Dark Ages is a minimalist Dark Ambient band that was formed by Vlad and Roman Saenko (both of Drudkh fame) in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in 2004. They haven't been active under this label since 2013.
They produced essentially ambient music that is evocative of pretty much all of the darkest aspects of the European Middle Ages one can think of, from their obscure debuts all the way to The Black Death, including the ubiquitous presence of the Church in said eras.
The albums are as follow:
- Twilight of Europe (2005)
- A Chronicle of the Plague (2006)
- The Tractatus de Hereticis et Sortilegiis (2010)
- From the Bogs of Aughiska / Dark Ages (2011)
- Rabble, Whores, Usurers (2013)
This band provides examples of:
- The Antichrist: "Birth of the Antichrist" from Twilight of Europe.
- The Black Death:
- A Chronicle of the Plague is all about the dread of the Plague that decimated Europe in the mid-14th century.
- So is "Breath of the Black Plague" from Twilight of Europe.
- Creepy Cathedral: "Gothic Architecture" from Twilight of Europe conveys a sense of both grandeur and domination about Europe's cathedrals in the Middle Ages.
- Ominous Latin Chanting: Some tracks of The Tractatus de Hereticis et Sortilegiis start with Latin chanting.
- Disposing of a Body: "Blessed Be the Waters of the Avignon River" from A Chronicle of the Plague. At some point during The Black Death, there were so much corpses that they had to be disposed of in rivers, which were blessed by priests for this reason.
- Ghost Town: "Dead Desolate Villages" from A Chronicle of the Plague, about entire villages that were decimated by the Plague.
- The Grotesque: "Deformity" from Rabble, Whores, Usurers evokes deformities that were often considered of devilish origin in medieval times, inciting either fear or pity.
- Locked in the Dungeon: "Dungeons" from Twilight of Europe conveys the darkness, hopelessness and maybe coldness associated with medieval dungeons.
- Oddball in the Series: The Tractatus de Hereticis et Sortilegiis, unlike the other albums that are entirely made of electronic Instrumentals, also features A Cappella chants in Latin (perhaps the least unsettling parts of the lot at that).
- The Purge: "Fate of the Templars" from Twilight of Europe is about the destruction of the Order of the Knights Templar under King of France Philippe IV in the early 14th century.
- Seven Deadly Sins: At least two are featured in Rabble, Whores, Usurers, namely Greed with "Avarice" and Lust with "Depravity".
- Swarm of Rats: "Rats" from A Chronicle of the Plague, about the main carriers of The Black Death back then.
- Wretched Hive: Rabble, Whores, Usurers is a collection of tracks meant to evoke the various woes and sins one can typically think of about a medieval city.
