Exitium Sui has forged anew in darkness.
Three years have passed since the previous release, but E.S. (vocals/all instruments, Deadspace, Humanitas Error Est, ex-Cancer, ex-Lebenssucht…) has not been idle. Backed by Meuse Music Records, he unveils his third album, Unravelling, in 2026.
Only Death Remembers greets us with a few moments of soothing tranquility, followed by a veritable wall of slow, majestic riffs haunted by the musician’s chilling roars immediately reviving that suffocating sense of oppression that tightens our throats as we journey through the darkness. We do, however, find a few moments of gentleness when the melancholic piano takes over, but the distortion returns to take center stage, accompanied by a gripping voice paving the way for the return of heavy tones before slowly transitioning into Draped in Black Flame, which slightly picks up the pace and offers a catchy, albeit very dark sound. The obvious Black Metal roots perfectly complement the soaring Doom foundation, creating the perfect soundtrack for a desolate landscape in the grip of abandonment, much like Drowning Viracocha, which starts off fairly slowly with a clear sound but gradually intensifies to take on haunting tones as the screams naturally erupt from time to time. There’s also a more minimalist section where the clean vocals accompany us for a while, but once again, the distortion quickly resurfaces to toss us about all the way to the final, and then into Crippled by the God-Hand, which begins with a sense of unease and plunges us into its overwhelming and increasingly intense anguish – an anguish that doesn’t even subside during the keyboard break. The reprise is just as violent as it is impactful, giving center stage to theatrical sounds while the riffs surge forward, but we’ll gladly take advantage of a moment of respite offered by Sickness Flooding Nihil, a fairly stripped-down instrumental interlude where guitar and sampled nature come together, letting us catch our breath. The intensity resurfaces with Septikinesis, the next track where E.S. is joined by Drew James Griffith on vocals, letting harmonics soar between the vocal parts that follow the rhythm section’s shifting tempos, especially that hellish barrage of dissonance and violence that hits us before transitioning into Until the End Hath Found Us. This final track envelops us in a veil of tranquility before weaving in melancholic leads in the background, then finally letting go in waves, first offering a sense of heaviness, then aggression, and finally an intoxicating gentleness to close out the album.
However, the musician has one last surprise in store for us: a reinterpretation of Silence, a track originally created by the band Delerium that has absolutely nothing to do with his own musical universe, yet whose lyrics resonate perfectly with the instrumental he has recreated, a piece which is both powerful and solemn.
Once again, Exitium Sui has hit the mark, stirring our inner darkness while spewing out his own on Unravelling. There’s no doubt that his abrasive sounds will find their way into your heart and mind, provided you let yourself be swept away.
95/100
