Album Review: Apostle of Solitude – Until The Darkness Goes
Reviewed by Sam Jones
Its been some time since I checked out some typical doom metal that didn’t have any injection of death metal within its system but, with Apostle Of Solitude’s upcoming November record, I was curious to see what was what. Fronted by a gorgeous artwork Until The Darkness Goes is the band’s fifth full length album in 17 years, having formed back in 2004 out of Indiana, United States. Since their formation the band have slowly but surely been churning out a stream of releases whether there be Demos, Albums, Splits etc to the point where they’ve established themselves a fairly decent back catalogue for prospective fans to go digging into. In addition Until The Darkness Goes stands as the band’s third album released under the record label of Cruz Del Sur Music, so its evident they’re rather comfortable in where they are right now. So let’s see what kind of approach Apostle Of Solitude took to their doom metal craft and what we can take away from it in regards to the band’s future.
The guitar work has a peculiar storytelling quality to it. What drew me initially to this record following a few teaser listens here and there was how old school Apostle Of Solitude’s songwriting and approach to riffs actually was. If you’ve ever jammed out or enjoyed anything along the lines of Trouble, Saint Vitus, Witchfinder General etc this is the doom you may want to check out. Owing to the gradual pace the riffs set throughout this record, you won’t feel like you’re being pushed from one track to the next. Even on classic doom records this can feel like the case, yet AOS really enable you to sit back and take in everything the band have in store for you by creating music that is rather laissez-faire in sonic form where it isn’t concerned about being the doomiest doom album you’ve heard. The guitar work amplifies this notion with riffs that carry weight to them yet never feel too dense that we can’t get a grasp of where the doom is going. AOS never have an issue if the audience know where their songwriting might be heading; if anything they revel in that fact. The band have zero problem with you predicting where they might go next because that will only draw you in further and allow you to chill out all the more.
As with many old school works of Doom the drums are very much in the support role throughout the record. The bass drums are not going at a thundering, lightening pace like you find in more aggressive death/doom, instead the drumming has this fairly subtle yet fully noticeable impact on the songwriting. The standard drum work suggests a rather taut drum skin as you can feel the strike of the drums with crisp and clear cohesion and yet it’s interesting how they’re implemented, especially as the pacing may shift from one track to the next. It’s rather satisfying to hear the crashing of cymbals so often during this record’s duration, granted it’s not directly shoved in front of your face but just hearing that distant but tumultuous crisp elicits such a lively quality to the band’s sound. The primary guitar work may dissipate altogether and you’ll be left with just the bass and drumming to fill the gaps, yet even while this is the case sometimes the drumming changes form and may morph to this marching or relentlessly beating rhythm. Not only are the drums methodical in their writing and keep in line with the rest of the instrumentation but, the drums always keep the flow of the band’s sound moving. It may not be a rhythm that is galloping towards the end, but this is old school sounding doom. It doesn’t need a rapid urgency.
I liked how stripped back and open the album sounded. Often, as is the case even with some old school doom records, the band in question will always be trying to fill their album’s scope with sound in a bid to make it feel as full and heavy as they can possibly make it. But it’s telling how AOS don’t really bother for such a tactic and instead, just let the songwriting and instrumentation do the talking if you will. You could be listening to a track like “The Union” or “Apathy In Isolation” and feel like there is a lot of space the band could utilise if they tried to go harder in one avenue or another on this record. Their choice not to do so feels deliberate; the resulting space left over enables the lingering guitar tone to ripple without resistance, it allows the eloquently clean and clear vocals to penetrate all aspects of the band’s performance without feeling like it needs to do battle with an unnecessary cavalcade of forces in a constant desire for crescendo. By letting the instrumentation and vocals just ring out against the nothingness, it in turn allows the doom to strike with much more impact because there isn’t anything superfluous or superficial intervening with your experience of it.
What’s interesting about the vocals is how it’s rarely just one vocal delivery on its own. Whenever you’re listening to the vocals and listening closely, you may be surprised to find a secondary vocal delivery. It’s not the case that the band give you two unique deliveries, they’re both pretty similar to each other. As a result, whenever the vocals are emitting a stronger and more projecting performance, it’s often being reinforced by a secondary vocal performance that fits just beneath the primary delivery. These two deliveries, effectively interlinking with one another, allow the clean vocals to reach just a little further as well as stand out even more. The band certainly have a vocal focus here and yet despite this intentional concentration on the vocal delivery, it doesn’t interfere with a more lax and mellow guitar performance.
In conclusion, Apostle Of Solitude’s fifth album is a rather subtle but entertaining affair. In line with rudimentary, old school doom metal the band don’t make any special fanfare regarding the end to their record nor do they try and make things feel climatic. In the end this feels very much like the doom metal of old we’ve heard from the early days and yet, has a genuine injection of more modern sensibilities. The band’s willingness to keep things pretty laid back and to withhold an expression for a crushing soundscape makes their songwriting come alive far more than if they had. That nulled void lets the guitar work and vocals ring out with a clarity and deeper emphasis than if the band had included a grander scope to their record. All in all, this was a fun ride as it let me fully bask in the doom AOS had to offer without feeling I had to offer some part of myself and, at less than 40 minutes long, it doesn’t take up much of your time. So, I’d certainly recommend this if you’re after a flavour of doom that isn’t going to demand your soul for once.
