From the depths of solitude and the fringes of civilization emerges the latest release from Ansiktsløs, the project of R. Ikstelzok, also known for his work in Apocryphos and Psychomanteum. Forged in the shadows of the Pennsylvania wilderness, this album is a meditation on the final cycle of humanity, capturing the weight of solitude, erosion, and detachment from the modern world.
We are proud to bring forth Ansiktsløs, an enigmatic new entity from one of the dark ambient scene’s most respected artists. With a career spanning over a decade and releases on Malignant Records, Cryo Chamber, and Cyclic Law, this project carves a new sonic identity, one that merges the bleak atmospheres of black ambient with the raw abrasions of industrial noise, evoking the unfiltered spirit of classic 90s CMI-era darkness.
Ansiktsløs (Norwegian for “faceless”) is where this artist removes all trace of his regular persona and embraces an alter-ego named Ikstelzokr, a Nordic hermit who lives in dereliction. Channeled at Fear’s Altar during the cold embrace of Autumn and Winter 2022/2023, the album pulses with the breath of the void, featuring contributions from Matej Gyarfas (Phragments). Ikstelzok conjures soundscapes from circuit-bent machines, analog and semi-modular synthesis, bone horns, tape loops, and primitive percussion—yielding a raw, archaic sonic texture.
Sideworlds is a conceptual release where we are guided through the trials of Ikstelzokr as he copes with the suffering and inevitable death of his only companion. As the spirit passes through the ether, it enters what is believed to be a sideworld. Ikstelzokr desperately tries to communicate through a series of mirrors, believing them to be gateways. But as he steps beyond the reflection, he finds himself trapped, discovering that the last saeculum of humanity lingers in this mirrored existence after death. Once inside, the path back is forever sealed.
Spanning 82 minutes across two discs, Sideworlds is divided into two harrowing chapters:
• Disc 1: The suffering, loss, and grief of the mortal world.
• Disc 2: The infinitesimal, disorienting reality of the Sideworld.
Rejecting the polish and sterility often found in cinematic dark ambient, Sideworlds is drenched in grit, filtered through analog degradation and tape saturation. It is the journal of a reclusive hermit standing at the precipice of a dying world, observing the collapse of human cycles with weary detachment. A deeply immersive experience in the purest form of dark ambient and industrial dread, Sideworlds is an unrelenting meditation on mortality, solitude, and the echoes of those who have passed beyond.
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