NORTHERN GRAVES - DERELICT HEART

What initially started as a project in 2023 by founder Damian Smith (guitars, piano, vocals) was then followed with the additions of Adam Caruana (guitar, vocals, orchestral arrangements), Roman Chester (bass), and Branson Heinz (drums, guitars) that frames the lineup on this recording. Self-described as blackened doom, many other influences from across the black metal spectrum combined with helpings of progressive, folk metal blend into a superbly crafted musical opus.  

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With a polished production and clear tone values, the individual elements and layers are distinct and concise creating sonic visualisations that are deeply engaging and intensely atmospheric. Conceptually, this album explores parables of insular communities, emotional confinement, endless drifting prairies, and the erosion of local histories over time. Brilliantly composed and musically articulate, the band have created a finely balanced novel of cold heaviness matched with desolate soundscapes.

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From the opener of Lanterns, we’re emblazoned with epic blackened riffage, driving tectonic drums, and the introduction of dry rasping screams and clean vocal harmonies anticipating the moods for the journeys ahead. At the midway point we have the frostbitten expanse of Endless, which plots thundering chord structures and driving tempos delivered with a pained rhetoric; and the searing Nocturne carries us onward with its dark shifting styles and ethereal progressions. Sailing us through bleak reveries is the nominal Derelict Heart with its dissonant mid paced power before charting a liminal path into cognizance and spiritual absolution. The final track is an impressive cover of Richard Marx’s Hazard - a story of tragedy conflicted by complex alliances and small-town lore which fittingly compliments the narratives of this tome.

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Throughout the album I’m reminded of various sounds and creations by Agalloch, Altars of Grief, Enslaved, Harvestman, (old) Opeth, Shining, and Woods of Ypres to name a few, all of whom are seemingly infused within the band’s psyche and influential scaffolds. Northern Graves have written a unique, modern classic that will burn long in the hearths for many winters to come.

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SCORE 9/10

Reviewed by glennosp