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Empyrium are a fairly obscure band who get a lot of positive press, despite that this is only the second full-length they have released in the past 19 years. So that's pretty par for Doom bands, who are often famously slow to produce music. I had actually not heard this band before, so I was not sure what I was going to get.

This is actually really different and interesting, so much better than the half-baked Sabbath-worship or dull Doom/Death that clogs so much of the genre. This is very moody and folk-influenced, with a lot of acoustic playing and vocals that are almost entirely melodic and mournful, with just a bit of harshness thrown in here and there for accents. It's hard to pin down who this band reminds me of, because they really have an individual sound. Maybe a bit of bands like Swallow the Sun or Morgion, who are always more moody than heavy, and if you like individual, iconoclastic Doom like The Fall of Every Season, then you will find a lot here to like. This is not instantly gratifying, not fast or hooky or super-heavy. This is all about atmosphere, melancholy, and taking time for things to build.