DRACONIAN

Sweden's Draconian are, in many people's opinion, among today's leaders of the global doom scene. Three magnificent, finely-honed albums preceded this one, and here is the fourth, in no way inferior to its predecessors. If anything can be noted as a change, it's the decreasing share of funeral elements in the music -- a trend that began on the previous release, "The Black Halo" -- and a corresponding slight increase in the average tempo. Undoubtedly, some will see this as a departure from tradition in favor of commercial appeal. And surely others will come at it from the opposite angle and accuse the Swedes of stagnation and rehashing old material. But we'll leave that to the conscience of hypothetical critics and instead savor the dark, melancholic beauty of the music that has gone nowhere -- beauty into which both Andreas Jacobsson's increasingly seasoned brutal vocals and Lisa Johansson's exquisite voice fit organically. Musically, we now have powerful guitar-driven doom that is only occasionally diluted by the familiar touch of funeral elements. The album's lyrics continue to explore human emotions in their most depressive manifestations, and the music's heaviness, according to Andreas, in this case reflects the instability of the human psyche -- a raging sea of paradoxes and fragility. The verdict of this review can only be one: a finely-honed, piercing, and thoroughly professional album -- virtually the gold standard of doom metal.