Best Darkwave Releases of January 2026

As with most Decembers and Januarys, music releases are a bit slow. Nevertheless, here are five tracks that caught our eye this January.

5. Vioflesh – Sweet Poison

Vioflesh offers a new, haunting song to start off the new year with Sweet Poison. We love the song’s concept and hope to hear more from Vioflesh this year.

4. 2DCAT – Never Enough

2DCAT is back again with original music. After last month’s Touch In The Night, 2DCAT offers Never Enough. This song offers a hypnotic arp and percussion-forward track that packs some serious energy.

3. Kontravoid – Mortal

You never know exactly what a Kontravoid release is going to look like, and Mortal offers something closer akin to industrial techno than other notable past releases.

2. Balduvian Bears – Regret

Balduvian Bears released Ursine at the beginning of the month, and “Regret” is our favorite track on the record. The signature elements are all present: gated reverb on the snare, a driving bassline, synths soaked in reverb. The lyrical content carries more weight than usual. The imagery of betrayal and the search for forgiveness is bleak without being melodramatic. Anderson’s voice handles it without overselling it.

1. hinfort – Alive

The baritone vocals of hinfort are the immediate introduction to this song and carry on throughout the remainder of the track. Alive offers cold bass riffs and a melancholic delivery that doesn’t oversell itself. A great start to our 2026.