That is a very common reaction.
Practically every time I’ve tried to introduce people to dark ambient, the reaction is as follows: 1) A minute or two of confused silence; 2) “Is it never going to, you know, actually get going?”
THANK YOU. I love it.
So it’s hell’s elevator music! 
Thank you for that… I didn’t know them but loved it. You know when you hear music and you feel something right away… WOW gotta get that!
You’re welcome, and I’m glad you liked it. I love them; have 6 of their albums.
Now, I am drunk and I can listen to it easily without getting scared! Why?
Because the Lord Satan has possessed thy soul hihihihihahahahaha!!!
Then, Hail and Glory to Him! The Lord of Terror, Corrupter of Souls!
I have realized one more thing. When I listen to this sort of music, I don’t feel depressed or have any depressing or negative thoughts. Interesting, isn’t it? Perhaps, it’s because I stop concentrating on negative thoughts and I start being concentrating on my fear? What is your opinion?
I can’t get into dark ambient because so much of it feels too obvious. It’s scary in the exact same way practically every other dark ambient track is scary, and it feels like it has all been done before decades ago. Is there any originality left in this genre?
I’m not bothered by it but I’d assume that anyone who listens to this to relax rather than, say, waves and whale calls, is a serial killer.
Alcohol is a CNS depressant. People with depression show, among other things, an increase of activity in the (looks up the research) anterior medial cortex. Chances are that a bit of ethanol down-regulated this activity. Do not consider this a recommendation to use alcohol to self-medicate. It’s a very, very bad idea.
I only listened to a minute of the Op’s track but I kind of like it. I prtefer it to most of the alternatives offered in the thread. The trouble is that it doesn’t fit any of the occasions for which I listen to music. It seems to be something that you would put on to sit in the dark for an hour. Maybe to get high and mellow out to. But I don’t have that kind of free time any longer.
I REALLY liked that Bohren & der Club of Gore piece, although again, I only listened to a minute’s worth. It’s ideal music for a detective movie in your head. Sort of like Body Heat or Mulholland Drive. I’m going to get this album and at least one other that I can find. I don’t have an occasion for this music either, but I’m willing to try to find one. It would be great for a long drive as long as you were refreshed and it wouldn’t put you to sleep.
By coincidence I’m currently listening to the Future Sound of London’s ISDN, which has elements of dark ambience; and one of my favourite albums is Tangerine Dream’s Zeit - from 1972! - which sounds like this. And a couple of weeks back I ripped Ambient IV: Isolationism, a compilation of just this sort of music.
Why do I like it? 'cause it’s something I can put on in the background while I fiddle with Photoshop or do something else. It puts me in a certain mood. It’s generally wafty enough that it isn’t distracting but complicated enough that it doesn’t get boring. It’s no more complicated than that.
Illbient, that’s the word I remember from the 1990s. For a brief moment ambient was quite popular in the UK - The Orb got to number one in the album charts once, although they were jolly ambient.
I recommend ISDN by the way. I was wary of it for a long time. It stuffed up the cheap bins in record shops here for ages, back when FSOL were semi-big, because no-one wanted a FSOL live album. But “Slider”, track four, is awesome, especially the dum-dum, dum-dum bassline that starts up about five minutes in. This bit, in fact. That was the future of music, once.
Likewise, I sometimes listen to dark ambient when I work, or perhaps when I’m reading a book. I certainly wouldn’t put it on just to listen to.
That was really disturbing! “The Ring”-like video bits were disturbing. If I was working on a space vehicle and somehow cast adrift through the universe, disoriented, dying, I imagine this is what I’d see and hear before utter blackness forever.
It’s so very calming, and can be easily ignored if that matters - say, if you’re trying to read a book while listening to music, or if you have to step out of the room. You know nothing will really have changed when you come back. Same thing with minimal techno, or drone, or some field recordings - it’s just not music that demands attention, but it does reward attention.
The enjoyability of this kind of music, for me, kinda coincides with the seasons. When it’s cold out I’m listening to bleaker, chillier music in this vein - in the summer if I’m listening to ambient stuff, it’s more likely to be warm, humanistic techno like Kompakt or the KLF’s Chill Out.
Lustmord, recommended upthread, are pretty great. Sunn O))) for the most part I don’t think of as ambient anything - they’re too in-your-face. My recent favorites are Thomas Köner (I’ve been listening to Permafrost probably a couple times a week in recent months) and Northaunt (the album Barren Land is spectacular - it feels like being plunked down alone into the midst of an evening in the Northwest Territories, all freezing winds and flashing northern lights).
Never even heard of DA until this thread but I find the link in the OP relaxing.
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People react differently to music. I found it slightly unsettling, but I can understand how others could find it relaxing.
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Don’t forget, too, that there are people :: raises hand :: who divide unsettling things into further categories, one of which is “good unsettling”. Dark ambient may not be “relaxing” to me, per se, but I’d describe it as soothing (and I’d guess the OP would find that just as bizarre :)).
I guess it’s a phenomenon related to why some people love horror movies so much.
Dark Ambient Music is intentionally frightening but if you listen to it enough you can find the sounds to be intense and riveting. Its ominous features can make you think of other worldly environments that may have a spiritual pronouncements. Dark Ambient may make you uncomfortable but that’s if you let your imagination run wild.
I try to make my mind concentrate on squeezing out bad thoughts. Yea, I am a believer, because of that I fear God, I fear His wrath if I do or think of bad things. I use this fear to examine myself in solitude or even melancholy.
For more info please check out “Dark Ambient” on Wikipedia, even for a list of artists.