The darkest time of the year is upon us as it’s colder and we’re losing light every day. Soon the depression will seep into so many people’s minds. It’s the perfect time to indulge in the darker arts, the stuff that finds your lowest and most vulnerable spots and exposes them for what they are. It’s a good thing, really. Embrace the feelings.

“Latitudes of Sorrow” is a split effort combining Italian doom power Shores of Null (vocalist Davide Straccione, guitarists Gabriele Giaccari and Raffaele, bassist Matteo Capozucca, drummer Emiliano Cantiano) and Finnish doom/death conjurers Convocation (vocalist MM, multi-instrumentalist LL), and does this five-track display ever hit your pits of darkness. It’s mournful, destructive, and harrowing, the two bands peeling back your psyche. Shores provide a bit more of a traditional approach mixed with some barbs, while Convocation dig deep into the dirt, smearing your face with soil.

The Shores of Null section dawns with “An Easy Way” that brings wrenching doom from the start, sorrowful strains that fall as the singing soars into the clouds. Punches land as the words turn into growls, the humidity pushes the temperatures, and elegant melodies rush. “I kiss my dreams goodbye,”  Straccione laments, the chorus swelling as the mood mauls into blackness. “The White Wound” has leads heating up, growls lashing, and dark singing moving into shadows. The drums then rupture as the pace thunders forward, guitars glowing as the vocals wrench hearts. The pace mauls again as the emotion grows dour, the absence of light enveloping everything. “The Year Without Summer” is dreary and liquifies, deep singing lurching, slowly fading before the guitars respond with chugs. Growls retch as the guitars burn, scalding as they melt bone, and the words convey a lack of hope, slowly pounding away as the final moments near.

Convocation starts with “Abaddon’s Shadow” that’s eerie and unsettling, growls digging under your ribs, the fog engorging, savagery snarling as noises chortle. A muddy fury takes over as the power corrodes, liquifying like lava through rivers, a gothy feel taking over and adding blackened ends. The cracks ooze oil as throaty growls pummel, a cavernous pit of sound dominates, and calm finally arrives and melts into the earth. “Empty Room” begins with guitars buzzing, organ melting, and a pummeling force before things go cold. Out of that, the guitars crush, and a slower, solemn passage moves into an attack of growls that lash, the heat being dispersed evenly. Organ smears as guitars vibrate, roars mar, and a final ripple of chaos electrifies every cell in your body.

“Latitudes of Sorrow,” this split effort pitting Shores of Null and Convocation, lands at an ideal time, when summer has indeed ended and the cold weather is seeping into our pores. These are two bands that bury you in power and punishment, making sure the toll you pay is physical and mental. It also is perfect music for the darker days, when your hope is at its bleakest and you take some solace in knowing you don’t suffer alone. 

For more on the Shores of Null, go here: https://shoresofnull.bandcamp.com/music

For more on Convocation, go here: https://www.facebook.com/ConvocationDoom/

To buy the album, go here: https://everlastingspew.com/21-everlasting-spew-releases

For more on the label, go here: https://everlastingspew.com/

It’s not a huge shock when death metal makes your brain swim inside your skull and your guts liquify, but usually it’s because the content is disgusting and violent in a way that might make you sick. But there are other means for achieving that effect and indulging in something that still challenges you but keeps your stomach contents intact.

Italian death metal band Stigiform is on their first record, that being “Aconite,” a six-track, 42-minute excursion into a bizarre blend of horrors that challenge your brain and might bend your nerves. The band—vocalist V, guitarist/synth player/vocalist Saprovore, bassist Aiakos, drummer Morte Rossa—is made up of members of groups such as Vertebra Atlantis, Afraid of Destiny, and Thirst Prayer, and here they push their sound to strange limits. It’s progressive and warped but never in a way that sacrifices its smoldering heart. It’ll make you think of this stuff a little differently, which is welcome.

“Adamant” starts mangling, growls buried in the miasma, tricky, yet fluid playing making your blood race. The pace massacres and sickens, speeding with dizzying melodies, spilling into a sound vortex that flows into “Scorched and Hostile” the savages from the word go. There are weird clean notes that feel like ice dripping inside your skull, creating some variation with the rubbery attack. Howls lash as the intensity spikes, the guitars buzz and slink over strange territory, and that melts into the unknown. “Obsecration” spirals as the leads confound, gnarly bass snakes through thick tributaries, and the drums thunder. The pace halts before jolting anew, the leads tease fire, and then calm arrives, keys bleeding out in strange visions.

“Hypnagogic Allure” has guitars chiming, picking up as the leads bleed, the playing jangling and feeling like screws are loose. Howls unleash hell, storming with dizzying effects, clean gazing making your head spin, screams ravaging as everything ends in calculated confusion. “Prismatic Delirium” engulfs everything, fast, punishing surges bruising, your limbs tingling from the attack, the heat settling as the bass continues to slink in darkness. Cosmic steam collects as the power combusts, the guitars speeding through strange dimensions, digging into psyches. Closer “Knell of Nethermost Withdrawal” begins with steam rising, icy keys mixing into a morbid eruption. Violent rhythms jar as the guitars rocket, the bass scars, and the heat intensifies. The fury strangles as hypnotic power chews muscle, notes spiral into time, and moodiness activates and sparks before fading.

“Aconite” is a record that might take some time to fully absorb as its bizarre world and mind-bending attack can feel oddly alien at first. Well, after multiple listens too. Maybe all of them. Strigiform’s bizarre death metal feels like you had a strange dream from which you’re not sure you’ve actually awakened. And from the unsettling visions the music pushes into your head, your concerns you’re unconscious are not as wild as you may think.

For more on the band, go here: https://strigiformbm.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://metalodyssey.8merch.us/

Or here (Europe): https://metalodyssey.8merch.com/

For more on the label, go here: https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/

Black metal’s rise from dungeon aesthetics and low-fi sonic attacks has been a thorn in the side of some who feel that this style of music should be as ugly and unpresentable as possible. There’s a definite allure to black metal that stays in that very rigid lane, but over time, bands figured out they could be just as deadly and affective with more ambition.

That brings us to Lamp of Murmuur, helmed by sole creator M, that started off going for the grislier, sootier pathways, but as time went on, his scale grew in scope. The project’s new and fourth full-length “The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy” continues on a similar pathway as 2023’s “Saturnian Bloodstorm,” that went for bigger sounds, cleaner production, and an approach that froze your bones in the flesh. “Dreaming Prince” doesn’t really sound like that record, but it continues the project’s shift upward. The sound remains grounded in black metal but also bathes in gothier waters and even more drama, the title track trilogy of tracks toward the end of the record hammering that home. There is no compromise in sound, no barriers M won’t leap, and, as a result, it’s a more exciting world that’s seductive and bloody.

“The Fires of Seduction” is an intro befitting a great drama, the opening credits score, built on magical synth and immersive melodies, sweeping into “Forest of Hallucinations” that opens with guitars that begin filling in the colors. Then the pace ravages, keys raining down, zany riffs confusing and fueling, howls crumbling as fantastical elements explode. The pace gets speedier and catchier, storming as the keys shimmer, howls wrench, and jolts of electricity power dreams. “Hategate (The Dream-Master’s Realm)” blisters, trudging with gurgling howls and a trampling tempo, spiraling into psychosis. The playing gets more ferocious as a flutter of keys spits ice daggers, clean singing washes over, and ashen guitars fall into madness. “Reincarnation of a Witch” has riffs enveloping as the playing feels thrashy, beastly howls ripple, and a massive chorus stomps. “Fallen, come back to me!” M wails as the leads grow warmer, melting ice into streams, the guitars stabbing with a fiery attack that merges into instrumental “Angelic Vortex.” Synth clouds emerge as the guitars liquify, the gaze thickening and morphing, glowing as it fades into the darkness.

“The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy Part I – Moondance” has a massive open, keys bubbling as the playing is melodic and weird, howls lashing out as a gothy dash darkens. Clean singing bellows as the guitars catch fire, growing stronger and more adventurous, growls gurling on the tail end of a loopy pace. Synth storms as the theatrical notes pummel, lashing into “The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy Part II – Twilight Orgasm” that drips as the melodies glaze. Guitars pick up as the tempo pulses, deep, clean singing reaching into the guts for power, cold and steely guitars feeling like exposed steel on flesh. The playing sweeps, leaving minds dangling as everything spills into “The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy Part III – The Fall” that swims in fluid guitars and snarling growls. Tornadic forces emerge, spirited howls sending chills, playful keys dancing over pits of lava, the singing bellowing as the drums march in step. Sweltering chaos returns as the soloing bursts and dominates, fire-breathing spirits engulfing with colorful energies, everything coming to a scorching end. Closer “A Brute Angel’s Sorrow” is rustic and mournful, acoustics and synth wrapping around the clean singing, shadows growing more foreboding. The vocals continue to power as hazy, blurring notes fall, drowning out tormented visions.

Lamp of Murmuur’s transformation from raw, wintry suffocation to melodic dramatics and towering metallic expression has been pretty breathtaking, and M’s work on “The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy” is a high point for this project. This is ambitious stuff, music that feels cinematic even as the blood is rising knee high, and while it may leave some people behind in the dank basements, it’s clear the focus of this band is to create grandiose music with liberating ideas. This is a massive step forward for a band that already started making big strides last album, and who’s to say how far M will push the limit on future creations and what chaos he will unleash into the world?

For more on the band, go here: https://lampofmurmuur.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album, go here: https://www.wolvesofhades.com/collections/vinyl-wolves-of-hades-vinyl

For more on the label, go here: https://www.wolvesofhades.com/

We have covered grief and sorrow ad nauseum on this page, and considering it’s coming up on the season of my own losses, those memories and scars start to become more prominent. Working through them and finding an outlet for those feelings isn’t always easy, and those who have been through the same torment know how helpless it can feel at times.

“Ash Souvenir” is a collaborative album combining black metal power Ragana (Maria and Noel, who both handle vocals and all instrumentation, often switching roles) and drone artist Drowse (Kyle Bate). The piece originally was developed as a commission piece for Roadburn in 2024, and now we have a recorded version that is wrenching emotionally. It’s a dark, reflective, often explosive dive into the pain and torment that comes with helping suffering loved ones and mourning those who have left this plane. That shared experience among the three artists inform these four tracks that sprawl and emote, lash out, and seek healing, putting those emotions right in front of you for absorption and potentially as a connecting point.

“In Eternal Woods Pts. 1-3” is an immersive 13:45-long opener, and track that lets everything breathe from the clean guitars to the rustic edges to the easy-flowing strings that create a fog. Voices warble behind a wall of sound before guitars cut through, and shrieks finally jostle about six minutes in, peeling paint from walls. The pace jolts as the cries grow more desperate, gazey leads bask in energy pockets as feedback wails, battering before softer singing soothes wounds. The emotion gusts again as acoustics rise, rain falls, and the coldness soaks into your bones.

“After Image” is chilly too, Bate’s vocals taking over, the only time he is on lead on the record. The playing and words lead you through the misty forests as the verses bring calm, the choruses delivering the tumult. Shrieks gut as the drums spill over, pressure mounts, and mournful singing fades and spills into “In Eternal Woods Pt. 4,” an instrumental piece. Accordion tingles as dark, funereal sentiment forebodes, keys melt, and the buzzing makes your mind surge. “Ash Souvenir” closes the record, images of the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens permeate as everything is coated in soot. Guitars are delicate as the soft singing pays the homage, the repeat calls of, “There is nothing to lose,” imprinting on your heart. Cymbals shatter as guitars kick in with power, blood gushing as shrieks rampage down mountains. Melodies lull as the wrenching hurt remains, burning forever into darkness.

The pain, grief, and blackness that went into creating “Ash Souvenir” is apparent on every ounce of this album, and these three creators let you feel every twist of that on these four tracks. Ragana and Drowse make a ton of sense together from a musical standpoint, but their union feels even stronger when you experience this record and take on the torment. It’s beautiful, haunting, challenging, and volcanic at the same time, a snapshot captured of a stressful time that resulted in great, moving art.

For more on the Ragana, go here: https://ragana.bandcamp.com/

For more on Drowse, go here: https://drowse.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album, go here: https://nowflensing.com/collections/ragana

For more on the label, go here: https://nowflensing.com/

For some reason, I spend a lot of weeknights lying in bed, obviously high, watching videos about planets in our solar system and indulging in the details of these bizarre places that no one inhabits. Sometimes that takes me to galaxies beyond our own, learning about planets that none of us ever will visit and could be the home to who knows what. 

When I hear Voidceremony, who are releasing their third album “Abditum,” I hear sounds that feel like they would be fitting accompanying these weird journeys I take into the stars. Their progressively minded death metal is alien and formless, like something that floated into our world from elsewhere, trying to shape hearts and minds. The band—guitarist/vocalist Wandering Mind (aka Garrett Johnson), guitarist The Archonoclast (Jayson McGehee), drummer Dylan Marks (Atheist-live), and their dual-headed bass beast of The Great Righteous Destroyer (Damon Good of Mournful Congregation, Stargazer, Cauldron Black Ram) and The Absent Deity (Ben Ricci)—can wow you with their finesse and creativity that they meld with their dark art, but they do so in a compact, abbreviated manner as compared to most in this sub-genre. In just under 30 minutes, your brain is tangled and your limbs are destroyed, leaving you wondering what strange force has overtaken you. 

“Intro – Inevitable Entropy” opens mystically, injecting a fantasy element, synth and strings combining and moving toward “Veracious Duality” the immediately pummels. The playing is tricky and immersive, guitars snarling and dizzying, roars punishing as soot smears your vision. The playing grows more propulsive, the rubbery bass jarring, a progressive assault reaching across and pulling you into the fray, ending on a frantic note. “Seventh Ephemeral Aura” has riffs trampling, vocals retching, and the tempo racing forward with energy. The playing trudges and crunches as the soloing spills over into a new dimension, feeling alien and strange. The bass vibrates the earth as leads sprawl, and everything comes to an adventurous end. “Dissolution” is a quick instrumental built with humidity, jazzy guitars, and a path that seems to meander into time.

“Despair of Temporal Existence” is a brief, yet brutal beast, a death attack that delivers ferocious growls, bass trampling, and a deeper foray into abject ugliness. “Failure of Ancient Wisdoms” has the guitars confounding, fiery leads taking control, and the band digging in its collective claws, crushing with doses of speed. Atmosphere is infused as the band hits a start/stop lurch, and then fluid leads emerge and pull everything into oblivion. “Silence Which Ceases All Minds” is violent, instantly mashing with conviction, the leads lathering while exploring the outer edges of the universe. The playing electrifies more forcefully, punishing as the leads go off, and a channeled rage ends this riveting instrumental. “Gnosis of Ambivalence” blisters, dealing in speed and tenacity, growls carving into the ground, a tempered pace taking over before detonating. The guitar work blazes as the pace jolts, howls snarl, and a battering ram crashes into your chest. Closer “Outro – Elegy of Finality” brings an elegant, whirring finish to this record, bringing jangling keys and a frosty ambiance that rests deep in the cosmos.

Voidceremony manage to combine the ideas, insane ability, and creativity most bands of this ilk would stretch over 70 minutes into a compact journey that’s over in a little less than 30 minutes on “Abditum.” This is a real mind-melter, but it’s one that won’t leave you sifting through a million twists and turns to get to the point, fun as that may be. This is progressive death in digestible chunks that are just as satisfying and don’t leave behind bloat.

For more on the band, go here: https://voidceremony.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album, go here: https://www.20buckspin.com/voidceremony

For more on the label, go here: https://www.20buckspin.com/

It’s as good a time as any to lift the coffin lid on some sooty, jarring death metal that feels like it is ready to retreat into lifelessness along with much of nature. This style of music is good for any time period, honestly, but some of the bands making these dark waves hit a little closer to home when the temperatures drop, and the light is choked into submission.  

Seattle-based death crew Degraved land at a great time with “Spectral Realm of Ruin,” their debut full-length and one that’ll have you shivering in the graveyard over their devastating sound. This is not a band here to show off their prowess and electrify your bloodstream; instead, this beast—bassist/vocalist NE, guitarists MM and DZ, drummer LP—are here to pulverize you. Yeah, you’re going to find flashier, more adrenaline-inducing bands out there. But they trade that for face-to-the-grindstone, smoldering death metal that is here to drag you into their dreary haunts and pummel you relentlessly until all that’s left of your face is bruised flesh. Plus look at that 1991-esque cover art!

 “Pariah of Death & Darkness” opens in filth, deep growls lurching, the pace stomping hard. Drums maul as the raw fury spreads its wings, the guitars snarl and smoke, and a steely force cuts into your psyche. “Sulfuric Embalming” spatters and even flutters a bit, guitars scuffing as melodies hide behind the walls of smoke. The playing ravages as the growls smear, the power drives harder, and a heated, molten back end scorches flesh. “Inept Descent” has carving riffs, drums creating dust, and a guttural emergence, the leads stinging. An interesting aspect of the band is their understated power that steamrolls but never shows off, proved here with the clobbering bass, synth gusts, and guitars twisting muscle without mercy.

“Stalker of the Herd” has encircling riffs, a buzzing foundation, and beastly mashing, the power overwhelming. Leads heat up and take off, wild barks echoing in the scrum, everything ending with fury. “Unseen” has a jerking pace and vocals that leave dust, the pace hammering away as the intensity peaks. Drums punish as the guitars char, going cold for a spell and bathing in icy waters before resurfacing reborn. Guitars waylay as everything darkens into an unmovable pile of muck. “March of the Undead” is slow driving at first, pounding with power, burly, fiery guitars flexing muscle. The temperatures spike as the leads thrive, raspy growls echo, and the final blows land hard. Closer “Vacuous State” is wiry and rubbery, guitars reverberating before the pace smashes glass. The guitars trample as the drums grow more volatile, burning through mounds of flesh, the smoke rising and choking you out, slowly fading into oblivion.

“Spectral Realm of Ruin” is a respectable debut from Degraved that trades dynamics for bone-grinding power that feels shallowly buried in dirt for a terrified soul to find. The band’s knack for early death metal tendencies and chaos is apparent, but they also infuse some atmosphere and other elements that sometimes hide in the shadows. This is a promising first full-length from a band that seems to have some untapped potential in their reserves, and as time goes on and this monster forms, it will be interesting to see what tributaries into death’s kingdom they can carve.

For more on the band, go here: https://degraved.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://www.darkdescentrecords.com/shop/

Or here (Europe): https://www.mesacounojo.com/shop/degraved-spectral-realm-of-ruin-lp/

For more on the label, go here: https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/

And here: https://www.mesacounojo.com/