The creative output of the Spanish funeral doom band Ornamentos del Miedo (“ornaments of fear”) has rolled forward like a powerful tide, seemingly unstoppable in its momentum. After a first single in 2018, this solo project of Ángel Chicote (Graveyard of Souls, Mass Burial, Logical End…) has produced three albums and a pair of shorter releases, most recently the EP Frío, which was released by The Way of the Hermit in January of this year. And now a fourth full-length is about to crash against the rocks of our shores.
The title of the new album is El Cosmos me Observa en Silencio. Presenting six songs and more than 70 minutes of music in total, it’s set for release on July 6th by the same label, which is an imprint of the Spanish label Darkwoods that’s solely devoted to gloomy and mournful musical atmospheres.
To help pave the way toward the release of this immense new descent into an underworld of dark emotions, today we premiere a lyric video for the 5th track in the album’s running order, a song called “El Camino Desaparece a cada Paso” (“The Path Disappears at Every Step”).
This is the kind of song that’s capable of swallowing a listener whole, like the great leviathan of old, wholly captivating despite the depths and broad expanse of its despondency. It also creates a lasting experience, not easily shed from the mind.
The song’s central melody, which manages simultaneously to sound both somber and tormented, first unfurls through the high mysterious sound of lonely symphonic strings, and then Ornamentos del Miedo pound it deep into the listener’s skull with hammers of granite. Gritty in their reverberation, the chords come down hard, backed by the methodical crack of a gunshot snare.
The song’s intensity escalates, as the music seems to wail in piercing tones of agony over the heaving and pounding heaviness down below. Eventually, immense growls and harrowing howls bring forth tormented words, and become even more frightening when the music briefly softens and seems to weep like stricken spirits.
On the other side of that interlude, the song rises up again, towering in the scale of its crushing weight and searing in its pain. It becomes a portrayal of vast and terrible grandeur, revealing an extravagant expanse of tragedy before a ragged guitar rakes the soul in the song’s desolate concluding moments.
The accompanying video renders the words in Spanish over a changing collage of film excerpts that well-suit the feelings of downfall and despair rendered by the music.
This new album was recorded and mastered at Sinergia Studios by Ángel Chicote. The Way of the Hermit will release it in a special format, described as follows: “an extremely cold handcrafted 4-panel oversized digifile pressed on exclusive matte lamination paper that includes an amazing 6-page foldable booklet with lyrics and free album digital download card.”
It’s recommended for fans of such bands as Evoken, Funeral, Catacombs, Until Death Overtakes Me, Morgion, early Skepticism, and Shape of Despair. Check the links for pre-orders and more info about the record. At the Bandcamp page, you’ll also be able to listen to another song from the album, “Infierno Sutil”.
PRE-ORDER:
https://darkwoods.eu/webstore/en/band/ornamentos-del-miedo
ORNAMENTOS DEL MIEDO:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063637597252
