Review: Onasander & RNGMNN - Illumination Phases

Artist: Onasander & RNGMNN

Album: Illumination Phases

Label: Winter-Light

Release date: July 2026

Many dark ambient artists have had a penchant for working with others over the previous few decades, but none more so than Onasander (aka Maurizio Landini), the Italian maestro who enjoys bouncing ideas with other dark ambient initiates to such an extent that his solo discography is dwarfed by the sheer number of his collaborations. The latest in this series is a joint creation with RNGMNN (aka Ronny Engmann), a German artist whose work I have admittedly given too little attention so far, but who is no stranger to Winter-Light, under whose auspices this latest collaboration sees the light of day as well.

For readers familiar with Onasander's work, it will come as absolutely no surprise that this is another space-oriented album, as the cover itself also suggests. What's interesting, however, is that Illumination Phases has a very specific twist to it, presumably as a result of RNGMNN's creative input; rather than being just another space ambient effort, which are a dime a dozen these days, this album specifically plays with the concept of light and the different effects that it can have on our perception of things. As such, despite its cosmic scale, Illumination Phases manages to retain a very human quality to it, and it's clear that we're meant to follow its cosmic evolution with human eyes and ears despite our puny spatio-temporal character, a lesson that many latter-day dark ambient projects tend to forget. This much is reflected in the sound itself - the warm synths that underpin every track are there to remind you that the universe being depicted here is not the cold, unfeeling, impossibly vast stretch of space that could kill you at any instant, but rather an endless source of knowledge and fascination, which makes it somewhat reminiscent of the work of Sphäre Sechs. The album doesn't break much new ground in and of itself, but the compositions are rich, lush and beautifully layered, perfectly timed to give the material enough space to breathe without overstaying its welcome and risking to become monotonous and repetitive. It's true that Illumination Phases is more ambient than dark, a feature that doesn't imply anything negative in the slightest, especially when it's executed this well. The tracks have a certain dynamism to them that makes the album feel much shorter than its running time of 52 minutes, and each track is sufficiently different from the others to reward repeated listens and keep the flow fresh for a long time.

Overall, Illumination Phases is a compelling, engaging and competent piece of modern cinematic dark ambient, as well as a welcome reminder that artists needn't always look backwards for inspiration in search for quality. It's unashamedly contemporary in its creative and compositional approach, both in terms of its sonic arsenal and the range of scenes it manages to paint - a clear triumph for both artists involved.

Rating: 8/10