During my time within the metal community, there is one thing I have found to be true. Beauty can be found in the darkest places and a band that fits this statement is Russian Gothic Doom Metallers DOMINIA. They are set to release their fourth studio album The Withering Of The Rose that full of misery, despair and heartbreak. With regards to the band’s sound, this is huge praise from me.
The album gets off to an intriguing start. I Want To Forget lures you into a false sense of security with the soft violins and atmospheric sounds. If you’re unfamiliar with the genre or band, you don’t quite expect the sheer brutality to hit you so suddenly. Even though this introduction didn’t grab my attention right away, I still wanted to listen to the rest and find out more what this album contained.
They say don’t judge a book by it’s cover, this heavily applies to this album. Even though the opener didn’t grab my attention at first, the rest of the album cranks up a gear and it kept me interested. There is a high amount of passion and dedication behind these tracks that can be heard throughout this record. There are many twists and turns this album takes you on that I won’t go into too much detail about. You will need to listen to the album to find out what those are.
I was taken by the soaring introduction of The Light Of The Black Sun. Given its part of an album that is about misery and despair, I found this track to be strangely empowering and uplifting. The lyrical content might not be so elevating but the musical arrangements in the verses are. The chorus takes a darker turn with the musical arrangements as the tone transitions from major to minor. This song is one of the complex ones of the album, it piques that curiosity and interest to find out more.
Given the tragic history of Joseph Merrick, you can tell there is going to be sadness in the track The Elephant Man. DOMINIA portrays this despair across perfectly in terms of musical arrangements and lyrical content. The lyrics that stood out to me were “I want you to know the things I can do.” and “I have so much to show to heaven and hell”, these are told through Anton Rosa’s sombre and haunting vocal work. This track is easily a personal favourite.
The Withering Of Roses is a beautifully instrumental that gives remnants of a gothic tragedy. This stunning piece is made up haunting choral vocals, powerful violins, sombre guitar work and striking drums. You can also hear some moving melodies on the pianos if you listen carefully. This track is a work of art open to many interpretations.
The end of The Withering Of Roses smoothly transitions into The Night And The Dark Room. This album closer keeps on with those beautiful musical arrangements. Their consistency with excellent musical arrangements stays with us until the very end. They say opposites attract and The Night And The Dark Room is concrete evidence of this; the balance between sheer brutality and haunting softness is spot on.
Don’t be fooled by the title The Song That You Don’t Like. This is a bonus track that is worth listening to, you hear more clean vocals on this track and the song has a beautiful melody. The Withering Of The Rose will no doubt be welcomed with open arms from long time fans of DOMINIA and Gothic Doom Metal in general. For brand new listeners of the band and genre, it might take some time to get used to. However, if you take the time to dig deeper into the record, you will find beauty.
Rating: 7/10
Words: Lotty Whittingham
The Withering Of The Rose will be out tomorrow via Morning Star Heathens Music Group.
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