Style: Melodic death metal, technical death metal, progressive metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Scar Symmetry, The Black Dahlia Murder, Disarmonia Mundi
Country: United States
Release date: 4 April 2025

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I first discovered Buried Realm, the Colorado-based solo project of multi-instrumentalist Josh Dummer, in 2022 with the self-titled release, Buried Realm. To me, he had appeared out of nowhere. I can’t remember where I first read the name, but what I do remember is that I was immediately hooked on this high-adrenaline style of melodeath. I’ve always had an affinity for melodic death metal, so after perusing through the back catalogue, I’d been looking forward to another release for some time. When The Dormant Darkness was announced, I was eager to jam it straight into my ear holes. And like a gluttonous king did I feast.

Buried Realm melds together the best qualities of extreme metal and an ethos of abundant melodicism, with The Dormant Darkness pulling influence from tech death, progressive metal, and melodic death metal without ever becoming trite or feeling uninspired. On the contrary, Dummer has put paint to canvas in his own unique style, that with the help of several guest musicians—including Soilwork’s Björn “Speed” Strid, and the Bon Jovi of death metal, ex-Scar Symmetry’s Christian Älvestam—takes on a distinct impressionist quality, echoing many genre staples without ever sounding derivative to the point of unoriginality. More than just a melodeath-by-numbers record, The Dormant Darkness deftly side steps the palm-muted-pedal-tone purgatory where many bands find themselves, in favour of a more aggressive and varied approach to the songwriting in a track listing replete with heavy hitters. 

The opener “Bloodline Artifice” is an immense wall of sound with furious blast beats, tremolo picking, and technical riffing, introducing Älvestam’s deep growls and soaring clean vocals towards the latter half of the piece. “Futuristic Hollow Nation” then follows up with pounding double-kick and groovy syncopated guitar work leading into easily one of the best choruses on The Dormant Darkness, and closing with the blistering solo shredwork of Christopher Amott of Arch Enemy and Armageddon fame. “The Human Code” is the album’s first introduction to Speed’s vocals; his signature style will feel familiar to fans of both Soilwork and Disarmonia Mundi, particularly his tendency to double-track his vocals for a huge sound—a trick which features heavily during the refrain. This song also includes an incredible solo (maybe the best on the album) by Scar Symmetry’s Per Nilsson. Thus, in only the first three tracks, The Dormant Darkness displays a chameleonic sonic identity that echoes a particularly well-known Swedish district with a distinctly modern approach. It wouldn’t be out of pocket to suggest that the spotlighted artists leave a palpable impression of their own bands, but in the exhibition of such, it becomes a clear homage rather than outright piracy. 

I think one of the best parts of having other artists feature on your album is the versatility and variability that a track listing full of guest musicians offers up to the listener and with that in mind there are some really engaging works on The Dormant Darkness that became my favourite tracks. “Ophidian Dreams” is an instrumental piece with some standout orchestration from Fleshgod Apocalypse’s Francesco Ferrini that provides more of a sinister symphonic metal atmosphere—rather than the heavy baroque sensibilities Fleshgod is known for—to elevate the piece and add texture to the soundscape. Meanwhile, “Jaws of the Abyss” is by far the most saccharine piece on the album and lets Älvestam do what he does best, as the track’s “Call Me Maybe” chord progression and ear-candy chorus have you reaching for your glucose monitor. And I feel I’d be remiss not to include on my list the eponymous track “The Dormant Darkness”, this one being more of a straightforward melodic death metal example with harmonized guitar leads and double-kick triplet bursts accented by the blazing fretwork of legendary Hellene Gus G. of Firewind fame, whose discography is on regular rotation in this household. Probably the most famous Greek since Socrates¹, Gus’s brief stint in Arch Enemy has clearly left a lasting impression, and despite his primarily power metal focus, he displays no less of a virtuosic aptitude on the ‘darker’ side of the metal spectrum. 

It’s a challenge to put together an album of this caliber with a full band behind you, let alone on your own. That mastermind Josh Dummer was able not only to pull it off, but did so in the superlative, is a clear testament to his songwriting ability and work ethic. As a long-time fan of melodic death metal, I hold an album like The Dormant Darkness in high regard; it’s catchy, it’s technical, it’s ferocious, and when you have two of the biggest names in the genre on vocals, it’s hard to look the other way. In its meticulous composition and near-flawless execution, The Dormant Darkness is a thrilling ride and an exemplary work within the broader melodic/technical death metal landscape. 

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Recommended tracks: Jaws of the Abyss, The Human Code, Futuristic Hollow Nation
You may also like: Miseration, Enfold Darkness, PrimalFrost, Mencea
Final verdict: 8/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Independent

Buried Realm is:
– Josh Dummer (everything)
With guests:
– Dean Arnold (guitar, track 1)
– Christian Älvestam (vocals, tracks 1, 2, 7, 8)
– Christopher Amott (guitar, track 2)
– Bjorn “Speed” Strid (vocals, tracks 3, 5)
– Per Nilsson (guitar, track 3)
– Daniel Freyberg (guitar, track 4)
– Gus G. (guitar, track 8)
– Heikki Saari (drums)
– Francesco Ferrini (orchestration, synths)

1. Don’t look at me like that. How many people actually know George Michael was Greek? ↩︎