There is something particularly fascinating about following a project for years: eventually, you stop merely listening to a new release and begin to recognize the movements, the restlessness, and even the ruptures taking place behind it. In the case of APOPHIS, the project led by Australian musician Aidan Cibich, Wingless Dominion, released on April 2, 2026, represents precisely that kind of moment.
After following the project’s journey and writing about its previous works, it is impossible to approach this new album expecting nothing more than a linear continuation of everything that came before. Aidan has decided to open a new door — and this time, it leads directly into territory more experimental than ever.
With 14 tracks spanning just over an hour, Wingless Dominion does not seem interested in offering the listener a comfortable or predictable experience. There is a constant sense of transformation here, as though Apophis itself were testing the limits of everything it has built so far. And perhaps it is precisely this willingness to experiment that makes this work so relevant within its discography.
A few days ago, a metal enthusiast asked me whether bands can change so dramatically within a single album that they completely break free from the boundaries of their genre. They can. There are artists who, in one way or another, keep returning, bringing new forms, new ideas, and that almost curious feeling of encountering someone you have known for years who can still manage to surprise you.
That is exactly how I feel about Wingless Dominion, the new album from APOPHIS.
And perhaps it is impossible to talk about this album without looking a little into the past.
After all, Aidan is not a name that appeared here yesterday.
Back in 2017, when Apophis presented Under A Godless Moon, there was already something particularly intriguing about this Adelaide-based musician. The instrumental approach managed to transcend the limitations we normally associate with a vocal-free work, using guitars, drums, and atmosphere to construct a narrative of its own. A year later, Virulent Host arrived, demonstrating that this was far from a passing creative spark. On the contrary: there was growth, there was restlessness, and there was a musician willing to push his own compositions into increasingly darker places.
At the time, I wrote about how profoundly Aidan had evolved.
Today, so many years later, perhaps that statement needs to be reconsidered.
Because Wingless Dominion is not interested merely in showing how much Aidan has evolved.
It wants to show how much he can still change.
These 14 tracks span approximately one hour and six minutes, and from the very beginning there is a clear sense that we are witnessing a new stage in the project’s journey. This is not simply a matter of repeating a formula that worked before, adding a few layers, and delivering another instrumental album. Aidan has chosen to experiment to the fullest extent of his growth as a producer.
And that completely changes the way we should listen to this work.
“Cathedral of Burning Stars” opens the album like a kind of portal. The title itself carries a grand, almost cosmic image, but it is the sonic construction that establishes the scale of this new phase. There is something more open, more exploratory, and less concerned with remaining within the boundaries one might expect from a project so deeply rooted in instrumental Death Metal.
It is like watching a structure we know begin to unravel before our eyes, revealing something else within.
And for someone who has followed Apophis for years, that is fascinating.
Because Aidan has not abandoned what made him recognizable.
He has simply stopped treating it as a prison.
On Virulent Host, there was a sense of desperation running beneath every composition. The guitar assumed the role of a blade, the instruments seemed to plunge into a spiral of chaos, and the atmosphere led the listener through landscapes of melancholy, instability, and darkness. There was brutality, but there was also an enormous concern with atmosphere and dynamics.
Apophis now surrenders itself to a more electronic realm, filled with minute details and shimmering flashes that open up entirely new sonic landscapes.
Wingless Dominion builds upon that experience, but it does not seem satisfied with remaining there.
The second track, “Crimson Wings Without Mercy”, reinforces this perception. There is weight, there is aggression, there is an ability to create imagery through the guitars, but there is also a greater freedom in the way these ideas are carried forward. Aidan seems less interested in proving that he can play something brutal and far more interested in discovering what he can do with everything he already knows.
And this difference is fundamental.
When I have followed a musician for so many years, one of the things that interests me most is not simply discovering whether a new album is “heavier” or “more technical”. Technique, by itself, has never been enough to make a work memorable.
What truly matters to me is whether there is evolution.
And there is.
Very much so.
Apophis has always possessed an instrumental nature, but Wingless Dominion transforms that characteristic into an even greater possibility. Without relying on a voice to lead the narrative, Aidan allows the textures themselves to assume different roles. A guitar can become melody, atmosphere, tension, or simply a presence moving through the composition like a shadow.
This is where the experimental side of the album truly begins to make sense.
We are not looking at a musician trying to abandon his identity in order to appear different.
We are looking at a musician who knows his own identity well enough to finally play with it.
And perhaps that is the difference between experimenting out of necessity and experimenting out of freedom.
“Crimson Wings Without Mercy” feels like the soundtrack to one of those hyper-modern, Cyberpunk-style games, completely free and detached from any label.
“The Knight Who Chose Ruin” matches this new guise with unexpected, pulsating bass lines, almost as though they were clandestinely rising into the air. And just when you think you have finally understood the album, “Duel Beneath a Burning Heaven” rises from the depths, calling forth a response to the agitated, modernist rhythms of the dance floors of the 1980s. There is a delicate fusion here, almost like the song of whales intertwined with insane keyboards and weighty bass lines, creating an unusual contrast for anyone who has only ever viewed Apophis through the lens of darkness.
There is subtlety as well in “Orbit of the Forsaken” and its sumptuous acoustic guitar, which emerges as a gentle introduction to different rhythms that blend together without ever clashing. It is neither metal nor electronic; there is breath, there are minute details, and there are shimmering plains that warm the hearts of those who love music, without necessarily needing a label.
From the ethereal agitation of “Apparition”, to the indulgence of “Crown of Ash”, or even the stellar fusion of “Ghosts of Zero”, APOPHIS travels through sound like a comet ready to strike its final target.
I always like to think about how much a musician or band is capable of growing and evolving, not merely to make money — well, money is part of it — but for the sake of art, musicianship, and the free spirit through which every artist weaves their ideas at the beginning, a spirit that many lose throughout their careers. APOPHIS has surrendered itself to a passion for music, evolution, and brilliance. Whether through “Wingless Dominion”, with its cinematic touch accompanied by blazing drums, or the calm sands of “A Kingdom Built on Falling Stars”, Aidan presents us with the originality and virtuosity of a musician maturing and leaving behind a solid legacy, as dynamic as his own soul seems to be.
Whether through the mystical atmosphere and soundscape of “In the Shadow of Perfect Foresight”, intertwined with MPB and moments that remind me of Bossa Nova lines and Latin rhythms, or through its closing track, “Hymn of the Unforgiven Sky”, with its Oriental flourishes, this is a fabulous album for those who live for music and breathe art.
Across its 66 minutes, Wingless Dominion presents a constant sense of movement. The album does not seem eager to reveal everything at once. It allows certain atmospheres to breathe, certain ideas to develop, and the listener to remain within that universe long enough to perceive its subtle transformations.
It is an experience that demands more attention than simply pressing play while doing something else.
And, honestly, thank goodness for that.
Because Apophis has never been a project that deserved to be heard halfway.
Aidan Cibich has built his journey precisely upon this ability to transform instruments into narrative. From the earliest works, the absence of vocals never meant an absence of discourse. Quite the opposite: at times, it feels as though the guitars are saying what a voice simply could not translate.
Today, after all these years, that characteristic remains, but it appears from a different perspective.
If Under A Godless Moon presented an identity in formation, and Virulent Host demonstrated an aggressive and deeply atmospheric evolution, Wingless Dominion seems to represent the moment when the musician looks back at the entire path he has travelled and asks:
“And now, how far can I take this?”
That is the question that remains after listening.
And perhaps it is also the album’s greatest strength.
There is nothing more dangerous for an artist than discovering a formula that works and deciding never to abandon it.
Aidan did the opposite.
He could have simply continued exploring what he had already established for Apophis. He could have delivered another instrumental work filled with extreme riffs, dark atmospheres, and that signature longtime listeners already recognize.
But he chose to open a new door.
And Wingless Dominion walks straight through it.
There is something almost symbolic about the title itself.
Wingless Dominion.
A dominion without wings.
But perhaps wings were never necessary.
Perhaps Apophis spent years building its strength only to discover that it did not need to keep flying in the same way.
After following Aidan since the project’s earliest days, returning to Apophis in 2026 evokes a feeling quite different from the one I had when I listened to Virulent Host in 2018. Back then, I saw a musician in full ascent, someone whose creativity seemed to grow with every release.
Today, I find something different.
I find a musician who already knows his territory — and who has finally decided to set it ablaze to discover what lies beyond the ashes.
Wingless Dominion is not merely another album in Apophis‘ journey.
It is a change in perspective.
It is experimental without completely abandoning its roots, atmospheric without relinquishing its weight, and bold precisely because it does not seem concerned with asking permission to be different.
And perhaps that is what I enjoy most about this reunion.
Aidan is still Aidan.
Apophis is still Apophis.
But neither of them is exactly where we left them.
And after following this journey for so many years, I can say that this is precisely what I hoped to find.
Not a repetition.
Not an attempt to reproduce the past.
But a new territory to explore.
Wingless Dominion is available on major streaming platforms and digital stores, including Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music, and Qobuz, with the album also available to experience in Hi-Res quality.
For those who have followed Apophis since its earliest days, this album may come as a surprise.
For those discovering the project now, perhaps this is the perfect time to go back to the beginning and understand the journey that led here.
Because some stories become better when we know their previous chapters.
And the story of Apophis is, without a doubt, far from over.
RATE: 9/10
Highlights: “Cathedral of Burning Stars” and “Crimson Wings Without Mercy”.
TRACK LISTING
1 – Cathedral of Burning Stars
2 Crimson Wings Without Mercy
3 – The Knight Who Chose Ruin
4 – Duel Beneath a Burning Heaven
5 – Orbit of the Forsaken
6 – Apparition
7 – Crown of Ash
8 – Ghosts of Zero
9 – The Nothingness
10 – Waltz of Endless Vengeance
11 – Wingless Dominion
12 – A Kingdom Built on Falling Stars
13 – In The Shadow of Perfect Foresight
14 – Hymn of the Unforgiven Sky
LINE-UP
Release date: April 2, 2026
14 tracks | 1h06min
Aidan Cibich — composition and instrumentation
RELATED LINKS