It’s fair to say that for many reasons the last couple of years have been a real pisser with pretty much all but essential trade and businesses prevented from carrying on, and there only now being a slow return to normality for those desperate to socialise.  Even with that slight glimmer of hope, there is more long term gloom coming out of the current COP26 event in Glasgow where assorted world leaders have gathered to debate and posture about the future of life on earth whilst the rest of the planet looks on with little hope of resolution, or rather little of the resolutions tabled being matched by solid action.  As such, a little bit of lightness is needed to cheer you up when all around is so grim, and Apostle of Solitude are the people to deliver the fun.  Only kidding, this is Doom with a capital “D”, and ‘Until The Darkness Goes’ delivers it by the bucket load.

Opener ‘When The Darkness Comes’ has all a true Doom fan could wish for, thumpingly heavy bass and drums accompanying thunderous riffs, all backing up clearly delivered lyrics of darkness and despair, served up at a pace both as slow and inevitable as a funeral march.  No light is let in by ‘The Union’, the guitar work being even slower and sludgier, some higher lines played in a melancholic counterpoint to give the whole a Gothic sound, and I’ve no doubt the refrain of “we all die alone” would have those denizens of darkness who flock to Whitby swaying along.  Little changes to lift the mood in follow up ‘Apathy In Isolation’, and it would be easy to imagine it and the preceding track being run together with no change in beat by a more self-indulgent band, but Apostle of Solitude include enough variety to give the track its own identity, albeit the identity in question would be of a person dressed all in black who would make Neil from the Young Ones seem the life and soul of the party (damn, but my references are getting both obscure and indicative of my age!).

Things slow even further with the initial lonely plucked notes of ‘Deeper Than The Oceans’, their echoing misery leeching into the main dragging refrain.  It is definitely a track that is for listening to and gently nodding along to, as the only way a circle pit could match the beat would be if the participants were wading hip deep in treacle.  A scant relief comes in the form of the all too short restrained psychedelic instrumental delivery of ‘Beautifully Dark’, a title that is practically the track’s own self-contained review, before the album is closed with the slow sonic bludgeoning of ‘Relive The Day’.

‘Until The Darkness Goes’ continues the sombre musical journey that Apostle of Solitude has been travelling for many years now (see Ave Noctum passim), and for their skilful delivery and dedication to the despondent, they are to be praised.  There has been no attempt to bow to the fashions and foibles of musical taste, no unnecessary theatricality or bells and whistles; once again, I must reiterate that this is a Doom album, and the “D” is a well deserved capital.

(8/10 Spenny)

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