Each year I try to listen to a lot of new or new to me music. This year I have not listened to a ton of new music. Then again, I’ve gone through some major life changes, I find myself drawn to the familiar. Some of that familiar music has been released within the past 5-years. Lost Empyrean(2018) by Dirge has been on my want list for a while, and I have listened to it digitally since its release. I’ve followed Dirge from afar for a long time. When I first got into Dirge, they were more industrial metal of the Godflesh variety. I really love where they have evolved to the post-metal end of sludge.

If you are a fan of Isis or later Neurosis or any kind of ethereal progressive post metal, Lost Empyrean is for you. It’s important to note that they were not trying to emulate either band. I think there were a lot of us who were into the industrial metal thing and evolved into atmospheric metal.

The atmosphere that Dirge sets throughout the record is one of beautiful yet crushing despair. From the start of “Wingless Multitudes” I was hooked. The lead guitar tone reminded me a bit of early A Perfect Circle. The type of lead that is not technical, but almost acts as a voice. Melodic and memorable, drags you into the waves of the song and weaves into the next.
My favorite track has long been “Hosea 8: 7.” I love the intro riff and how the band builds on it. The chugging it works into is much like where Mastodon started venturing, only there’s no sing singing (technical term). It needs this sort of anxious pick up to cascade into more ambience for “Algid Troy.” The minor notes selected for the guitar are ethereal and menacing. They set the stage into “The Burden of Almost,” where it’s refreshing to have the vocals come in more quickly than other songs. They bring in more doom elements and the vocals take more shape.

And to close, “Sarracenia,” has heavy chords with minor notes picked out. It’s a somber close to an album that is best enjoyed from start to finish. I love albums like this. The kind where you want to enjoy each song into the next the way the artists arranged it.

This is one of those records that is bound to stick with you. I have not put it down since I first heard it. Fewer and fewer new records remain in my rotation years after they are released. It’s sad that this is the last thing they will do.

Order Dirge’s Lost Empyrean

You can order Dirge’s Lost Empyrean via Bandcamp, here.

If you like this release, be sure to check out the albums that proceeded it.

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