AN NCS PREMIERE: SINISTER DOWNFALL — “SOULS ENSLAVED”

In October 2018 when we premiered a song from Sinister Downfall‘s first album Eremozoic, we introduced it this way:

“It will become immediately apparent, through the song we’re about to premiere, that the shadowed ranks of funeral doom practitioners spread across the globe must make way for another band in their vanguard. The band is Sinister Downfall, the work of a single individual who in this debut album has already demonstrated an impressive mastery of these very dark arts.”

A follow-on album in 2020, A Dark Shining Light, strengthened that conviction, and now it will be cemented through the band’s third full-length, The Last Witness, which will be jointly released on September 24th by Funere (Armenia) and Weird Truth Productions (Japan). You’ll begin to understand why this is one of the most impressive funeral doom albums of the year when you listen to the song we’re premiering today.

“Souls Enslaved” is a soul-shaking translation of grief and despair — crushing in its power, vast in its scale and scope, and yet touching in its expression of sorrow and suffering.

The song has a beautifully melancholy opening sequence announced by the solemn tolling of bells, followed by a mournful piano melody backed by a dim swath of symphonic strings. Those lulling but sad sounds make the intruding crash of heavy, distorted chords and ponderous drum a stunning change. The piano melody continues, but the music becomes a towering monolith of grimness, and deep, harrowing roars add to the song’s burgeoning emotional weight.

The track’s feeling of torment increases as the riffing jolts with earth-shaking force and shrill frenzied tones shiver the senses. Still, the piano rings out its grief through the massive impact of what surrounds it, adding poignancy to cold, apocalyptic grandeur, a feeling of poignancy enhanced by a dolorous, ringing guitar melody.

The power of the music repeatedly softens and ascends to vast, mountainous heights, creating an experience that’s both haunting and fearsome in its crushing impact.

Sinister Downfall is still the creation of Eugen Kohl, a German artist who also devotes himself in other projects to black, death, and heavy doom metal This latest work under the name of Sinister Downfall will be released digitally by Funere and on CD by Weird Truth. Pre-order info can be accessed via the links below, and after those we’re including a stream of the previously released song “Eyes Forever Closed“.

PRE-ORDER:
https://funere.bandcamp.com/album/the-last-witness
http://weirdtruth.jp/

SINISTER DOWNFALL:
https://www.facebook.com/sinisterdownfall
http://sinisterdownfall.bandcamp.com