wanderings between the abyss, earth and sky

Dolorian - The One Whose Name Has No End

Some bands just don't make it easy for us. Picking a single track off this album to post was not simple. Their entire new album, Voidwards, works as a cohesive whole with each song melting into the next. Dynamics change from soft to hard, but not necessarily at the borders of the songs. No matter which song I choose, I know that you, dear reader, won't really get the full effect.

On the flipside, the whole album is so good that there can't really be a wrong choice either. Furthermore Dolorian have developed such a distinctive sound that any one track is probably enough to convey a general sense of what they do. These guys are pretty much the musical embodiment of pain and despair. Their albums should come with warning labels alerting consumers to the dangers of listening to them when already depressed.

The trademark Dolorian sound is somewhere between ambient and doom metal. The sound is very wet to me. Think spacious compositions, bass lines welling up from underwater and guitar melodies splashing down and mixing in layers and layers until it becomes a roaring waterfall. Drums making just enough of an appearance to keep it all from devolving into atmospheric chaos. The vocals have generally been almost spoken whispers that are buried so deep in the mix and under so many layers of reverb that it requires some intense listening to decipher them. On this album they've become a little more prominent in parts and even including some death metal snarling. It still never feels like a death metal album though. The sadness just overwhelms.

It's been out for a few weeks now, but still seems difficult to track down copies for sale. Sound Cave is the only place I've found it. If you like this kind of thing like I do, you owe it to yourself to pick up this album.