After the mini-album ‘Dying Beauty & The Silent Sky’ on Iron Bonehead and a rehearsal demo ‘The Veil Between the Worlds’ on Terror From Hell records, the Finnish band Asphodelus has signed again on TFH for the first album.
‘Stygian Dreams’ contains seven songs of sorrowful ‘Gothic’ Doom/Death Metal of the gloomiest kind. This forlorn manifesto showcasing the band as one of the most interesting acts in the genre today. The Finnish trio music formula comprises early Katatonia, Anathema, My Dying Bride and Tiamat influences, yet keeping a distinctive feature in their sound. Don’t be fooled by the somewhat clean riffage and melodic solos, they are just a wishful thinking before the whole thing sink down again in the gloomy pit. Harsh and melancholic screams enhance the hopelessness of the whole thing, throwing tuneful keyboards in their desperate sonic cauldron, heightened by a good hint of finnish renowned “masennus” (read, depression).
Released by:
Terrot From Hell (ITA), 2023.
