Formed by veteran members of the Spanish extreme metal underground coming from bands like Graveyard, Teitanblood and Emanation (among others), Barcellona's abysmal black funeral doom miserists Of Darkness finally bring us their 2023 light-devouring full-length abomination on vinyl format for the first time ever.
A colossal, subsonic deluge of agonizing misery churned from the wretched depths of a lightless abyss, “Missa Tridentina” stands regal and imposing as an absolute beast of 2023 extreme doom, possibly its greatest moment, beautifully adorned with atypical elements of neoclassical composition, chamber music, dark ambient, and ritualistic electronics to underline an impenetrable genesis of divergence. An experimental approach that has exalted the work's suffocating aura of surrealism and which embodies as a sentence of absolute oblivion, condemning the listener to a horrific disembodiment of perpetual aeonian torment. Few bands in recent times have had the vision and skill to harness the same realms of crushing, slow-moving terror we've seen masterfully captured in previous decades by the works of bands like Evoken, Nortt and particularly Tyranny, the former a band whom Of Darkness most resemble due to the unremitting darkness that burdens their aphotic craft. Yet the Spanish abyss-shapers seem to have taken this dismal, subterranean audial nightmare of theirs to an entire new realm of majesty, using experimental and improvisational ornaments assembled from unconventional approaches and instrumentations quite unprecedented for the style, to push their abysmal sonic magma into an even more blighted niche of extremity, rarely - if ever before - witnessed at such a terrifying and otherworldly state.
Pre-orders are now available both on vinyl format and digitally via all our channels, with a global release date of March 29 2024 for the vinyl.
Of Darkness formed in Barcelona back in 2004, the brainchild of Javi Bastard (Graveyard, Teitanblood), and Fernando Julkarn (Graveyard) as a funeral doom band. The first two demos, 2004’s “Death” and 2005’s “The Empty Eye”, were peculiar for the time for displaying an abysmal and experimental sound and for being nearly an hour in length each, with the latter comprising of just two tracks and the former of a single track totaling fifty nine minutes. The band spent most of the time thereafter lying dormant as members focused on other bands and activities until Psychedelic Lotus Order and Black Mass Records re-released both demos on limited double CD in 2010. In 2012 Of Darkness remerged with “Scorpiace” a split cassette release with cult Spanish experimental ambient/doom one-man project Like Drone Razors Though Flesh Sphere. This collaboration would pave the way for LDRTFS mastermind CG Santos later joining both Of Darkness and Teitanblood as a full time member.
The band’s unique and experimental take on funeral doom began to truly come into light with the 2015 release of the experimental work “Tribute to Krzysztof Penderecki - Passio et Mors Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Secundum Lucam”, an unofficial debut album of sorts, which saw Of Darkness re-interpret two compositions of modern classical master Krzysztof Penderecki, complete with a cover that mirrored those of Deutsche Grammaphone's long-running line of classical records. More silence followed as Of Darkness slipped into the abyss for another eight long years, suddenly re-emerging with their proper debut full-length masterpiece of original compositions, “Missa Tridentina”. This masterclass of experimental funeral doom put the listener back at the center of the band’s plan, offering forty two minutes of abysmal misery split up into seven original standalone tracks of perfectly crafted and executed abysmal blackened funeral doom, offered in a format of easier assimilation as to deliver absolute death and oblivion to the listener. This release cemented the band’s long-running legacy, seeing a CD release on Mexico’s Personal Records and soon becoming one of the most praised and revered funeral doom releases of 2023, if not the best of that year. With no further hesitation the inevitable consecration of the masterpiece via vinyl format now finally sees the light on March 29 2024 via Sentient Ruin Laboratories.