“The solitude of endless longing.”
Winter is undeniably a time for “dark” metal. Harsh and cold sunlight, aching trees, soaked streets, early evenings, and non-existent mornings. It’s easy to read the season as being bleak, melancholic, drab, if not depressing. There’s beauty to be found, too, but it’s one that can’t be uncoupled from these themes. In heavy metal, I can’t unlink this season from dark metal, a term that gets thrown about to capture a certain “throes of winter” mood, achieved through atmosphere, lyrics, and aesthetics rather than a unified compositional style. Bethlehem, Katatonia, Opeth, October Falls, Agalloch, and Shining are a few names that arguably deserve the term, all of whom occupy different genres but conjure a similar emotional space. In the modern heavy metal landscape where high complexity-per-second bands enjoy the limelight, there is plenty of space for projects that re-tread the dark metal style.
Grief Symposium are a new band on Church Road Record’s roster who proudly brand themselves as being inspired by death and doom metal. Their debut album …In The Absence Of Light is a testament to these influences, although there’s more than just death and doom at work here. Structurally, most of the tracks don’t subscribe to choruses or verses. They’re instead guided instead by what should naturally follow each guitar passage; this could be an even slower doom section, rapid headbang-inducing death metal, or a dejected interlude with additional atmospheric elements. The mood is dark and sombre even through the frequent fast riffing. With few exceptions, the vocals are deep and harsh, occasionally utilising effects for extra emphasis and malice. There’s also a feature from Aaron Stainthorpe of My Dying Bride, contributing some additional harsh vocals.
The 9 minute “In the Shadow of the Sleeping Monarch” is a good example of the band’s range. The track begins with a voice sample contemplating God, forgiveness, and mortality; this becomes beatified in static, as clean guitar parts the way toward a slow doom metal section. Guttural vocals and strings precede a double-time tempo shift toward undeniably catchy riffs. The song’s dark piano fugue outro is a welcome dark metal trope, particularly with the wordless female vocals (unfortunately their only brief appearance on the record). After this sullen conclusion, the fastest track and single “Veil of Transformation” immediately begins, making for the record’s most satisfying transition. This track offers most twisted riffs and panicked vocals, but doesn’t necessarily show off the band’s full range like the preceding track does, so do give the full record a chance if you want to see their more thoughtful side.
Production is important to consider in this sort of metal, as much of the characteristic dark mood must be expressed through tone in all its facets. The production is uncomplicated and effective, offering a clear mix that gives riffs volume and impact. The distorted guitar is clearly main focus and has been very carefully sculpted, particularly in the mid-range, for a tone that says “death” just as much as it says “doom”. Low notes and palm mutes chime and chug to utmost satisfaction on tracks like “Among Dead Gods”, and fast passages such as “Temple of Decay”’s outro are entirely unmuddied. The bass is a bit hard to track down, but the mix does not feel underfilled as a result (guitars seem to fill the space instead).
The drums are crystal clear and a huge step up from their sound in the project’s previous incarnation The King Is Blind. In the quiet moments that populate the record, a sensible number of effects are added, but nothing feels overdone or cavernous – it’s always the melodies and honest performances that express the mood. It was also a good choice not to try to emulate a 90s production style that could harken back to death doom classics. Having said this, ...In The Absence Of Light‘s production is not massively distinctive or unique, it’s simply a slab heavier than you expect it to be, and comfortably atmospheric as is required. This should not deter would be listeners, rather, it’s a dimension for the band to explore more in future releases.
The album closes with a daunting 18-minute track, “The Amber Kiss of the Sun“, which at my first guess would be a slow-burn doom metal epic. I couldn’t be more surprised when the track lacked any guitar or drums and instead feasted on synthesizers and spoken word. It more closely resembles dungeon synth, an increasingly respected genre that has seen its renaissance since the mid 2010s, and is paced like a slowly unfolding Berlin School epic. Tense rhythms gallop and churn at times, and the textures are curiously engrossing. The spoken word parts might be distracting for some, but they’re wisely not constant throughout the track and add necessary structure to the piece. For example, when a chilling, chiming synth lead turns into a forlorn piano, and the mood turns just as the poem resumes.
It’s a significant statement to end the album on such a grand track, and if ambient epics are not your thing, you likely won’t feel short changed by the 36 minutes of death/doom that has come before it. The only odd detail is that “The Amber Kiss of the Sun“’s exact type of synthesizer ambience does is not quite like the ambience on the rest of the record, feeling like a distant cousin to what has come before. Ultimately, it’s a refreshing risk to take and gives the whole record a “retro” reverence and a pensive conclusion.
Grief Symposium‘s debut is a solid death-doom album for those who wish to indulge in stygian atmospheres together with delectable heaviness. The bite of the guitarwork and the embrace of the death metal elements marks the band as being unique within their genre, making this a must listen for those looking for new death-doom records. The full-on embrace of dungeon-furnished ambience as the album’s conclusion is also a key part of what makes …In The Absence Of Light worthy of careful study. For me, it fits within the (admittedly) ambiguous realm of “dark” metal (perhaps being released in the depths of January helps here). I mean this as a mark of respect for its ability to be heavy in an uncomplicated, satisfying way, whilst delivering a consistently sombre mood.
8/10
…In The Absence Of Light is out January 27th via Church Road Records, and can be pre-ordered here.