From town of Łódź (Poland) hails a melodic doom metal band, Desolate Empyrean. The band is founded in 2018. Since the very formation of the band, this quartet had an intention of creating a music that is inspired by old doom metal bands. In other words; they mix and experiment a great deal in order to create music in their own style, and not just being another copy/paste rip-off band.

Selfdestructive is the moniker of their first long player. It contains 10 songs with a playing time of app. 54 minutes. Selfdestructive is a very decent melodic doom metal album, with equally decent and well balanced production, top-notch cover artwork (that is very representative of their sound), and finally coherent and strong song-writing. Another key word here is the atmosphere, which is above all overwhelming, depressing and… as their moniker suggests – desolate.

Tracklist;

01. Poisoned by Faith
02. Drown in Sadness
03. Reckoning
04. Empyrean Is Desolate
05. Servant (listen below)
06. Selfdestructive
07. In a Shallow Grave Laid
08. Wingless
09. Insomnia
10. When the Death Is Calling Me to You

The title track “Selfdestructive” appear to be the strongest song on this album, while songs like “Wingless”, “Insomnia”, and the closing epic one called “When the Death Is Calling Me to You” also bring the most variety to the dark sounds of Desolate Empyrean. When talking of the above mentioned epic closure, “When the Death Is Calling Me to You” I think it’s a satisfying way to end this album. Despite of some long & monotonous stretches, it has this slowing down of rhythms in the final part, (which are well-executed), working just fine here. The additional of occasional groove/death/black/experimental elements brings together a peculiar and strange dynamic op.

Some calm, mixed with some high-pitched shrieked vocals, sustained riffing featuring heavy & downtuned guitars, repetitive and yet very good and audible & well-executed bass lines, and a slow and emotional, almost sludge, drumming are some of the main features of Desolate Empyrean’ sound. The lyrics, and the music, usually evoke a sense of despair, helplessness, and overall… doom.

Conclusion; Selfdestructive is not groundbreaking and bringing very little new and unknown to the table, but the guys from Desolate Empyrean show a pretty good craftsmanship with some highlights that are definitely worth listening to. Especially recommended for fans of early doom and the likes of Candlemass, Aeturnus, My Dying Bride, Solitude Aeturnus, Solstice, Anathema, Saturnus, Sad Whisperings, and similar pioneers of doom metal genre.

Find this Polish quartet on facebook for more news, and https://desolateempyrean.bandcamp.com/album/selfdestructive for further info on this particular debut release from Desolate Empyrean.