Let’s celebrate the return of Sorrow.
After a first existence under the name Cyanic Death, then Apparition, the band offered a first EP in 1991, followed by an album the following year, and its discontinuation in 1993. A posthumous demo was released in 2014, but it wasn’t until 2022 that Andy Marchione (bass/vocals), Mike Hymson (drums), Brett Clarin (guitar, Journey Into Darkness) and Billy Rogan (guitar) returned to their instruments, announcing the release of Death of Sorrow, their second album, for 2023 in collaboration with Xtreem Music.
Doom the World, the first track, immediately reveals its aggressive jerky tones under a thick mix showcasing drums and vocal parts while keeping that heavy Old School approach. Leads offer a few more airy tones, then Judicial Falsity immediately takes over with a thick, catchy sound before accelerating with a frantic blast serving as a basis for the sharp harmonics. The rhythm eventually decelerates before the long Remembered Eternally spills out its languor and unhealthy melodies interwoven with rocky vocal parts. Heady moments are offered by leads before being replaced by the catchy surges of Scar and its motivating Thrash roots, but the track remains in stark contrast with its hypnotic and relatively dark Death/Doom patterns which eventually fade into silence. Required Irrationality is quick to revive a slow yet catchy rhythmic pattern, with occasional spikes of sharper technicality, followed by the choppy speech that introduces Someone Else’s Blood, which is then obliterated by muffled riffs. The track progresses between bursts of energy and calmer passages where vocals add a little relief, before adopting Gothic accents on Hidden Fear, when raw rage doesn’t resurface in the form of wild charges. Guitars offer a few bewitching parts, but the track is long, and it doesn’t hesitate to grow stronger before letting the screaming leads carry us through to its final, then on to Funeral March, the famous final track inspired by Frédéric Chopin, to which the band integrates a long, misty sample before adding their disordered touch.
Although the mix is obviously a little more modern, Sorrow‘s approach has not changed, making Death of Sorrow the direct successor to the band’s discography, rooted in Old School Death Metal with heavy Doom influences.
70/100