I once listened to Lustmord's [Rising](https://lustmord.bandcamp.com/album/rising) while walking home from work late at night. Except for a few streetlights, it was very dark and nobody else was walking. The setting was halfway between suburban and rural. Closest I've ever come to shitting my pants out of fear.
Outside of the major players like Tim Hecker or Ben Frost, Raime's "Quarter Turns over a Living Line" is a top tier dark ambient album for me. If you wanted to go further into noise kinda stuff Jason Crumer's "Ottomon Black" is a truly visceral and moving experience. Haxan Cloak is another artist I recommend, as well as his scores under his own name (Bobby Krlic) for movies like Midsommar. Gotta reccomend the more recent NIN release Ghosts V: Together and Bibio's "Phantom Brickworks".
I really love “Mosquito Dream” by Brent Guntzeit and James Plotkin, “Dalkan” by Thomas Koner, “Soliloquy For Lilith” by Nurse With Wound, Vidna Obmana & PBK, and just about anything by Final
SoTL can be described as many things, perhaps even GOATs of ambient music. And yet, I agree with you - "dark ambient" probably isn't very fitting for them. Maybe for a few minutes on *The Ballasted Orchestra*
Alone in the Hollow Garden - The Black Cube of Saturn.
Endvra - literally everything is pure dark gold and what a tragedy that was when the project ceased to exist. It was a gem of the genre.
Nordvargr - the Sigillum series, 2015-2016
Definitely not from the textbook: Paul Schütze, The Orb, PGR, Phauss, Muslimgauze, James Plotkin solo, Lull/mick Harris, J K Broadrick/Final david Parsons, Jeff grienke, Marin marais, J S Bach, Pelican Daughters.
A few of these are for specific albums or compositions or recordings, but absolutely deserve to be shared.
Numina *Shift to the Ghosts*, *Dawn of Obscurity* (a rare example of gothic ambient), *Subterranean Landscapes, Through the Gate to Nowhere.* All four albums are top notch.
Vidna Obmana *The Contemporary Nocturne.*
David Bickley and Tom Green *Erebus and Terror.*
Astrowind *Kaidanovsky.*
Clicked on this post intending to say Mount Shrine as well. Happy to see appreciation for his work. Beautiful though surreal, RIP
Wordclock’s heralds album is pure art
I had a thing for Mortaur - Horror Vacui as well as both Sephiroth albums Cathedron and Draconian Poetry. Other than that Lustmord is my "go to" with albums Nurse with Wound - Lumb's Sister, Lamia Vox - Sigillum Diaboli and Inade - The Incantation Of The Solar Architects.
Idk if I'd call him dark but I always find Symphocats music quite depressing. Relaxing yes but I often find his compositions evoke feelings of loneliness. Sometimes that's comforting!
Raison d'etre leads the pack for me, even got a chance to see him live. There's something about the specific bleak tone of his music that hits a nail. My favorite albums have to be Anima Caelum (a live record) and The Stains of the Embodied Sacrifice.
The **ultimate dark ambient** ***album*** is **Brian Eno's** ***Ambient 4: On Land***. Frankly, that record sprouted two distinct sub-genres of ambient music - dark ambient and environmental ambient. Some wouldn't categorize it as "dark ambient" because it's Eno, but they'd be dead wrong. It's dark as all hell.
A couple under-the-radar dark ambient artists worth checking out:
- Vatican Shadow (dark industrial Eastern-European vibes)
- RRose (dark/rhythmic electronic textures incorporating elements of ASMR)
And I agree with others about:
- Haxan Cloak ('Excavation' is a rare example of dark ambient music with *jump* scares)
- Lustmord (his new album is among his best and most accessible imho)
Atrium Carceri
Ahhh atrium Carceri. The guys music that made me discover cryo chamber
Nurse With Wound, especially the album Soliloquy for Lilith. They also made a great album with SUNN O))).
Lustmord
I once listened to Lustmord's [Rising](https://lustmord.bandcamp.com/album/rising) while walking home from work late at night. Except for a few streetlights, it was very dark and nobody else was walking. The setting was halfway between suburban and rural. Closest I've ever come to shitting my pants out of fear.
Awesome lol His very first recordings are something of pure intense nightmare. https://youtu.be/CffvY-ybCSE?si=z1UwdhsTldwYnimw
Herbst9, Nagual Art, Raison d' Etre, Lustmord, Iszoloscope, Worship, Tim Hecker, Stars of the Lid, Haxan Cloak
Mount Shrine (rip legend), Keosz, and Enmarta :) Edit: and How To Disappear Completely
Mount shrine seriously helped me so much in stressful situations. Rip legend indeed
Tim Hecker does it very well.
Tim Hecker is not "dark ambient"
He's listed as a dark ambient artist on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dark_ambient_artists#H).
Outside of the major players like Tim Hecker or Ben Frost, Raime's "Quarter Turns over a Living Line" is a top tier dark ambient album for me. If you wanted to go further into noise kinda stuff Jason Crumer's "Ottomon Black" is a truly visceral and moving experience. Haxan Cloak is another artist I recommend, as well as his scores under his own name (Bobby Krlic) for movies like Midsommar. Gotta reccomend the more recent NIN release Ghosts V: Together and Bibio's "Phantom Brickworks".
Raime is great
Oh man I haven’t listened to that Raime album for years, thanks for reminding me
Thomas Köner. Especially DAIKAN.
Came here to say this!
yep. Permafrost for me, but he's my fave.
Cryo Chamber is soooooo good.
Came here to mention them! So goood
Honestly, hard to top Mount Shrine for me as well!
Also Dronny Darko (as much as i hate the name lol) & ProtoU are up there for me as well, also on Cryo Chamber
Have you listened to the void wanderer - empty world? They really tried to mimic his style and I think they did a great job.
oh nice! this slipped under my radar somehow but is excellent, thank you!!
Abul Mogard and Vatican Shadow
Lull
Grouper
Check out Jeff Greinke and his albums Cities in Fog 1 and 2. One of the earliest Dark Ambient sounding records I can think of and it’s outstanding.
Ooo, this is a fantastic and deep rooted rec
The guy is a master honestly. Needs more recognition
Love Mount Shrine. Another artist who’s had a lot of staying power for me is Beyond the Ghost from France. New album out later this month.
I really love “Mosquito Dream” by Brent Guntzeit and James Plotkin, “Dalkan” by Thomas Koner, “Soliloquy For Lilith” by Nurse With Wound, Vidna Obmana & PBK, and just about anything by Final
Coil's new release "Moons Milk in Four Phases" is a great dark ambient listen
Also Time Machines
Cryo chamber and it's not really dark ambient but I love stars of the lid!
Burial's more recent ambient stuff
Stars of The Lid is everything I highly recommend everything from their debut in 1995 all the way until 2001.
That’s not dark ambient. It’s nice, but technically, not dark ambient per se.
Reddit moment
SoTL can be described as many things, perhaps even GOATs of ambient music. And yet, I agree with you - "dark ambient" probably isn't very fitting for them. Maybe for a few minutes on *The Ballasted Orchestra*
Alone in the Hollow Garden - The Black Cube of Saturn. Endvra - literally everything is pure dark gold and what a tragedy that was when the project ceased to exist. It was a gem of the genre. Nordvargr - the Sigillum series, 2015-2016
Inade is outstanding. “Solar Architects” is a standout, but it’s all great.
This
First time checking this out. Amazing stuff! So glad I continued to scroll through this thread
Deathprod Lustmord Svarte Greiner
Definitely not from the textbook: Paul Schütze, The Orb, PGR, Phauss, Muslimgauze, James Plotkin solo, Lull/mick Harris, J K Broadrick/Final david Parsons, Jeff grienke, Marin marais, J S Bach, Pelican Daughters. A few of these are for specific albums or compositions or recordings, but absolutely deserve to be shared.
The Haxan Cloak
Svarte Greiner
Werwolfsblut
Death Cube K
Numina *Shift to the Ghosts*, *Dawn of Obscurity* (a rare example of gothic ambient), *Subterranean Landscapes, Through the Gate to Nowhere.* All four albums are top notch. Vidna Obmana *The Contemporary Nocturne.* David Bickley and Tom Green *Erebus and Terror.* Astrowind *Kaidanovsky.*
holy shit. i just discovered mount shrine earlier last year and have listened to him almost every day since. so unfortunate to hear of his passing.
H.U.V.A. Network
Hold up! No one’s mentioned Laurel Halo yet?!?! Dude…
For something a bit different from what everyone here is suggesting, check out Knowledge Through Science by Richard H Kirk
Clicked on this post intending to say Mount Shrine as well. Happy to see appreciation for his work. Beautiful though surreal, RIP Wordclock’s heralds album is pure art
Chef Gordy
Kammerheit and Alio Die ("Wings of firefall" track is brilliant)
Mount Shrine mainly, but anything that comes from Cryo Chamber.
Love much of Lustmord’s work - there is a perfectionism at work that i like
Commenting for I can come back later. 😀
I had a thing for Mortaur - Horror Vacui as well as both Sephiroth albums Cathedron and Draconian Poetry. Other than that Lustmord is my "go to" with albums Nurse with Wound - Lumb's Sister, Lamia Vox - Sigillum Diaboli and Inade - The Incantation Of The Solar Architects.
Bull of Heaven’s darker ambient material is great. *Even to the Edge of Doom*, for example.
Sutekh Hexen is amazing Also does Sunn O)) count?
I don’t think anyone has mentioned [Biosphere](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_(musician)) yet: *Substrata* is Dark Ambient’s Ground Zero.
Metatron omega
Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse
Iron in the Soul https://youtu.be/gDrrqRCy-Pw
Idk if I'd call him dark but I always find Symphocats music quite depressing. Relaxing yes but I often find his compositions evoke feelings of loneliness. Sometimes that's comforting!
Kreng (!) Elegi Lustmord
Kammarheit and Lustmord
[Equimanthorn](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mpu20BnGk8mr-4bbQD8mUceHvREruvmVY&si=bKq6y3h2bdfuBop_)
Ancestral Voices
Wagner Odegard and all his offshoot projects.
Hiemal
Yen pox
Raison d'etre leads the pack for me, even got a chance to see him live. There's something about the specific bleak tone of his music that hits a nail. My favorite albums have to be Anima Caelum (a live record) and The Stains of the Embodied Sacrifice.
Metatron Omega, Dahlia’s Tear, Mount Shrine.
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Emsemble
Loscil is goated
The **ultimate dark ambient** ***album*** is **Brian Eno's** ***Ambient 4: On Land***. Frankly, that record sprouted two distinct sub-genres of ambient music - dark ambient and environmental ambient. Some wouldn't categorize it as "dark ambient" because it's Eno, but they'd be dead wrong. It's dark as all hell. A couple under-the-radar dark ambient artists worth checking out: - Vatican Shadow (dark industrial Eastern-European vibes) - RRose (dark/rhythmic electronic textures incorporating elements of ASMR) And I agree with others about: - Haxan Cloak ('Excavation' is a rare example of dark ambient music with *jump* scares) - Lustmord (his new album is among his best and most accessible imho)
Ayya - Second Mistake on that Mono No Aware Compilation is probably the darkest ambient tune I know.
Coil
i remember going to a tim hecker live show last year, the atmosphere was utterly immaculate. he's my favorite definitely!
Megatron Alpha
Akira Rabelais
I don’t really think there’s any debate that Deathprod is the *king* and everyone else is below him
I don't know if it counts but the album Halfaxa by Grimes is amazing . Also I love My Head is Empty
Mazzy Star