A Crown Of Silver Antlers by Ashtoreth & Grey Malkin
Release date: February 13, 2026Label: Cursed Monk Records
Yes—the sounds of darkness can indeed be beautiful. The Belgian chief shaman Peter Verwimp (Ashtoreth) and the enigmatic Scottish musician and sound artist Grey Malkin join forces once more on A Crown Of Silver Antlers, an album conceived between autumn 2024 and spring 2025. Created in a period shadowed by loss and reflection, the record is devoted to their fathers, who both passed away during that time.
Both artists have long projected their dark reflections—not only together, but also through solo work and collaborations—resulting in a rich and intriguing catalogue of releases. Ashtoreth is widely known for his ritualistic dark ambient explorations and is also connected to more experimental ventures such as Forestaal and Svartur. His work often unfolds like a ceremonial invocation, steeped in atmosphere and mystic resonance. Grey Malkin, on the other hand, crafts a distinctive blend of folk-infused dark ambient and experimental soundscapes. He is involved in projects such as The Hare and the Moon and Kitchen Cynics, where fragile acoustic textures and haunted melodies intertwine with esoteric undertones.
Together, their shared fascination with shadow, ritual, and introspection finds fertile ground—each bringing a different hue of darkness to the same solemn canvas. What emerges on A Crown Of Silver Antlers is not merely an album, but a ritual of remembrance—an immersive sonic ceremony where grief is transformed into reverent beauty, and darkness glows with quiet, silver light.
The murky mood of A Crown Of Silver Antlers is deeply introspective, evoking the sensation of observing a vivid forest—birds singing, a woodpecker tapping—while standing at the mouth of a dark, shadowed cave. Verwimp and Malkin weave together acoustic and electronic textures, layering field recordings and vocals imbued with grief. On the twenty-minute immersive track ‘A Crown of Silver Antlers’ Gayle Brogan delivers haunting, evocative vocals that anchor the piece in emotional depth and resonance.
Ashtoreth and Grey Malkin—who have never met in person—deliver a remarkable dark folk ambient work, where cavernous winds and rippling waters carrying the listener through an intricately layered, almost occult soundscape. Light and darkness, hope and despair, grief and joy converge at the threshold of a supernatural gate, where the sun caresses the face while the cold, shadowed world send a shiver down the spine at the same time.
Also noteworthy is the professional sound design and mixing by Peter Verwimp, the meticulous mastering by Ronald Mariën, and the striking artwork—based on images by Grey Malkin—crafted by Irish drone artist Ruairi O’Baoighill.
