Melanculia is a project driven by Nino Sable, who released his first album in 2010 and has added several more albums to his discography over the years. The artist, who was born in Porto (Portugal) but is based in the Ruhr region (Germany), returned this year after an eight-year silence with his fourth album, consisting of fourteen songs. His musical universe lies somewhere between Chanson, Neo-Folk, and Balladry. The sound is primarily characterized by melancholy, which is transformed into beautiful, compelling songs, some of whose choruses are surprisingly catchy. A few synth sounds add an extra layer of melancholic atmosphere. The songs have a dreamy quality, yet remain consistently wistful. His deep, warm, and fitting voice is perfectly suited to the overall sound, with the acoustic guitar predominating throughout.

This is an album full of depth and emotion that completely convinced me and will undoubtedly appeal to fans of Rome. As far as I am concerned, it is a beautiful discovery. (Rating:8).

Sable recorded, produced, mixed and mastered the album himself in Essen between October 2025 and March 2026, playing all instruments and singing all vocals. Benno Schlicht added clarinet to “We Are Only Human”, and Sable also handled the artwork. Side-Line reported the release on the day it appeared, on 15 May 2026: Melanculia return with Nino Sable album ‘post mortem’.

Listen to “The Tower”:

About Melanculia

Melanculia is the solo project of Nino Sable, born in Porto, Portugal, and based in Essen, in the German Ruhr region. Sable writes, performs and produces the material himself, mixing indie and alternative rock with slowcore and dream-pop, with acoustic guitar at the centre of the arrangements.

The debut album “The Dazed Prophet” appeared on 18 October 2010, followed by “Paths” on 3 May 2013 and “Seventh Circle” on 10 December 2018. An eight-year gap separates that record from “Post Mortem”, the fourth Melanculia album, which was issued on 15 May 2026 and runs to fourteen tracks across roughly sixty-one minutes.

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German indie/alternative project Melanculia release “post mortem” on 15 May 2026 via noot moon records. The 14-track album is the first Melanculia full-length since “Seventh Circle” in 2018 and was written, performed, produced, mixed and mastered by Nino Sable in Essen, Germany. The album will be out as a CD and digital release, with a limited 6-panel digipak edition of 200 copies.

The album follows the video-single “Sunboat Ascension”, of hich you can see the video below.

Nino Sable comments: “post mortem is resurrection music. Minimal arrangements channel emotional intensity through stark beauty – 130 bpm acoustic riffs meet spectral organs, building toward choruses that feel like sunboats rising through red skies. The industrial Ruhr area echoes in every chord: heavy skies, rusted steel, fleeting light.”

“post mortem” is available for ordering on Bandcamp as a digital album and as a limited 6-panel digipak CD.

About Melanculia

Melanculia is Nino Sable’s solo project from Germany’s Ruhr area. Sable started his first solo project in 1999.

The first Melanculia release was “The Dazed Prophet”, released in October 2010. It continued with “Paths” in May 2013, “Lost Sounds” in July 2018, “Seventh Circle” in December 2018 and “post mortem” in May 2026.

Nino Sable is also known as the vocalist and lyricist of Aeon Sable. Aeon Sable were formed in Essen in 2010 by Din-Tah Aeon and Nino Sable. While Din-Tah Aeon handles guitars, programming and production, Nino Sable takes care of vocals, lyrics, production, songwriting, graphics and media design. So far they released “Per Aspera Ad Astra” in 2010, “Saturn Return” in 2012, “Aequinoctium” in 2013, “Visionaers” in 2014, “Hypaerion” in 2016, “Aether” in 2018, “Aenthology” in 2020 and “Aenigma” in 2023.

We previously covered the Spleen+/Alfa Matrix 7CD post-punk boxset “Resurgence“, which includes Aeon Sable’s “From Witchcraft To Deviltry” on CD 1.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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