It's been 7 years since New Jersey's doom masters blessed us with an album. The same lineup played on "Atra Mors" is all that matters to me,as they deliver something even darker and more dismal here. There is a great deal of space in the mix. Everything echoes out into it. This does not find the sound converging in lush layers, but isolated, which sonically captures a lonelier mood. Great guitar works rip out from things that are driven by the slow funeral doom march. "Luads" moves with more of a metal groove before coming to an atmospheric standstill.
This makes me wonder what artists are talking about when they feel sub-genres are limiting, as funeral doom is something very specific, yet they are creating something very different within it.s gates. The difference between greatness and mediocrity lies there. It's a ten-minute song that does not feel like a ten-minute song, which is the way to do ten-minute songs."Terce" has more of a Type O Negative vibe, in how the ambiance echoes out with a beautiful melancholy, the vocals keeping things rooted in this band's heavier nature that has a gradual build.
They unfold another 10-minute epic with "Sext", which sails in on a cold ocean of synth chords, painting a similarly sparse sonic landscape to set the stage for the song. There are lots of whispered breathy vocals to contrast the growls on this album; this is another more dramatic gothy moment. It takes three minutes for this to be unfurled. At the first minute mark, the drums kick in to get things moving. Things get equally creepy and depressive as the tension builds with the guitar melodies. The drumming simmer below the shifting haze of sound bubbling. It is a more surreal affair than what we have previously heard from this band.
"None" comes alive with the shadows painted by the subtle guitar melodies. The only more classic doom band you can trace these guys back to is My Dying Bride. The slow sail from the underworlds that is captured here does not follow the dictates of conventional songwriting,as melodies slowly slide out from the darkwater, and their sound passes through. This album could have come from the 90s, as it captures that area of metal. Darkly romantic sound colliding with vampiric grandeur. "Vesoer" allows the keyboards to set a stage similar to what happened on "Sext: Though here it simply serves as the intro to "Compline," which digs into the spectral trudge right from the start. They shift into an almost blackened death metal riff two minutes into this song, which might draw comparisons to Incantation, as the band proves themselves willing to dive into any dynamic shift that might convey the darkness. Then they sailed back out into ghostly waters before converging back into the more stormy Nordic riff. Overall, this album is different but the same brand of gloom you want these guys to deliver, and they do. I will give it a 10 without a doubt, one of the most compelling doom albums you have heard in some time. The album drops on October 17th on Profound Lore
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