Dark ambient mix v2 and commentary

Here is some commentary on a mix I put up recently on Mixcloud, Pure Dark Ambient volume 2.

Raison D'etre: In Abandoned Places. It's certainly hard to go past Raison D'etre when doing anything dark ambient related. I thought this would work as a strong introduction track, as it work as a strong introduction track to the fine album Requiem for Abandoned Souls.

Northaunt: Night came to us. I'm a latecomer to the whole Northaunt thing, I have to admit. After being pestered for years to listen to this artist, I finally got one of his albums, and it's insanely good. This guy is carrying on the torch for dark ambient now that many of the greats have packed up and moved on. This is a powerfully chilling and frozen track of grim despair and I love it.

Camanecroszcope: Xenthono-Rohmatru. This is just absurdly, insanely good. The more I listen to the two albums this collaboration project put out, the more I am convinced they are amongst the greatest works in this genre. I really like the flow of this track into the next.

Maculatum: The Nameless City part 4. Maculatum is a recent signing to Malignant Records, and I think a collaboration between Collapsar and Rasalhague (?). This album was inspired by Lovecraft's stories and you can see why. Super dark and super tense. The samples work wonderfully (anyone know where they're from?).

Hyios: Tephra. Another recent signing on Malignant; I know literally nothing about this artist than they put out a pretty fine dark ambient album a few years ago. This is the opening track on it and while it isn't really breaking new ground, it executes the classic dark ambient sound very well.

Combative Alignment: And Outside Glows the Red Dawn part 1. A very underrated artist; much of their back catalogue is extremely rare vinyl and I've only heard bits and pieces of it and it is jawdropping. They finally put out a CD release, on Malignant, and it's really strong, creepy stuff, quite hallucinatory and disorienting, a theme that continues with the next track.

Hall of Mirrors: Invocation. This is big, bold, super long and badarse release by two crazy Italians, who make tracks that are 20 or 30 minutes long. This is really bewildering and suffocating stuff, dragging your mind into places you're not really sure you want it to go, but by the time you get there it's too late.

False Mirror: Wasteland. This is a beautiful track from a beautiful album, that I think works perfectly in this position in the mix. After the weird madness of the last two tracks, this one gives you some brief respite before the final assault.

Terra Sancta: Forgotten. This is just massive, massive, massive, massive stuff. Colossal frozen walls of shattering relentless darkness, that crashes in wave after wave, until the final descent into beautiful despair. When Terra Sancta nails it, they are in a league of their own. Off a three track EP put out a few years ago, on Malignant Records (no surprises).