In late August of this year we published an interview by our Russian colleague Comrade Aleks with members of the Ukrainian doom/death metal band Mental Torment. The focus of the interview was the band’s forthcoming second album, ego:genesis, which will be released on September 29th by Metallurg Music. As described in the interview, the album unfolds as a story, with each song as a chapter. And as the press materials further explain, it represents “the attempt to explore that depth of despair and horror that inexorably approaches us every day closer and closer – no one can escape death. But at the same time, it is also a search for answers that can help to accept the inevitability of the outcome of earthly existence”.

In creating this musical narrative the band employed elements of classical doom and death metal, but didn’t confine themselves to those. As related in the interview: “The main approach is that almost all our songs do not have typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure. Each song has its own beginning and its own end. This time, we tried to mix classic Doom Metal with nearest genres as well as unrelated modern ones.” The songwriting approach used what was necessary to tell the tale: “Because it’s really similar to real life. Nothing is linear. The whole human path is a set of uphills and downhills.”

These insights ring true when you hear the crushing but beautiful song we’re premiering today, a track named “Conclusion” — though it’s not the one that ends the album. Although no two songs on the album are exactly in the same musical vein, this one should especially appeal to lovers of funeral doom. Continue reading »