Here’s a recipe for guaranteed grimness: take two well-known names in dark ambient and throw in some inspiration courtesy of H.P. Lovecraft. The resultant neurotoxin would be The Nameless City from Rasalhague and Collapsar, recording together as Maculatum. This is a thematically perfect effort, a soundtrack for your late-night forays into Lovecraft’s work, or just for ensuring uneasy dreams. It is unsparingly heavy, weighted with thick layers of hissing pads and moaning drones. The atmosphere is dense with lusty expectation and heart-clenching worry. Thunderous drums fall in to break up the flow; when they’re paired with guttural, unnatural Lovecraftian chants, it creates the intended sense of unholy ritual that courses through the work. The duo manage to perfectly convey the feel of bearing unwanted witness to some profane mass meant to unleash the elder gods on an unsuspecting world. Dark ambient fans are going to devour The Nameless City with an unearthly hunger. Even casual dark listeners will find a lot to get lost in. In the midnight-hued density there is movement and sensation; there is a story at work, and it’s compelling. If, in fact, Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn, The Nameless City just might bring the Old Boy around.

Available from Malignant Records.