Fading down with the light, dripping along the cords which bind ghasts to their haunts, the sanguine sorrows of melodic death/doom metal trio THEURGION flow black as oil, smothering all that they touch on this sombre and high-melodramatic debut full-length album. Though ‘All Under Heaven‘ offers the familiar sound of a well-explored sub-genre of extreme doom metal, and does it well, a combination of fine loose-ended songcraft and bristling emotional expressivity make for an appreciably dramatic entry beyond the usual classic gothic doom indebted fare. A flattening, exasperating seance of melancholia and distress nearly outshines the familiarity of their palette here and does so admirably by leaning into ‘epic’ doom metal sounds with an unsparing shoulder.

Theurgion formed from dread wherein the need to access the bleak shrift of doom metal began bleeding from the minds of three folks you should know best via countless USBM black metal projects including vocals/drumming from L.C. (Häxanu, Azelisassath), guitar/bass from A.P. (Krieg, et al.) and R.F. (Collier d’Ombre, ex-Triumvir Foul) all of whom also feature on new albums from Kveldstimer, Lunar Sorcery, Osgraef among many others this year. While those names should perk the chattering skulls of black and death metal fandom this particular band is something entirely different: An interpretation of early 90’s British and melodic death/doom metal (Anathema) and Swedish dark metal (Katatonia, October Tide) bands. Before you roll your eyes at the frequency of (tuneless) bands inspired by this movement over the course of the last five years I’d suggest this is a particularly evocative, lead guitar driven experience which also dabbles in the more traditional vintage of “epic” doom metal.

If there is no palpable emotion to be struck, bled and siphoned into this “dark” form of gothic and/or melodic death/doom metal work then it should not exist. Doom metal fandom certainly loves melodramatic spurging and art-doom adjacent performative musing yet a believable vocal performance is key for this style as a major font of despair, catharses, and outward shot solemnity. In this sense L.C. is surprisingly the central focus and big surprise to be found on ‘All Under Heaven‘ as he goes on wheeling between serviceable death metal growls and at-times soaring clean vocals, the latter of which (again) veers into ‘epic’ doom metal territory as much as it invokes the evolution of dark metal via records like ‘Gothic‘, ‘Dance of December Souls‘ and such. Opener “Lavender and Silver” doesn’t take us everywhere suggested but generally covers a great deal of the band’s ouevre within its nearly ten minute length. The belted, full-chested soar found on that song finds its reprise elsewhere in spades to be sure (“Thrice-Named” strikes even deeper into each vocal extreme) but a gothic rock inspired howl is undoubtedly the main feature as the album fires through its first twenty or so minutes.

Though the exposed heart of olden extreme doom is beating throughout the first half of ‘All Under Heaven‘, and there are some incredibly tuneful movements to be found on the aforementioned “Lavender and Silver”, I would argue that the bigger guitar hooks and relevance to albums like ‘Rain Without End‘ arrives via key single “The Storm“. Of course the leading guitar line is a major point of connectivity with the old ways but the feat here is moreso that both melodic death/doom and traditional doom nodes are stoked in concert and not separately. The vocals naturally direct this circuitous passage as the shape of the piece dictates an eventful, evocative gleaning. Beyond that point the title track, “All Under Heaven”, is naturally the peak, the finale and the opus of the full listen as an ~11 minute piece which carries some of the thread offered by “The Storm” per its mood and the trade of vocal register as the first half of its climb carries a certain tragedian lilt fans of the Swedish side of death/doom should appreciate. While I believe the passing fan will be sold by the time the third track begins, as I was convinced quite early in the preview process, the real statement of the album arrives within the descent offered via Side B.

Inspiration taken from gothic rock/doom metal tonality isn’t limited to cleaner vocal stylings here though that’ll more than likely be the bridge to cross for “purist” death/doom metal fans without interest in melodic death/doom metal classics. Rather than sputtering, choking on their tongues with self-pity the cleaner vocals here arrive with an upward-shot shout indicating an incensed act rather than one of resignation. This tonal specificity is somewhat rare in melodic death/doom metal and for my own taste it offers a bit of trade, losing some of the sheer collapse of the psyche available to the sub-genre for the sake of emotionally driven outburst which most often reads as vengeful or tragic. No matter how you end up interpreting the tone of their work there is no denying Theurgion‘s debut is a bit of a welcome surprise in the sense that there are tradition/history bound tropes in action here yet they feel natural in their fusion-fed authorship. Their work here is class and mostly memorable as a rare feat of convincing gothic doom in this vein which does more than just dabble in a few dejected riffs. A high recommendation.

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