Runes Order & Regen Graves – Escape (Digital/CD Album – Dark Vinyl Records)
Claudio Dondo began making music in the late 1980s. This path eventually led him to Runes Order, the project under which he has released countless recordings on a wide variety of labels since 1992. He has now joined forces with the German label Dark Vinyl Records and, much like on his previous album, initiated a collaboration with Regen Graves.
We are presented with a total of 13 tracks. While the influences are highly eclectic, they can largely be categorized within genres such as Cinematic and Krautrock. The inclusion of additional guest musicians adds further diversity—for instance, on one track, a saxophone creates a wonderfully dark, Jazzy atmosphere. I wasn’t surprised to find references to John Carpenter’s films, yet this album offers far more than just Cinematic soundscapes. From vintage drum machine tones to driving rhythms, and from organ passages to analog effects, this work has a great deal to offer. Add to this a variety of vocal tracks alongside the instrumentals, and the result is a fascinating work that keeps the listener firmly in its grip.
This is a varied and accomplished opus containing a few real gems. (Rating:7½).
Listen to “Bury The Fetus”:
About Runes Order & Regen Graves
Runes Order & Regen Graves is the collaboration between Claudio Dondo’s long-running Italian dark ambient project Runes Order, based in the Genoa area, and Regen Graves, a musician from the same Genoa scene known as a member of the horror-doom band Abysmal Grief. Dondo started the project in 1988 as Order 1968 and renamed it Runes Order in 1992 with the cassette “The Dream Door”. His catalogue includes “La Seduzione Del Silenzio” (1994), “Room 39” (1995), “The Art of Scare and Sorrow” (2002) and “Fase XIV” (2019), drawing on the cosmic and Berlin School tradition of Tangerine Dream, Faust and Klaus Schulze.
Dondo and Regen Graves first joined forces on “Falsche Fragen” in 2023. “Escape”, their second album together, followed in 2026 on Dark Vinyl Records, pairing Berlin School electronics with horror and thriller soundtrack atmospheres across the thirteen tracks reviewed here.
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