Published: September 29, 2015

Remember those atmospheric darkish blue paintings by Necrolord, which gave numerous Swedish Metal bands a great graphical front in the nineties? That´s the vibe I´m getting from the cover artwork of “Revenant”, a classic Death/Doom Metal motive with desolate landscapes and a dark figure in the center possessing eerie qualities. in 2015 this hardly has the same effect no people as it did in say 1995 with everyone having access to new music 24/7 and everyone preferring to gaze at beautiful artwork through a screen instead of a physical product! I´ll stop with the groaning and get on with the review.

Orphans Of Dusk are a Gothic/Doom Metal trio, based in New Zealand and Australia, and they´ve caught my attention with this four track EP, initially self-released last year, now given a new release treatment through Hypnotic Dirge Records. The music on “Revenant” projects the listener into grandiose halls with majestic gothic architectures, castles, churches, cathedrals and everything in between. The musical equivalents would be bands like My Dying Bride, Swallow The Sun, Saturnus and I feel like looping in Type O Negative, because of some of the vocal work, which I´ll get back to.

The aim here is to clearly have the guitar providing the lashing and crushing heaviness and only that, while the keyboards deliver the melodies with broad ranges of sounds and textures. “August Price” is a fine opener with a bittersweet atmosphere firmly grounded in slow tempos and artful gothicism. A distinct touch upon these tragedian musical sceneries is the crooning of vocalist Chris G. Beside the accustomed growls, many passages feature deep, gallant vocal lamentations that resemble Peter Steele´s low-toned booming voice, and these really give the songs another powerful dimension.

All tracks have a strong quality and are pretty different from one another. I´ve taken a special liking to the track “Nibelheim” as it´s the most varied of the bunch, starting off with an uptempo Death Metal feel, leading to a tranquil brigde before going back to a more keyboard/piano dominating second half backed up with gloomy riffs, a very exciting song. “Beneath The Cover Of Night” is the closing elegy producing several soaring sections where the two worlds of Gothic and Doom Metal really harmonize with epic magnitudes.

“Revenant” has become an EP that I´ve spent a lot of time with, quite possibly one of my favorite EP´s in my collection. I hope to hear more from these guys in the future.