The RMR crew indeed didn’t hear back from the dreary cold wastes of the North for some time. Meaning, the zine’s dreaded review pipe has some real use for substantial, darkly melancholic metal. Not that we were short on material from Scandinavia, far from it. The folks up there are very prolific and the Extreme Metal on display is often outstanding. But real in-the-flesh melodeath? Some. Meaning, there really was nothing much that got us out from under the fire. It’s winter after all, so this needs to sport some real juice.
But never say die, right? Because here Thy Kingdom Will Burn suddenly appeared at our doorstep and knocked loudly. At first, the RMR crew thought this was about some Power Metal. Dragons, knights, and kings, that kind of stuff. But nope, measured growls and rough roars greeted us instead. Thus, The Loss and Redemption beckons you. Step out into the cold and don’t forget bearskin and sword. This might take a while.
The Loss and Redemption is an elaborate and well-polished piece. And it is this odd proficiency that will suck you into the record straight away. Thy Kindom Will Burn won’t try to entice you with grand soundscapes à la Insomnium, even if they sometimes sail pretty close to them. Instead, the band keeps close proximity to crimes the likes of My Dying Bride committed some time ago. Already the opening riff of Perpetual Void seems to stray right out of the Metal Wisdom ov Doom playbook.1 So, TKWB sport a special brand of Melodic and Melodic Death Metal steeped in abject fits of melancholy and broken up by Sami Kujala‘s Hardcore-ish screams, soft croonings, and rough-hewn, kinda grouchy pseudo-clears. And this leads to doom-perfect and soul-grinding injections of sadboi woe and misery.
Like so:
Here’s to the twilight, here’s to the silence and the sorrow, for the moment of frailty! This grief comforts me, washes away the pain that burns inside, kills me every time! – ‘To End of Times’
Thy Kingdom Will Burn | The Loss and Redemption – 2024
Of course, nothing present on this disk would be possible without stellar musical craftmanship full on display right from the start. And you got plenty. From picture-perfect doom ‘n’ gloom that the Peaceville Three couldn’t do better to sturdy Melodic Death Metal, TKWB will make sure you’re not getting bored. Albeit that the relatively long airtime could have done with a tad better discipline. Tracks like Escape from Solitude, Suffering Sky, or – again – Sydänyö could do with a serious makeover. Their lenghtiness, imagined or not – starts weighing on you after a few listens and that’s a pity.
But weird vocals and strange lyrics apart, the ebb and flow between the often clean guitars and the outstanding melodics truly take the cake. The Loss and Redemption will not try to beat you into the dust with needless heaviness. Instead, the structure of riffs and the rare solos are delicate and always straight on point with the mood at hand. This, combined with the forlorn piano and acoustics-laden ambients leads into a pretty tasty amalgamation of tears, dread, and utter despair. The drum work – in contrast – provides an awesome backbone to this dystopian exploration of those dreams of calamity. Even if the damn blast beats get a tad too much attention.
The astonishingly astute songsmithing and the knack to deliver a top-notch arrangement finally turn The Loss and Redemption into a truly tasty morsel. Fancy an example? Fire up the excellent Forever in the Dark with its enticing Eluveitie-esque group chanting. That track’s the essence of this record. However, this also means that we got ourselves a somewhat uneven playing field where the outststanding suddenly meets the mediocre. But despite this often chaotic overload of the soundscape, the whole chebang will still end sounding right and make you yearn for more. Now, if the band manages to clean up their act a bit and not let all ideas run rampant at the same time, I’m sure they’ll find a space in that special Valhalla the Melodeath folks are famously dwelling in. The future will tell, I guess.
Thus, until next time. The RMR crew will be on the lookout.
Record Rating: 7/10 | Label: Scarlet Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 17 January 2024
- Check My Dying Bride, The Ghost of Orion, Your Broken Shore.-↩