Band:	Tribulation
Album:	Sub Rosa In Æternum
Style:	Gothic metal
Release date:	November 01, 2024
A review by:	musclassia

01. The Unrelenting Choir
02. Tainted Skies
03. Saturn Coming Down
04. Hungry Waters
05. Drink The Love Of God
06. Murder In Red
07. Time & The Vivid Ore
08. Reaping Song
09. Poison Pages

Although The Formulas Of Death was long in the rear view mirror, Tribulation were still being described as ‘kings of gothic, deathly metal’ at the time of the release of their last record, Where The Gloom Becomes Sound. On Sub Rosa In Æternum, it’s safe to say that any lingering connections to the band’s more extreme beginnings have been almost entirely severed.

A shift in sound is probably not surprising for the first full-length written since the departure of founding guitarist and leading songwriter Jonathan Hultén, but some wise writers noted a possible link between a growing presence of trad heavy elements on Where The Gloom Becomes Sound and the impending arrival of ex-Enforcer guitarist Joseph Tholl (who also played bass in the first iteration of Tribulation back when they were called Hazard). As it turns out, Sub Rosa In Æternum represents not a foray into classic metal, nor a reprise of the band’s early thrash roots; instead, it continues the gothic trajectory they’ve been on since The Children Of The Night, and takes them right to the brink of metal’s border with rock.

Instrumentally, quite a bit of this album will feel generally familiar to fans acquainted with Where The Gloom Becomes Sound or even Down Below, but with an arguably lightened tone. There’s still some metallic harshness around the edges of “Tainted Skies”, but “Saturn Coming Down” for example arguably owes as much to hard rock as metal in its guitar tonality and groove. Sub Rosa In Æternum mostly lingers on the boundaries of gothic metal and deathrock, and this is accompanied by a marked shift in vocal approach; I can't remember whether clean singing is a complete novelty for Tribulation, but if it has appeared before, Johannes Andersson’s baritone singing has never been nearly as prevalent across an album as it is here.

This all feels like a fairly natural continuation of where the band have come from, and I imagine it strikes a reasonable balance between retaining features that those who enjoyed the last album will have hoped to encounter, while also exploring new sound and ideas. Perhaps the balance will lean a bit too much towards the latter for some, as only really “Tainted Skies” and “Time & The Vivid Ore” retain predominantly harsh vocals and heavy distorted guitar tone. Considering how well both songs come across, there would have been few complaints if more tracks in their vein had been included on the record, but at the same time, the songs that did make the cut entirely justify their presence.

The song that is perhaps best positioned between old and new is “Saturn Coming Down”, and the harder moments are satisfyingly energetic, but the gloomy cleans, 80s guitar chords echoing out in the choruses, and the lively and highly melodic bridge are all thoroughly engaging. It also acts as a gradual transition from “Tainted Skies” into what is one of the more striking departures on the record, “Hungry Waters”. It’s a gentle, lush cut with a subdued gloom to it that has a hint of gothic country to it, but it also brings just a hint of brightness and grandeur into its hooky chorus, not to mention the scene-stealing guitar solos trading off with one another. Those gothic country twangs also carry over into the faster and punkier “Drink The Love Of God”.

Even as surprising as “Hungry Waters” is, the most unexpected musical avenues explored by Tribulation are yet to come. “Murder In Red” fully embraces darkwave electronics, with pounding industrial-tinged beats and catchy synth repeated motifs, while nudging the needle just enough in the brooding chorus to not feel entirely disconnected from the band’s legacy. To round the album off, Tribulation lay the extent of their gothic influences fully bare on “Poison Pages”, which sounds every bit like what The Sisters Of Mercy might have come up with if they’d ever opted to hire a human drummer.

Sub Rosa In Æternum certainly has the capacity to be divisive, but it doesn’t feel like too grand a departure when considering how far Tribulation had already come from The Horror by the time they’d released Where The Gloom Becomes Sound. It also helps a lot that pretty much all the ‘out there’ songs (“Hungry Waters”, “Murder In Red”, “Poison Pages”) are thoroughly enjoyable and accomplished at what they do. As big an event as Hultén’s departure was, Tribulation have clearly not been derailed by it.