Shape of Despair

Ennui – Qroba Review

By Grymm on February 24, 2026 in Reviews, 49 comments

“Got a question for you all: when’s the last time an album just absolutely, from out of nowhere, blindsided you and kept you enthralled for the entirety of its length on the first play? I don’t mean from your favorite bands (though that’s pretty damn cool, too), but from a completely out-of-left-field pick in the promo sump? Georgian funeral directors Ennui have been toughing it out with their craft since 2012’s Mze Ukunisa, with the then-duo working with what they had available. Now, the duo is a full-fledged band, and on their fifth album, Qroba, they hit graveyard paydirt.” Ennui for you and me.

Clouds – Desprins [Things You Might Have Missed 2025]

By Thus Spoke on December 8, 2025 in Things You Might Have Missed 2025, Death Doom, Funeral Doom, 9 comments

“Those of you who have been paying close attention may remember that Clouds’ 2021 album Despǎrțire was the subject of my very first review here at AMG; a review that in my n00bish naïveté, I appended with a 4.5. I don’t regret it, but will admit the name Clouds had faded a little in my mind before a sudden and apparently unannounced drop of Desprins back in January caused all the sweet sadness to come flooding back.” Like waves of melancholy, Clouds drift in.

Falling Leaves – The Silence That Binds Us Review

By Twelve on September 5, 2025 in Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Melodic Death Metal, 37 comments

“Doom metal and I have not been getting along much lately. I’ve noticed this in recent years—the slow, the sad, the funereal, it just doesn’t have the impact it used to. Even the stuff I used to love has fallen by the wayside a bit. But something about Dubai’s (originally Amman) Falling Leaves has compelled me to dust off my hat and give it another shot. Maybe it’s the gorgeous cover art. Maybe it’s the fact that The Silence That Binds Us is only Falling Leaves’s sophomore full-length, despite having been around since 2009, with their debut released in 2012. Thirteen years is a long time between albums, but few genres benefit from long, careful consideration like doom metal. Suffice to say, I came into this assignment with high expectations.” Summer’s doom.

God’s Funeral – El Despertar Dels Morts Review

By Lavender Larcenist on August 30, 2025 in Reviews, Doom Metal, Funeral Doom, 19 comments

“Metal is full of niche genres, and within that sphere, doom metal is full of unique variations. Funeral doom, doom metal’s basement-dwelling offspring, is as impenetrable a metal genre as some of the nastiest bands in the business. Trudging, droning song structures, distorted, bellowing vocals, and (as the genre tag suggests) the vibe of being at a funeral can make for a taxing listen on a good day.” Oh, promising.

Inborn Suffering – Pale Grey Monochrome

By Doom_et_Al on February 10, 2025 in Reviews, Doom Metal, 16 comments

“Inborn Suffering are a French outfit who have been knocking around since 2002. Like the author Donna Tartt, they release an album every decade and then go quiet. Their latest, Pale Grey Monochrome follows 2006’s Wordless Hope and 2012’s Regression to Nothingness. For those unfamiliar with obscure French doom, Inborn Suffering play a form of mournful, melodic, sadboi metal that straddles the line between doom and funeral doom. Think Second to Sun, or Shape of Despair after a Red Bull.” Suffering for slowness.

Counting Hours – The Wishing Tomb Review

By Steel Druhm on February 20, 2024 in Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 75 comments

“Tears freezing in the cutting winter winds. Life’s blood staining the freshly fallen snow. These are the things that bring Steel to the graveyard. Naturally, I love my sadboi doom as well, and the long-defunct Finnish act Rapture in particular. Their style of highly melancholic melodoom resonated deeply in my cold dead chest cavity, and though they’ve been gone since 2005 I still go back to those albums regularly. When the two guitarists of Rapture reunited to form Counting Hours and dropped the excellent debut The Will back in 2019, I was ecstatic. It was as close to getting new Rapture material as we were ever going to get and they hit all the same grim feelz as they fused the early days of Katatonia with Dawn of Solace into a cold grave of an album. Now a few years later we get the eagerly anticipated follow-up.” Counting hours and tears.

The Abbey – Word of Sin Review

By Maddog on February 20, 2023 in Reviews, Doom Metal, 26 comments

“The Abbey of Thelema was a commune in Sicily run by Aleister Crowley. Home to the wild hedonism and magick of his cult, the Abbey met its unceremonious end in 1923, when Crowley’s shenanigans convinced Mussolini to boot him out of Italy. Finnish psychedelic doom outfit The Abbey aims to carry on the Abbey’s legacy. ,b>The Abbey’s debut Word of Sin draws inspiration from occult organizations and their mystical practices.” Nuns DO have fun.

Angmodnes – The Weight of Eternity Review

By Cherd on October 8, 2022 in Reviews, Death Doom, Doom Metal, Funeral Doom, 36 comments

“As one of the primary reviewers of doom metal ’round these parts, I find it challenging to continue finding different ways to say “this music is unhappy.” I can only use adjectives like mournful, miserable, wretched or despondent so many times before I’m tired of typing them and you’re tired of reading them. Before me is the prospect of reviewing not just doom, but death doom, and not just death doom, but funeral doom in the form of The Weight of Eternity by Dutch act Angmodnes, and friends, I just don’t have it in me to google more synonyms for “sad.” For this post I propose a change. In the pursuit of more robust ways to say “unhappy,” I’ll employ metaphor.” Weighing the feelz.

Soul Dissolution – Sora Review

By Twelve on October 6, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Post-Metal, 14 comments

“Post-metal and black metal are both styles of music I can enjoy mainly under the right circumstances. There are so many interesting ways to apply each one, but combining them together, I feel, has the greatest potential. The Agallochs of the world hold special places in my heart, and this is a big part of what initially attracted me to Belgium’s Soul Dissolution.” Post runners.

Depressed Mode – Decade of Silence Review

By Doom_et_Al on May 4, 2022 in Reviews, Doom Metal, Symphonic Metal, 27 comments

“When I first saw the name, “Depressed Mode,” I assumed it was an homage to synth-rock icons, Depeche Mode. Nope. Turns out, these Fins are being literal. That’s their thing. Even their album names are literal. Decade of Silence is the third album after 2009’s For Death and follows a decade(ish) of… er… silence. Depressed Mode plays symphonic doom in the vein of… well… it’s complicated.” Silence is deadening.