Review: Dead to a Dying World – Elegy

Style: post-metal, doom metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Cult of Luna, Panopticon, Swallow the Sun, Opeth
Review by: Jonah
Country: Texas, United States
Release date: 19 April 2020

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was originally published in the April 2019 issue of The Progressive Subway.]

It’s really rare that I fall in love with an album on my first listen. Unless something about the  music just immediately enraptures me, it tends to take a few spins for me to decide I really love something. So when this album opened with a track that sounded like Johnny Cash wanted to take his cover of Hurt and make it even sadder, and I was immediately in love, I was quite surprised. Dead to a Dying World play something that I’d call a combination of doomy post-metal and dark folk music. There are riffs, there are big roars and screams, and there’s a ton of metal, but layered over all of it there are various other instruments that take the spotlight. Mostly, it’s the viola, which is just absolutely gorgeous.

The trap that post-metal falls into more often than not is that it can sound very samey, and very repetitious. And to someone that isn’t necessarily looking for relaxation it can be pretty underwhelming. That’s not the case with this album. Although the 3 main metal tracks, which are split up by three short folk songs, are each long and sprawling, they never get at all bland. The soundscapes are diverse, interspersing clean and harsh vocals (provided by 5 vocalists across the album) with massive doom riffs, viola melodies, tremolo picked guitar leads, and the occasional hurdy-gurdy. All of this combines into some of the most legitimately beautiful music I’ve heard in quite a long time. The lyrics focus on apocalyptic themes, and there is a definite feeling of mourning and loss throughout the album, which only further increases the beauty of each individual song.

Although they definitely feel more like extended interludes than full songs, the 3 folk tracks on this album are some of my favorite moments on it. They feature some absolutely lovely vocal performances, and while the epics have moments of insane heaviness, these tracks are what really tie all the beauty together and make this the magical journey it is.

I can’t speak enough about how incredible I think this music is. While it definitely won’t be for everyone, and it does take it’s time getting to the point occasionally, the entire sound is so enrapturing that I don’t care for one second. Every song is just a swath of bliss washing over me, and I can’t get enough of it. This is an album to relax to, to headbang to, and to live and die to. I can’t recommend it enough.

Recommended tracks: Syzygy, Vernal Equinox, Empty Hands Hollow Hymns
You may also like: Dirge, Izah, Latitudes
Final verdict: 9/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

Label: Profound Lore Records – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook

Dead to a Dying World is:
– Mike Yeager (vocals)
– Heidi Moore (female vocals, percussion)
– Sean Mehl (guitars, percussion, hurdy gurdy)
– James Magruder (guitars, keyboard)
– Eva Vonne (viola)
– John Schiller (bass)
– Josh Dawkins (drums)