Style: Dark folk, neofolk, avant-folk, doom metal (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Ulver (Kveldssanger), Empyrium, Myrkur (Folkesange)
Country: United States
Release date: 3 January 2026

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As of the time of writing, the eastern half of the US is entering a historic ice storm, and now seems like a better time than any to reflect on the harshness of Winter. Field and forest alike are laid barren as trees shed their leaves and return energy to the soil. The creatures that normally skitter about burrow underground and rest until the surface becomes hospitable once again. Among the freezing, dormant energies of Yuletide and beyond lie much death and change, which shouldn’t be forgotten when the daffodils push through early Spring’s loam.

Elegies of Winter’s deathly hand thematically center The Lamentations, the latest release by Autumn Ni Dubhghaill under the moniker Forever Autumn. The Lamentations sits with its melodies and patterns for minutes at a time, inviting the listener to ruminate on death alongside Ni Dubhghaill in despondent dark folk passages. Acoustic guitar ostinatos are often accompanied by swelling, mournful cellos which uneasily sway in hypnotic repetition. Percussion is used sparingly across the record, but its appearance ranges from ritualistic, spiraling patterns on “Epoch” to syncopated chaos on “Fylgia and the Fetch”. Ni Dubhghaill’s clean vocals wearily creak across frozen landscapes as she sings of bittersweet ceremonies, and her twisted harsh vocals clamber across soil like knotty tree roots.

The Lamentations’ repetitive, minimal songwriting lulls the listener into a ritualistic trance in its most compelling moments. The despondent acoustic guitar of “Beltane” is joined by a mourning cello as Ni Dubhghaill reflects on the rites of early May and those that were lost to Winter. The track’s center section suddenly picks up speed and Ni Dubhghaill howls over dissonant strings and percussive guitar strums before slowing into the original melody. The Lamentations’ dearth of compositional movement implies a stubbornness where Ni Dubhghaill refuses to progress ideas until they have been appropriately meditated on and processed. “Portrait in Blue, Black, and Grey” pushes this meditation to its limit, sticking with the same idea for almost six minutes with little changes. “Epoch” is the most stripped-down track, featuring solely hand percussion and Ni Dubhghaill’s whispers from the perspective of creatures watching their world get smaller at the hands of human development and ecosystem collapse.

On tracks like “Hexes and Wards” and “Beltane”, the repetitive songwriting effortlessly brings the listener into Forever Autumn’s world, but the aforementioned “Portrait in Blue, Black, and Grey” runs far too long, falling from dire solemnity into a staleness that breaks the record’s spellbinding hypnotism. The same is true for closer “The Salt of Mortality”: its base idea becomes weary early into its nine-minute runtime. However, the track is narratively critical to The Lamentations as a reprise to opener “Beltane”, comfortably and subtly bookending the record with sister ideas. Conversely, “Fylgia and the Fetch” is active both rhythmically and compositionally, opposing its repetitive nature through clattering percussion, dissonant strings, and frequent switches between its two ideas. The percussion is noticeably syncopated in a way that lends an organic affect without distracting from the composition itself. Unease and paranoia are evoked by lyrics describing encounters with spirits that follow humans near death.

While “Fylgia and the Fetch” subverts the record’s compositional inertia while still working within its confines, the track exposes harsh vocals as one of the weakest points of The Lamentations. While Ni Dubhghaill’s creaky clean timbre feels appropriately witchy and fits great with the music, her harshes often lack control and sound somewhat painful to perform at times. The chaotic rhythms of “Fylgia” lend themselves to the disquieting, portentous doom of the lyrics, but the vocal delivery entirely relies on harsh vocals which end up becoming grating as opposed to evoking unease. The vocals on “Hexes and Wards” toe the line of listenability, but the swirling guitars, punctuated cello lines, and waltzing vocal patterns are evocative enough that the performance ends up working in the track’s favor. Harsh vocals are notoriously difficult to balance with more subdued musical ideas, as the grit can often overwhelm the instrumentals and create an ill-fitting, conflicted atmosphere. On The Lamentations, there is undoubtedly justification for harsh vocals in these intense moments—the faster mid-section of “Beltane”, for example, simply wouldn’t sound right with operatic clean vocals—but more refinement is likely necessary in the case of Forever Autumn.

With The Lamentations, I’m caught between a rock and a hard place. Narratively, the record is constructed fabulously, extending simple ideas into hypnotic reflections on the despondence of Winter even after its winds have left. Ironically, the songwriting has plenty of variety despite the record’s stubborn minimalism, but some ideas are wont to stretch on beyond their shelf life and catch the listener in a rut. Moreover, the harsh vocals are often challenging to listen to, even when they are in most cases exactly what the music needs. Despite some elements that leave me cold, The Lamentations burns with mourning on a lyrically and emotionally rich backdrop; I look forward to seeing how Ni Dubhghaill will evolve her idiosyncratic style of dark folk in the future.

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Recommended tracks: Beltane, Hexes and Wards, Epoch
You may also like: Embrace of Hedera, Baerdcyn, Liljevars Brann, Wÿntër Ärvń
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Facebook | Instagram

Label: Independent

Forever Autumn is:
– Autumn Ni Dubhghaill: everything