Review of Mist of Misery - "Absence"
THANATOLOGY SET TO MUSIC
By: Geoff Teach
Black metal is being composed every day, all over the world, but the black metal that originates in Scandinavia already has a leg up on everything else. After all, Scandinavia is the birthplace of the subgenre, so it is in this region that its roots are deepest and strongest; and there truly is something to be said about how climate affects musical composition, so when you consider that each of the three major Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway, and Finland) all have portions of their nations that reach into the Arctic Circle, you’re not surprised when a hefty amount of music being created there is dark and cold, just like the region from whence it came.
And when it comes to Sweden’s Mist of Misery, all of the aforementioned applies. Somber, cheerless, and hyperborean, the new album from the Stockholm-based trio, Absence (Black Lion Records), is a beautifully crafted compendium of symphonic black metal arrangements that perfectly exemplifies why Scandinavia is still the capital of the black metal world.
Containing nine songs and interludes of wildly varying lengths and dispositions, Absence by Mist of Misery is alluring and beguiling, but also harmoniously heavy and necromantically efficacious. Sporting songs with titles like “Euthanasia”, “Final Departure”, and “Serenity in Nothingness”, Mist of Misery don’t hide their nihilistic and thanatologic tendencies – and why should they? Absence is a profoundly stunning album, worthy of all praise that should be thrown its way, and if the subject matter is wholly morbid, then so be it.
Absence will be officially released via Black Lion Records as of August 31st, 2016, so if you’re in the mood for a coldly sublime collection of symphonic black metal genius, order yourself a copy immediately.
To check out (some of) Absence, just press play below!
Related Mist of Misery Links: