Album Review: Night Hag – Great Dismal Darkness

Album Review: Night Hag – Great Dismal Darkness

Reviewed by Sam Jones

We’re back to look once again at some death/doom offerings, this time from Night Hag, hailing from Virginia, United States, and their second full length work: Great Dismal Darkness. Formed in 2010 Night Hag’s early days are peppered with smaller releases: Demos, an EP, a Live Album, a Split with Cryptic Brood, but come 2022 the band finally released their debut album Phantasmal Scourge. Following this up with another Split, this time with Burial, the band eventually got to work on their second album, pinned for an October 16th release date, Great Dismal Darkness. Though this marks the band’s second full length work it’s actually their fourth release altogether through Rotted Life Records, evidently a relationship between band and label that’s working to either’s advantage. I’m familiar with Night Hag but hadn’t got round to their last record so this is an excellent chance to introduce myself to the band. I was ready for some bludgeoning death/doom.

Night Hag’s stance on death/doom is one of crushing atmosphere and laying the bass on so thickly there’s no avenue for running. What makes their performance feel so much more vicious is they aren’t hanging around; typically this approach to death/doom incurs slower, glacial pacing but Night Hag aren’t seeking to exact that degree of mercy herein. Their tempo is more often than not climbing, and seeking to climb ever higher, so the din wrought by such an assault is unassailable and impossible to hide from. But when it does slow, when the madness begins to abate, that’s when Night Hag lay on the dismal and macabre qualities of their atmosphere tenfold. It’s through those slower and more noxious elements the real horror of their sound comes forth with as basslines and drum strikes colour the air with darkening shades of black to craft inhospitable hues of desperation.

I particularly appreciated just how rapid the drums played across the record too for the blast beats were constantly on the attack, providing the tempo Night Hag desired to keep us invested in their heinous onslaught. What’s more the drums crash loudly too so even as the pace may calm periodically the impact the drums infer is forever prevalent, reminding you of their presence, reminding you to pay attention, that they’re not done with you quite yet. As the intensity climbs once more you’ll find the blast beats can be sent to the back of the mix as riffs and vocals take centre stage, but with that said you’ll still feel the drum skins struck with immense vigour and a genuine rapacity for visceral disembowelling.

One can imagine Night Hag being an excellent live band to champion their studio material upon the stage. It feels like what you hear on album is precisely what was captured in that recording studio with minimal alterations during the mix. The result is a death/doom record wondrously unburdened by overbearing mixing processes; granted some has to be done binding everything together yet I feel they applied as little as was needed to retain that authentic sound as heard in the moment. The byproduct is Great Dismal Darkness sounds as if it were discovered from some abyssal chasm, where light never touched its pores. You could view the record in its throes of torment or else the soundtrack to a harrowing, ceaseless slaughter.

Something Night Hag do here that makes their record accessible to every fan of death/doom is it never feels to drag. This subgenre of metal can be synonymous with plodding pacing and music taking longer than necessary to reach the next pivotal moment, but Night Hag’s blend of rapid fire devastation and steady, belligerent, nigh methodical punches make for a record that’s always on the move in some direction. Even as the atmosphere keeps reminding you this is no walk in the park you’ll plunge yourself headfirst into their miasmic, molasses-laden detritus. Coming out of their swamp will see the surface actively fight to keep you under its pressure, rising with you as your head seeks to break free. There’s never a point where you’ll want it over seeking that reprieve; the songwriting is always in motion and it’s audibly noticeable that track development is present too so you won’t be left thinking where else you’ll be taken.

In conclusion, Great Dismal Darkness truly lives up to its namesake as Night Hag pour a plethora of evils into their second full length record. For death/doom this might be one of the greatest offerings 2026 will deliver for their songwriting balances the cavernous atmosphere with active track development excellently. You know what you sign up for with Night Hag but it’s still great to see a band give you more than you’d perhaps expect and, the result is Great Dismal Darkness is a crushing record you’ll want to return to over and over again because it rewards the particular attention you need for such a bleak and apathetic piece of art. A stellar release by a band doing this longer than people will initially realise. It’s able to satisfy that longing for subterranean tone whilst not crushing your ribcage so entirely you can’t appreciate its dank vibe. Nocturnal and merciless, Night Hag are one to watch.

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