The 16 Best Dark Ambient Albums of All Time

Cave recordings, feedback drones and a spaceship that never lands sit beside Cold Meat Industry ritual pieces and slow Scandinavian gloom. Two decades of the genre's darkest corners, one pair at a time.

1. 1
   Heresy

   Lustmord's 1990 album built from deep drones and recordings made in caves, crypts and catacombs.
2. 2
   The Place Where the Black Stars Hang

   Lustmord's 1994 album of slow, cavernous drones, released on Side Effects.
3. 3
   Morals and Dogma

   A 2004 album by Deathprod, the project of Norwegian producer Helge Sten, released on Rune Grammofon.
4. 4
   Stalker

   A 1995 collaboration between Robert Rich and Lustmord, inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky's film of the same name.
5. 5
   In Sadness, Silence and Solitude

   A 1997 album by Raison d'être, the Swedish project of Peter Andersson, released on Cold Meat Industry.
6. 6
   The Empty Hollow Unfolds

   A 2000 album by Raison d'être, released on Cold Meat Industry.
7. 7
   Cellblock

   The 2003 debut album of Atrium Carceri, the Swedish project of Simon Heath, released on Cold Meat Industry.
8. 8
   The Starwheel

   A 2005 album by Kammarheit, the Swedish project of Pär Boström, released on Cyclic Law.
9. 9
   Permafrost

   Thomas Köner's 1993 album of slow, low-frequency drones.
10. 10
    Nostromo

    A 2001 album by Sleep Research Facility themed on the spaceship from the film Alien.
11. 11
    Aldebaran

    An album by Inade, the German dark ambient duo, issued on Cold Spring in the 1990s and later reissued by Loki Foundation.
12. 12
    Soliloquy for Lilith

    Nurse With Wound's 1988 album of drones produced from effects pedals with no instrument input.
13. 13
    The Witch Hammer

    Shinjuku Thief's 1993 album on Dorobo, the first part of his Witch Trilogy.
14. 14
    Substrata

    Biosphere's 1997 album of cold, sparse ambient pieces by the Norwegian musician Geir Jenssen.
15. 15
    The Cancelled Earth

    The 2009 debut album of Cities Last Broadcast, released on Cyclic Law.
16. 16
    The Angelic Conversation

    Coil's 1994 release of their score for Derek Jarman's 1985 film The Angelic Conversation.

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