Jared Moran (Ar’lyxkq’wr, Ambulacrum, Clinical Depression, Vertebrae Fetish Totem, Ishimura etc.), guitar player Pan Inentropy (Ar’lyxkq’we, Act Of Entropy, Zvylpwkua, Ukakuja, Mouth Of Cedar), bassist Ben Vanweelden (Pillar Amongst Willows, Ambulacrum, Atmossomta), and vocalist / keyboardist Ni (Lux Sine Lumine, Act Of Entropy, Zvylpwkua, Ukakuja). The bands mentioned are all part of the Centipede Abyss club, a family of same-minded artists, as you probably know (or not, but then again, now you do).

So, this newest outfit recorded and officially released one album until now, untitled, or if you want to, titled as Dandelion. It’s a four-tracker that - what else did you expect - totally fits to the out-of-the-box-minded roster of the parent label (which is run, by the way, by member Ni). Once again it is a very limited release, at least the physical one, being a jewel-case CD printed in an edition of thirty copies (as usual: no reprint will ever happen). It does come with a four-page booklet, containing salient poetry inside (a troubled libretto of disgust, corruption, deprivation, hallucination and despair), and confronting (cover) artwork. The latter is based on the work Die Qualen Der Hölle (known as Torments Of Hell) by Carl Ludwig Beutler von Säckingen aka Pater Athanasius, who was a Swiss monk, as well as a painter, living in Germany in the 17^th century.

So, this is not a thesis on flowers (cf. the first paragraph) nor a treatise on apocalyptic late-medieval visual art, so let’s get over to the essence of this writing: the Music (or whatever) that defines Dandelion (the band) and Dandelion (the recording). All Is Of Fire, 4 Crowns On A Serpent, Forgive Me and Deified Death show us a perfected compound in between progressive and neurotic Avantgarde Grind, blackened Death-Doom, and fierce impro-laden Psycho Sludge. It mixes up hallucinoid, opposed-harmonious leads (reminiscent of several other projects these guys and girl are involved with), with droning and / or thwacking rhythm guitars, impressive shrieking basses (convincingly telling their own version of the story), very varied drums and percussions (with pernicious blast beats, thunderous drumrolls, soiled cymbal-rape and groovy patterns), and those distantly roaring, nefarious blackened voices that echo over the distant golden illumination of the night (this last part is secretly inspired by All Is Of Fire). It is fast, then again even faster, thereon shrinking into sluggish proportions. Sometimes it exhales an air of melodicism, soon after minimized towards complex perplexity (or is it perplex complexity?), structural mayhem versus deconstructive discipline…

Intense, destructive, overwhelming, confronting, detrimental and unforgiving; this first Dandelion effort represents the shining sapphire in the center of the debris…

Ivan Tibos.

Goatpsalm

Dirk — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:27:49 +0000

Artist:

Goatpsalm

Album Title:

Beneath

Release Date:

Friday, April 10, 2026

Label:

Aesthetic Death

Distribution:

Aesthetic Death

PR via Anubi Press

Review Type:

Can you imagine my excitement? Quite recently, Monsieur Stu from Aesthetic Death informed me about a new Goatpsalm release. Hurray! Seriously, it had been way too long, for this act’s latest official recording (Downstream) was released in 2016 – with exception of Ash, the (unique) work with side-project Horthodox (which I have not reviewed, apparently??? – I feel ashamed). This specific record was created over a period of many years, from 2017 to 2025, at different moments and different places.

Beneath was done by Horth (vocals, synths, bass, samples, as well as production, mix and mastering, and the artwork) and Vaarwel (four and six stringed guitars and voices, as well as ‘ethnic’ instruments), and assisted by drummer W.S. Once more the album got released via UK’s sweetest Aesthetic Death, both digitally as physically; the latter being a three-folded (or six-panel) digipack CD. The artwork is quite explicit (voodoo-ish or ritualistic might be acceptable descriptions), but it surely does fit to the conceptual and the aural content.

This newest album, Beneath, consists of five parts, having a total running time of thirty-five minutes and something. And once again, it is a new chapter, seen from sonic point, within this project’s impressive world of aural creativity. It does contain elements from the former albums (even-though all of them were different too, yet internally connected at the very same time), and brings new visions and ideas as well. The past reinterpreted into a new present, for Goatpsalm are Servants to nobody…

The album opens with a short introduction, called Veve Of Smoke And Rum (01:41). It’s a ceremonial piece, mingling a whole scala of archaic, shamanic-used instruments, such as bells and other percussions (gong, chimes), strings and flutes. It sounds sort of meditative, coming with a mysterious vibe; a ritual to open the portal to a next stage…

Next comes Heart Of Damballah Wedo (04:20), which starts with a didgeridoo tune for just a couple of seconds (seven seconds, exactly). Very soon after, things turn into psychedelic proportions, with an alienated approach of Doom. Low-tuned strings, weird keyboards, progressive drum patterns and dreadful voices paint an obscure, psychoid landscape, where Funeral Doom (Woods Of Belial), Symphonic Death Metal (Sinoath, early Phlebotomized) and Psycho-Grind (Saw Throat, O.L.D.) seem to fuse. Injected by hypnotic synths, unusual leads (Lo Flux Tube’ish, if you want to) and down-earthed four-string tuning, the result is as unaccustomed as it is ingenious.

Spit Soil (05:52) opens with an ominous string-line, slowly moving, sedative, expanding. After a (short) while, things evolve towards funereal, psychoid, abyssal Doom of the most sinister kind. Ultimately gruesome growls, inventive yet often lunatic leads, a monstrous string rhythm section, eerie synths and calamitously beneficent drums get canalized into a specimen of capricious yet worshipful magnitude.

Kalbas Whispers Of Death (06:02) is another example of out-of-the-box thinking. The track starts with a mesmeric rhythm on drum (djembe-like percussion instrument), accompanied by sticks, which will be the spine throughout the whole hymn. Step by step, other instruments and voices enter, slowly building up without any exaggeration, continuously driven by that initial rhythmic pattern. First come some synth-lines and flutes, and a really foreign string picking - quite plain in execution yet opulent in result - then whispered vocals, more percussions (shakers?), reverberating bass lines and possessed voices. Towards the end, an amalgam of thunderous and ethnic percussions, odd strings, evil-sounding grunts and haunting sound effects sort of create a ritualistic eruption.

The album ends with the lengthy piece Exequies, which is sort of ‘divided’ into several segments. With its duration of 17:11 minutes, this composition takes almost half of the total running time of Beneath. The first section brings pure yet ritualistic Funeral Doom, monumental in execution, asphyxiating in atmosphere, mysterious in nature. For some reason, it sometimes reminds me of the first efforts by Void Of Silence (mind the suffocative sphere akin to Criteria Ov 666) or aforementioned Woods Of Belial, including the blackened aspects, the ritual sphere, and the gloomy attitude. At 03:55, things turn towards rather progressive, Post-laden territories, with weird guitar breaks, jazzy drum patterns, ominous flutes, esoteric synths and groovy basses. This stranger intermezzo enlarges at first, getting little more intense and persuasive, but at about seven minutes, things morph into a dreamy universe of Dark Ambient (with unusual samples, like the sound of seagulls?); then into a delusional aural psychosis (mind the manipulated voices, the anesthetizing synth-line, and the structurally high-standard yet somehow disordered percussion beats), before fading away in a trancelike nebula of silence’s fairness.

Once more, Goatpsalm delivered a gargantuan piece of Sonic Supremacy, exploring diverse territories of aural dimness. Solemnly assembling elements from distinct yet kindred genres - from traditional ritualistic Folklore over Dark Ambient and Drone, via Psychedelic Doom to extreme Funeral Death Doom Metal. These guys did it again, and Beneath might be their most decorous album to date. I hope we do not have to wait another ‘too many years’ for the next chapter within this band’s discography…

Ivan Tibos.

Idylls Of The Last King

Dirk — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 13:42:19 +0000

Artist:

Idylls Of The Last King

Album Title:

A Year At The End Of Time

Release Date:

Monday, August 31, 2026

Label:

Heimat Der Katastrophe

Distribution:

Heimat Der Katastrophe

Review Type:

cassette

Behold! A secrecy, an enigmatic moment in the near future, a diamond in the rough yet to come…

I admit: a dramatic introduction, but hey, there’s a new Idylls Of The Last King album coming up soon, now in its finishing phase, erelong available for the audience. The working title will be A Year At The End Of Time, and probably it will be released via Heimat Der Katastrophe from Italy. It is supposed to be a reflection of earthly time, a narration around our natural cycle, a proclamation of seasons that come and go.

Out of the dungeons and into the great outdoors…

‘Devoted to shaping immersive soundscapes of decay, memory, and fallen grandeur’, Idylls Of The Last King have always offered magic, mystic, and mysterious Dungeon Ambient (Dark Ambient, Ritual Drone, Dungeon Synth, Winter Synth, Martial Ambient, Comfy Synth, you know…). This time, it is not different. Even-though we do not have any concrete web, oops, I mean, any concrete cover artwork yet (at least not officially; I have a possible opportunity, kindly provided by Mister Lawrence Kalogreades himself), nor an official release date (that is why I just added today as date-of-release), but I still, and already, want to lift a corner of the velvet veil.

This new work consists of ten titles, representing the four seasons that we know in a huge part of our globe, on both the Northern and Southern hemisphere, in between the polar areas and the tropical parts. Besides an intro and an outro, each season (Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn) is represented by two compositions. But as said, A Year At The End Of Time starts with an introduction, Prologue: From The Ashes Of Our Kingdom, A Prophecy Is Born. It’s not a short piece at all, with a very rich, varying sonic palette. It represents an unprejudiced approach of Dungeon Synth majesty, balancing in between dark mysticism and illuminated hope. Martial and bombastic passages, haunting fragments, operatic symphonics and integer moments are all canalized into this portal towards the registration of one earthly (and unworldly too) passage-of-time. …an orchestration of sheer beauty, sheer darkness, sheer chastity…

The Winter season consists of Awaiting The Thaw Along The Mountain Pass and Come In Weary Traveler And Rest Yourself. The first is an extended piece of oppressive obscurity, floating in dimensions of Esoteric Drone and Dark Ambient, with dark background synth-waves and dreamy, illusory lead melodies. This song is rich in instrumentation and desolate in concept. The latter, then again, is an older piece (released at the very beginning of Winter 2024-2025), being ‘a minimalist mediation on a warm fire-lit room’. While listening to the subtle sound of burning wood, one feels both isolation and resignation at the very same time. Is it tristesse or is it compliance…

Spring comes with A Journey Across The Lands And Through The Seasons and the 2023-recorded piece Kestrel. A Journey … is based on piano especially, influenced by the fine-tuned sphere of Contemporary Classical Music with a gloomy edge. Kestrel, as you might know (or not [yet]), is a mesmeric piece of Dungeon Doom Ambient; or Comfy Synth, if you want to. It defines a vision of a fresh-green meadow, covered in sweet dewdrops, brought in a cordial yet somehow simple glow (with ‘simple’ not being something negative at all).

A Festival Of Opposites and Dragonflies And Rat Skeletons represent the Summer season. The joy of fervor and ardor results in brisk celebration. A Festival … joins the listener on a memorable meeting, where souls gather to praise the gifts of Nature; I guess the curses in man’s existence and the cures to recover too are of importance for the balance of Life; hence ‘opposites’ in the title, and the interplay of cheerful melodies with oppressive drones. Dragonflies … too is an older work, originally released on the EP In The Gardens Of Our Forefathers. It brings an enlightened minimalist tune at first, like the hint of a lullaby, but slowly evolves towards a piece of introspective concern, while playful tunes and murky sound-textures float together.

As you know, Autumn comes after Summer, here introduced as Our Fate Amongst The Fallen Leaves and The Night We Lit Your Funeral Pyre. Our Fate … is surprisingly ‘positive’ at first, for the equinox prolongs the nights and shortens the days. Yet soon, the dreamy synths introduce a sign of grief. Not yet sorrowful, but the emotive melodies (with cello- and violin-like notes) try to absorb the last rays of heating light. The Night … jumps into the abyss of doom and despair through mostly mournful keyboard lines. Accompanied by nice martial-oriented drum patterns and neo-classical, even gothic-like sound-shaping, this orchestral composition defines the withering of life’s vigor.

However, the circle of Mater Terra’s existence is figuratively orbicular. The album ends with Epilogue: And Nothing Beside Remains, which does not restrict finitude. This is a multi-layered, abundant piece, created through several layers of keyboard symphonies and additional yet characteristic drum beats. It’s a message that Winter might overwhelm the world once again, yet the fertile life of Spring will reappear once more…

Mind this: all (digital) sale incomes go to the support of orphaned kids in conflict zones all over the world. Respect, deep respect!

Ivan Tibos.

Züüd

Dirk — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 11:58:36 +0000

Artist:

Züüd

Album Title:

KozmzoK

Release Date:

Thursday, April 30, 2026

Label:

Centipede Abyss

Distribution:

Centipede Abyss

Review Type:

Züüd is (or was? I’m not sure whether this project is still active???) an outfit by Portugal-born sweetie Nuno Laurenço, based in Brazil. Nuno is also known, as you do probable know, from acts like 0-Nun, Thermohaline (with Druon Antigon’s Lennart Janssen), A Walloping Curse, or the Centipede Abyss related orchestras Salqiu and Mouth Of Cedar (with Pan Merakli, Taylor Belanger and Jared Moran). Under the Züüd moniker, Nuno independently released the KozmzoK four-tracker in Spring 2019, but then all traces of existence did fade away into legendary oblivion…

Enter 2026, enter Centipede Abyss, enter madness. Since Nuno became part of this pleasantly insane community, the decision to re-release this underestimated material via Centipede Abyss was easily made. All together: hurray! No, seriously, this older material now sees a re-issue, although it is a strictly limited physical re-release, evidently. Only 25 (twenty-five indeed) copies were made, never to be re-printed again. A fine element is that the artwork is new, yet still maintaining the original concept of cosmic grandeur. For the sake of completeness: it’s a part of a picture by ESO/VPHAS+, i.e. a fragment of the (Southern) Milky Way, taken by a huge telescope in a Chile-based space observatory.

This said… KozmzoK has a total running time of twenty-nine minutes, carefully divided, as said before, into four chapters: the title track, Juudr Urfaud, Pyotr Drassnaut and Brazüüd Besdazz. I do not think the whole thing has been remastered, which results in a positive effect: a pure and honest sound, and okay, it’s rough, unpolished, primal and savage too, but it does strengthen the intolerant attitude. No compromise, just blackness. No concessions, pure madness. No rules or path, just bizarre nihilism!

As from the opening title song, one can experience a primitive execution, raw and harsh in execution, epic and victorious in atmosphere. It brings an essence of old schooled Black Metal, mixing elements from different sub-genres, resulting in a very own-faced approach. Rugged guitar ‘melodies’ interact with deep-tuned bass-lines, faster shapes-of-cruel-nature exist in perfected balance with harmonious fragments, brutal rhythms go hand in hand (or is it: claw in claw) with somehow elegant patterns, old style riffing hooks up with progressive structures, and ferocious mechanical blasts merge with spherical passages. Each piece out of four exceeds superficiality, normality or prediction, for the sonic encounter is, in a most exciting way, challenging yet hazardous.

The use of acoustic guitars (mind the traditional intro on Pyotr Drassnaut) and keyboards (and even an operatic introduction on Juudr Urfaud) - subtle in use yet undeniably important in result - as well as the vocal variety, the hypnotic leads, and the many tempo-changes, fortify the thrilling, vivid character of this recording. It’s like Salqiu in its most dissonant, utter-dynamic, industrial-laden, inimical and chaotic shape, if you want to; at least as complex and more ‘cosmic’ in its core.

I know that ‘hope’ is for the weak-hearted amongst us, but I trust in new material. I might be naïve, yet since this ‘older’ stuff gets re-released, it might be an omen for new material to come up soon?...

Ivan Tibos.

Cavalera / Embury

Dirk — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 14:25:45 +0000

Artist:

Cavalera / Embury

Album Title:

Neon Gods / Own Your Darkness

Release Date:

Friday, March 21, 2025

Label:

Cold Spring Records

Distribution:

Cold Spring Records

Review Type:

CD / LP

I admit; this is an ‘older’ release, but it is in support of Cold Spring Records (and because I want to greet the label’s chieftain Justin politely). Cheers!

This split release is the result of an out-of-the-box idea by two famous and long-time-befriended Metal artists: Igor Graziano Cavalera and Shane Embury. Igor, on this album working under the name Iggor Cavalera (mind the double ‘g’), is known from Sepultura and Cavalera Conspiracy, as you know, as well as some other projects that are not necessarily ‘Metal’ in its purest sense (at all), amongst which Deafbrick, Mixhell [run with his wife Laima Leyton], Mudo, Soulwax (as session member) or Petbrick. Shane then again is best known from his involvement with notorious combos such as Brujeria, Venomous Concept, Bent Sea, Lock Up or (last but not least) Napalm Death.

I wrote that this split is an out-of-the-box experiment. Well, what both artists bring here, is quite different from what we’re used to hear from them, even though Igor has several other strange things going on as well. In this guy’s case, as said: acting as Iggor, it’s all about the very lengthy lullaby Neon Gods. Everything was written, performed and recorded by the guy himself in London (somewhere in 2024), resulting in almost twenty minutes of Electronic Music.

Neon Gods starts quite disturbing, mixing electroacoustic, industrial and ambient elements in an oppressive manner. It represents an ominous wave of sound with a post-apocalyptic atmosphere at first. At almost three minutes, things seem to fade into the unphysical dimension of astral isolation, slowly expanding into Ambient Noise Wall territories. Rough, alienated, mechanoid reverberations dissolve organically into harsher tunes of, well, a futuristic vision of sonic heaviness. Different layers of industro-droning tension result in a dystopian soundtrack. The equilibrium of static, procrastinated ambience at the one hand, and dynamic noise manipulation at the other, works very well. After almost ten minutes, things seem to calm down for a while - yet beware, for the voltage does not disappear; it’s just reposing for its final resurrection. Almost reflective or contemplative, like the calm before the storm, seemingly serene yet eerie synth-lines float by, hypnotic and dreamy in essence. Yet then again, the mixture of Death Ambient and Industrial Noise reappears, thunderous, scratchy, coarse.

Own Your Darkness, the contribution by Shane, is shorter, yet also clocks a good 13:35 minutes. About everything (arrangements and execution) was done by Shane, with some subtle assistance of long-time friend and colleague Russ Russell. And dixit the musician, it was a first empirical tryout with a Solar 42 synth, being one of the most versatile knob- and key-boards for polyphonic experimentation.

This lullaby opens in a void-dark way, through an impressing, monumentally oppressive pulse of droning gravity. It encompasses a sense of melodious suspense, like a harmony for impending doom and life’s completion. This mostly ominous, haunting, spectral form of Black Ambient gets covered in, or penetrated by, a suffocative mist of Death Industrial textures and Dark Drone torpor. It’s an intoxicating wall of sonic hypnosis of the most imminent kind. At nine minutes, addition orchestrations arise, ascending above the initial declination. Clambering downwards the stronghold of subterranean obscurity (or is it celestial swarthiness), Own Your Darkness has become a personal expression of burdensome compulsion in a most fair shape.

Neon Gods / Own Your Darkness was pressed on vinyl in both a white and a black editions, and on compact disc (a two-folded digipack). It comes with cold industro-futuristic artwork in black-and-white, designed by Gydja’s Abby Helasdottir. The mastering, and this is purely informative yet might be of importance for the purists amongst you (such as myself) was done at the legendary The Cage studio with Martin Bowes (think: Trepaneringsritualen, Khost, TenHornedBeast, Emme Ya, Bestia Astrum and many more CSR alumni).

Ivan Tibos.

various artists - Ancestral Rites

Dirk — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 20:23:44 +0000

Artist:

various artists

Album Title:

Ancestral Rites

Release Date:

Friday, February 13, 2026

Label:

Ominous Sounds

Distribution:

Ominous Sounds

Review Type:

Ominous Sounds is a young label from Iberian soil, run by Hiemis chieftain Juan Carlos Toledo, and specialized in the more ritualistic niche of Dark Ambient material and related Music. Beside releases from ‘individual’ projects (Monotone Murk, Rune Clausen, Altum), the label also focuses on compiled releases, i.e. so-called ‘various artists’ albums, compilations with projects that sort of wander around in comparable dimensions of archaic ritualism. Rituals From Ancient Europe (February 2024) and Rituals From The Ancient World (February 2025) gathered some of the finest names from the international scene (think: Ens Imperfectissimum, Hiemis, Ashtoreth, Alphaxone, Vrna, The Black Monolith and many more).

Ancestral Rites is the third part; this time collecting seven great artists / projects from our beloved planet. Once again, the theme is based on ancient rituals, practices, ceremonies, rites and magic crafted by our ancestors. The transmission and prosecution of this knowledge characterized cultures and civilizations all over Mater Terra, often connected to Nature, the elements, and everything that connects the physical world with the spiritual universe. Ancestral magic plays an important role in the culture and identity of many communities, providing a sense of connection to their roots and traditions. The essence of (ancient) magic can be seen as a series of techniques that allow one to modify or improve reality, cure illnesses, or restore order [or] a complex system for understanding reality. [phrases in italic are quotes that I stole from the label]

The seven acts gathered as Ancestral Rites offer their definition of ancient magic rituals through aural canalization, exclusively created for / contributed to this album. It’s a strictly limited release (a six-panel digipack CD printed in an edition of only fifty copies, if I am not mistaken) with remarkable visual art: a mysterious figure kneeling before the ruin of a mighty tower in a desolate landscape, covered in a black-and-white color palette. …totally fitting to the concept, evidently… The very same goes for the inner visuals, with colorless drawings of mysterious nature, and including liner notes about ancient rites and magic.

The album opens with Aninka (05:34) by [ówt krì], an outfit by Kenneth Kovasin from Suomi, the Land of a Thousand Lakes. It starts in a shamanistic manner, with both harmonious vocals and throat singing, meditative noise-waves, eerie sound effects (samples included) and additional percussions. Also strings join, while the vocal lines evolve into a rather scarifying format. Accompanied by different sampled sounds, semi-acoustics and haunting synth lines, this sermon grows into a psyche-twisting, evocative piece. Aninka is energy, it is the canalization of spiritual strength and ritualistic erudition.

Gydja is a New Zealand based outfit by Abby Helasdottir, who’s also known a famous visual artist for so many albums within the Dark Ambient genre (and everything related, from Electronic Music over Industrial to Metal). Gydja contribute with Frá Jötna Rúnum (06:02), initially mixing different vocals (whispers and sighs), alienated noises and doomed synth-lines; an abundant scala of droning and industrial sounds, waves, beats and textures - echoing, abyssal, ghostly, militant and gloomy. It is like the auditive translation of mystic signs, of ancient knowledge’s design for earth’s existence.

Second Howl by Croatia’s TeHÔM lasts for six minutes and starts in a shamanic way as well: eerie and enigmatically pugnacious tunes mingled with evocative elements (multiple vocal lines involved). Step by step things turn darker, with long-stretched drones and hints of ceremonial sound-scaping, but the overall atmosphere remains dense, oppressing, desolate and naked in a sense of aural purity. A voice of Nature, the speech of hidden buoyancy…

Next comes Ukraine’s Ugasanie with Vargin’s Exile (06:59), a characteristic work of profound droning and bleak ambience. Here too, the ‘leading harmonies’, for what it’s worth, are injected by different well-thought and subtly-interwoven touches, like spectral tunes, industrial details, and bizarre, sometimes fractured, field-recorded elements (like a crying kid?). The addition of that deep narrating voice adds a level of cinematic obscurity.

Handalien (Brazil), Ancestor Flame is a lengthy piece (08:43), covered in an almost asphyxiating air. Alluding towards Ambient Noise Wall, this creation delves deep into the voids of both onerous sphere-sculpting and esoteric splendor. With reverberating calmth, this sonic embodiment of icy clouds hovers and levitates in its proper shades, uncompromising, dazing, reflective.

Unexpected Arrival Of The Primordial Entity (06:59) by Illinois-based outfit insectarium (Joel Hinkle) contributes with a harsher piece, balancing in between grim, arduous Dark Industrial finesse and murky flows of blackened Ambient. With Lovecraftian elegance, electronic noises and frigid rhythmics enrich the rough-edged and mechanoid approach. Uncompromising, harsh, merciless, unforeseen…

Ancestral Rites ends with Ancestral Elixir, an epic by Spain’s (Dani) Kloob. This track (06:59) stands for purest hypnosis, for levitation and introspection. It is a long-form piece, monotonous in nature but rich in content. The long-wave harmony is veiled in a nebula of haunting, obtrusive and secret additional sounds, a trespassing through dimensions of the Inner Eye, generated by an immaterial potion of Old Wisdom. A walling concept of ambient drone-sculpting and prudent vigor somehow…

I am impatiently waiting for February 2027, hehe…

Ivan Tibos.

ElectronicDeathBlackDogs

Dirk — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 13:11:04 +0000

Artist:

ElectronicDeathBlackDogs

Album Title:

Cthonia

Release Date:

Friday, December 12, 2025

Label:

Dark Odyssey Records

Distribution:

Dark Odyssey Records

Review Type:

Short introduction… ElectronicDeathBlackDogs, aka Electronic Death Black Dogs, are a productive project from Scotland, UK, run by Roddy Graham. Once again, Roddy wrote and performed everything himself, and he took care of the production too. The mastering duties were done by the label, Ontario-based Dark Odyssey Records, and so is the artwork; the latter being an ominous female figure at an apocalyptic background, a vision of burning filth, desire, ruination and celebration (yes, all in once!) fronted by a darkened silhouette.

This entity represents Hecate, or Hekate, an ancient, sometimes tripled-bodied goddess (from Greek mythology) who got, and still gets, associated with witchcraft, the balance of light and darkness (as well as Life and Death, a trespassing that requires guidance by Hekate, being a Holder of the Key), crossroads (an important metaphysical approach, referring to opportunities and choices, as far as I am concerned, and connected to the aforementioned Life-Death equilibrium), the Moon and the Anima Mundi. Fire (torches) was a symbol inseparably related to her divine existence, hence the cover artistry.

Cthonia, referring to the spiritual guidance of the Underworld, is a forty-seven-minutes soundtrack though the Netherworlds where Hecate, as Chthonian entity, resides. It ‘follows the listener into the dim glow of her lantern, where reality thins and the familiar dissolves’. The album is an emphasizing invocation, a reflective representation of a descent into these worlds, dimensions, areas, beyond and beneath our surface, behind portals that purport no escape, no return, no redemption. All eight chapters narrate about the stories behind these gates, about souls being confronted with that symbolic crossroad, an option for choice, which path to continue. It’s there where Hekate awaits the wandering spirit…

Short but succinct delineation… This soundtrack, divided into eight individual yet cohesively related chapters, defines the aforementioned post-existential descent into the realms where the shape of shadows elongates, in aural form. It means that Cthonia is the score of that journey into darkness, oblivion, void. As from Gateway, one gets overwhelmed by a deep, oppressive sonic experience. Eerie and ghastly drones, industrial statures and hypnotic waves-of-sound morph into, and towards, an uncomfortable, uncertain encounter. Percussive samples, seemingly haunted voices, and both monochrome and reverberating tunes cover this anti-harmonious structures with a sense of discomfort, unease, anxiety and agony; of awe and reverence too. Like permanently expanding, then again withering sound-sculpting, this album continuously focuses on this almost asphyxiating sensation, through an exorbitant equilibrium of bleak Dark Ambient and Industrial-injected Drone. The abyss-risen ‘melodies’ are penetrated with these many subtle sound-injections, sometimes mechanical and hybrid in nature, then again done with drum beats or field-recorded elements, semi-orchestral passages or enthralling mysterious escapes. It results in a mostly Lovecraftian atmosphere, if you want to, that identifies this dystopic and evoking work.

As said, this obscure octaptych consists of cohesive compositions, yet all of them have their very own character. It fortifies the captivating capacity of each single section, resulting in a(nother) remarkable listening event.

(PS: a review on The Bornless One will follow soon[er or later])

Ivan Tibos.

Brotherhood Of Sleep

Dirk — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 19:40:15 +0000

Artist:

Brotherhood Of Sleep

Album Title:

Enter The Nuummite Cosmos

Release Date:

Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Label:

Zazen Sounds

Distribution:

Zazen Sounds

Review Type:

Almost two years ago (at this moment of posting), Brotherhood Of Sleep released their first album, Devotional Hymns To A Brilliant Flaming Sun (via the mighty Dutch label Winter-Light). I was enormously impressed by the result, which I labeled in my personal files as ‘obscure and hypnotic Deep Trance / Ceremonial Drone / Dark Ritual Ambient’ (I can’t help it that my autistic alter-ego adores making lists of different things, hehe). Earlier this year, this project came up with the sophomore album, called Enter The Nuummite Cosmos. As for the aural content and the release itself, I will come back to this immediately. And Beyond The Nuummite Cosmos has been released just a couple of days ago, but that’s something I will come back too soon.

First a word about this outfit itself. It is a pretty new channel by Bart Piette, especially known from the magnificent act Dead Man’s Hill (amongst some others, like Experiments in Darkness or The Earth King). This side-project was born as a reflection of, and I will quote the bio, ‘the Astral Temple that feeds on the massive energy of a Violet Sun, whose rays continually activate the crystals and skulls in the Temple and keep them in their highest, most powerful energetic state’. The sonic creations under this moniker, therefor, must be seen as a reflection of the powers and energies that dwell around in this mystic temple, and by extension as a spiritual, somewhat introspective and symbolic expression of inner strength, knowledge and revelation.

Which easily brings me to the title of this album: Enter The Nuummite Cosmos. A ‘nuummite’ is a kind of dark-colored rock, especially to be found in some areas in Greenland (hence the name, derived from Nuuk language). The ones found on this island often come with a golden or even blue crystalline pattern. This kind of metamorphic stone is often attributed to spiritual experiences, as a portal towards the Inner Eye, and in expansion towards the whole universe. Used as amulet, as pendant, or as relic, this stone refers to philosophical, religious, ritualistic, meditative and transcendental purposes. Also medical powers are attributed to nuummite stones, but it is not my goal to mock superstition, for in a metaphorical way (and with the so-called placebo-effect) the spiritual importance of objects and elements, powers of nature, etc., are of undeniable importance for both mensa and corpus.

In the case of this Brotherhood Of Sleep album, the ‘nuummite’, cf. the former paragraph, and the ‘temple’, like described in the second paragraph, come together. It’s about that Astral Temple, with a gigantic nuummite-crystalized wall. That wall is like a portal towards reflection, with reflection being a dimension were the spirit (of those who trespass this gateway) integrates with space, with the endless All, in order to become the Eye of the Storm.

Once more, the devotional hymns (got it?) are very lengthy, from over eight to thirteen minutes. The first noise-experience is the lengthiest, for Opening - Radiation Of A 1000 Violet Suns clocks 13:01 minutes. And as from the start, one’s being gets transported towards a universe of unphysical, undefinable purity. Deep mantric chants and eerie drones arise from the abyss; a depth where powers of Nature, from the beginning of Time, were formed. After four minutes, the turbulence of creation mounts from the purity of Origin, when mesmeric soundwaves, gloomy percussions, transcendental sound effects, and spectral ambiences, towards an intoxicating Inner Journey. An amalgam of ritualistic voices, mystical melody-lines and additional (percussional) elements transports one into, or towards, a passage of insight and (ancient) knowledge.

Energetic Metamorphism (11:10) [metamorphism is, when talking about rocks and stones, the transformation from a prototype, the so-called protolith, into a new type of structure) starts with esoteric chants too, though of a more devout core, and veiled in a mist of ominous, portentous harmonies. Despite an occult nucleus, one feels an energy behind, or beneath, the surface. This ‘song’ includes hints of Dark Industrial and Ceremonial Trance Music, connecting to the mystic Void represented by this aural ceremony.

Black Mumia too lasts for 11:10 minutes (a coincidence) and initially presents a rather militant approach. Martial drum patterns, epic harmonies, a combative drive and uncanny structures initially fuel the energetic advent. A gloomy, almost meditative, etheric and illuminative intermezzo follows, yet slowly everything evolves towards another scarifying, almost asphyxiating level of Doom Ambient, with these ghastly sounds, fateful beats and cursed noise-waves.

Also Aligning With The Nuummite Cosmos lasts for exactly 11:10 minutes (still thinking about a coincidental occurrence?) and offers a Lovecraftian attitude as well with these dismal drones and frightening texture. It’s like a trespassing of unworldly, astral dimensions. After about one third, everything seems to evolve into a dimension of spiritual guidance through ancient tradition. I mean, things slowly yet remarkably morph into a rather Nordic Folk oriented approach, with shamanistic drums and chants, intoxicating soundscapes and, eventually, mind-twisting textures. The devotional voices and spectral synths result in an illusory experience.

The album ends with Blessed Are The Anointed Human Vessels (08:27), at the outset holding out the deepest, most claustrophobic genus of bleakness / blackness / nothingness. Monotonous yet decadent patterns, reverberating effects and repetitive sounds at first paint a mostly desolate, isolated yet pure landscape. After a while, things evolve into proportions of arcanum and concealment, with somehow ethnic percussions, sedative sound-floats and enigmatic melodies.

This second Brotherhood Of Sleep record is released on CD (a four-panel carton-board edition) via Zazen Sounds, which is not completely strange, since Dead Man’s Hill’s latest offering, Born From The Black Caudron, saw the light (and the many shadows around that light) via the very same Greek label in early 2025. The cover artwork (created by Vision Black) is the absolute visual definition of this album’s aural artistry: a turning wheel (not exactly a sunwheel) in an astral environment; a cosmic circle surrounded by distant stars and white nebulae, done through a marvelous color pattern.

PS: there is a new Brotherhood Of Sleep release called Beyond The Nuummite Cosmos, released very recently via Dark Odyssey Records (digital + jewel-case compact-disc with two-panel insert), in case of interest… It is evident that a review will follow soon(er or later).

Ivan Tibos.

Dodenskald

Dirk — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 19:24:55 +0000

Artist:

Dodenskald

Album Title:

Black Shift

Release Date:

Sunday, September 22, 2024

Label:

Noctivagant Collective

Distribution:

Noctivagant Collective

Review Type:

MCD

…another review about an older release, short but concise, this time written in dedication to the Noctivagant Collective - this is another one for you, Phillip! And a big hail to Mahdi and all those who strive for freedom, sense and comprehension!

Short introduction… Dodenskald is an outfit by Mahdi ‘Sli’ Salehi aka Arvantah, who was born in the beautiful mountains of Northern Iran. Nowadays, (the project and) the guy (behind it) do(es) live in Japan, close to Tokyo, in case of interest.

Dodenskald and Noctivagant Collective have been working together several times before (the most recent result is the re-issue of last year’s Tehran; you might expect a review on this recording in the future), but this review deals with Black Shift, an EP that was released about two years ago. Actually, there was a single with the very same name, recorded and independently released in Spring 2023, and together with three other pieces (Transmission In Hell, Luminal Master and Red Shift), it got sort of re-issued under the very same working title, Black Shift.

Anyway, this short recording is an introspective, philosophical and gnostic one; I’d like to start with this quote: “A subtle shift of perception overcomes your understanding of origin. A shift of understanding overcomes your subtle perception of origin”. Absorb and analyze…

For sixteen minutes, Dodenskald accompanies us through a vast and floating dimension of transcendental and mysterious Aural Ambience. Transmission In Hell (03:55) initially offers a spirit of meditative quietude and mesmeric introspection. Tranquilly floating waves come with a somewhat melancholic, doomed attitude, and throughout the passage, the essential strength seems to expand. And indeed; towards the end, a hint of experimental fulmination arises. Luminal Master is, with its duration of 05:27 minutes, the lengthiest composition on this EP. It is more abundant than the serene opener, with an increased level of sonic layers and aural details. This track presents a unique concurrence of both hypnotic textures and invocating power, with a prolific balance of explicit integrity and modest exuberance. Next comes Red Shift (02:55), a track covered in a veil of mystique and murk. The combination of gloomy soundwaves and eerie drones works seductive and addictive. The mini-recording ends with the title track, which clocks 03:32. Black Shift fits, like a symbiotic tandem, to Red Shift, with surprisingly ghastly harmonies and intoxicating noisescapes being canalized into an ominous experience. The addition of enigmatically used effects and sounds strengthens the onerous atmosphere.

Strictly informative: Black Shift is released in a so-called CD-jacket, and this in an extremely limited edition. It comes with very sober and somber visual art (a fingerprint, or dunes), in different shades of black.

Ivan Tibos.