Shaken from the throat of sorrowful monstrosity onto mold streaked vellum a tar-black, foaming blood is smeared into diabolic shapes, dried, and outlined with care as Spanish black metal project Dolorosa use ancient formae and methodology to illustrate their own visions of suffering and contempt. Aiming to create a work purely devoted to advancement of the auld traditions of black metal the challenge and the ultimate boon offered by ‘Summoning Ancient Bleakness‘ is a blend of deeply familiar strokes and the artist’s own exaggerative gesturing. Rather than shattering all classicism and making contemporary abomination of black metal the mold is softened and distorted into imposing shape, creating a stream of uneasy consciousness which drifts and wanes into one miserable sitting.

We gesture to the utter dark and receive little more than cold, inert air in quest of further knowledge here, though we can potentially venture a guess that the fellow behind Spanish black metal band Gaua began working on Dolorosa somewhere around plague year MMXX as a gesture of nihil and classics-minded hand. Whereas the artist’s hand was attuned to something pounding, riotous in a sort of Finnish tradition on records like ‘Feeble Psychotic Vortex‘ this is a very different project which takes many cues from what they suggest as the 90’s Scandinavian black metal zeitgeist. The press materials make direct reference to the first Mayhem LP as well early works from Dissection and Gorgoroth and this does set the mind within the right time and place as we consider guitar techniques, arpeggiated strokes and malevolently traced single guitar runs abounding yet only a few pieces come with the cutting, thunderous speed of those points of inspiration (certain verses at the peak of “Nihil Dolorosa”, for example) and instead most of ‘Summoning Ancient Bleakness‘ is atmospherically charged, mid-paced and kicking along in eerie stride. My favorite examples being “Under the Black Sky”, “Nocturnal Wisdom” and the opening thrum of “A Sombre Passage”.

While I figured I could scrub through every song and pick these references out like knits from a fellow high ape’s skull the lasting impression that Dolorosa left on me came by way of the vocalist’s oeuvre which ranges from a possessed horror-vibrato all his own, an interruptive coldly rasped verse or two, a death-like growl, and even some depressive black shrieking (“Under the Black Sky”) with the ability to transition between these modes within a single phrase. “Mother Sorrow” serves many of these methods up front and in strung together expression as it introduces the first abysmal point of immerse per my own experience, a piece cleverly tied into the haunting introduction “A Sombre Passage” had outlined. While, yes, it’d make sense to point to ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas‘ for a moment and appreciate those vocals I’d also found their diction recalled that of certain Balmog records, too. This thought is not yet complete, though, as we step into “From the Distant Shadows” wherein the lumbering slow sections of the song help to generate an ‘old school’ black metal gloom and another example of how the artist’s best ideas and sense of terrifying presence often arrive within mid-paced, riff focused pieces (“Nocturnal Wisdom”.)

As a blend of familiar sounds and uniquely stated voice it makes sense to take a closer look at the production values and general sound design of ‘Summoning Ancient Bleakness‘ per The Empty Hall Studio where they’ve managed the arcane depth and distance of the old ways while allowing a proper bass frequency, and a clear-enough defined bass guitar tone, to add to the space depicted. Otherwise the main focal point seems to be the guitar tone(s) and the space they share is considerable but that doesn’t keep the drumming from breaking through and standing out, a strong enough kick and loose snare are well featured and are thankfully buried in false reverb. When at the height of concerted performance Dolorosa hangs thick in the air, able to be propulsive at the drop of a hat but typically fogging up the wide span of the space they inhabit. Needlessly to say it is a classics hinted way to frame a black metal band in motion and escapes the usual cold and overly dry extremes enough to resemble the best of Spanish black metal these days.

As a full listen left on repeat and enjoyed over the course of numerous listening sessions ‘Summoning Ancient Bleakness‘ held up well enough with a reasonable amount of tuneful detail, weirding and possessed vocalizations, and riffs which lean into atmosphere as a strength but deliver some catchier punishing moments throughout. Though Dolorosa haven’t presented a challenging angle upon classic black metal sounds herein they have put together an entertaining debut album, one which managed to pull me back into its dark world without relying on anything overtly catchy, though the referential ‘old school’ touch of this album is at times heavy-handed this didn’t at all hinder my own enjoyment. A moderately high recommendation.

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