Band:	The Answer Lies In The Black Void
Album:	Thou Shalt
Style:	Doom metal
Release date:	October 13, 2023
A review by:	RaduP

01. Ataraxia
02. To Kill The Father
03. In Obsidian Clouds
04. Virgin Fire
05. Shadow Work
06. Jhieronymus
07. Thou Shalt
08. Purgatory
09. Vaporize

There's a chance you were already won over by 2021's Forlorn, so I don't have to do the Bong-Ra/Thy Catafalque clickbait again (oops), so this time I'll just tell you that this is some of the most cinematic doom you'll hear all year.

A lot of my review of the project's debut, Forlorn, was spent discussing the lineup. And definitely a project with Jason Köhnen (Bong-Ra, Celestial Season, and Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble) and Martina Horváth (frequent Thy Catafalque collaborator) relies a lot on having such an intriguing combination as its creators. With guests returning, live members contributing in the studio, and the album's biggest harsh vocal moment provided by Dawn Of Ouroboros' Chelsea Murphy, there's sure talk about lineups to be had. But I feel like this time around especially, The Answer Lies In The Black Void created something that would very well live off its own strengths even in complete anonymity.

There's plenty here that still continues the doom metal canon, usually more of the gothier death doom variety, minus the harsh vocals. There are a lot of moments that sound pretty familiar and that don't venture too far from one's idea of doom metal. That was the case for Forlorn as well, but what Forlorn also did best was twist around this established sound by focusing a lot more on the extra instrumentation, from the strings to the organs to the electronics. It did feel a bit like a metal album made by an electronic musician, and a lot of that is the case in Thou Shalt as well, but expanded in various ways. I already called it "cinematic doom", and trust me that's more accurate than I can make it out to be.

Part of that is because some of the most exciting moments are the ones that are actually more far away from doom, either something more post-rock-ish, or something where the orchestrations take more of the space. One can use strings and the like to aim for an "orchestral" vibe, but there's a certain kind of mood evoked necessary to have that vibe turned into something one can describe as "cinematic". It takes both the riveting strings and the soaring vocals to really achieve that. There's a lot of push-pull movement as far as the metal sound goes, something that works to emphasize the mood, sometimes coming in with the full dirge-like doom riffing, sometimes with just a guitar solo, sometimes going in even harsher territories, and sometimes just staying away.

A lot of Forlorn felt like it took from each of the members' other projects, but The Answer Lies In The Black Void are slowly finding more footing for their own identity on Thou Shalt.