Published: May 26, 2023

If you head north from New York’s Big Apple, you can travel along the Hudson River until the city is a distant memory. The Hudson Valley is rich with wildlife and trees. Every year the foliage blooms with color, then withers as winter approaches. But even when the days are cold and at their shortest, rebirth is just a season change away. Inherus formed in that setting in 2018, uniting Brian Harrigan (Grid, Swallow the Ocean), Andrew Vogt (Lotus Thief, Swallow the Ocean), and Anthony Diblasi (ex-Witchkiss). Once Beth Gladding (Forlesen, Lotus Thief) joined the Inherus coven, the project found their missing piece. The result is a stunning debut of cathartic doom metal and dirge rock called Beholden. Today we share the full album a few days ahead of its release from Hypnotic Dirge Records.

With its opening roar, “Forgotten Kingdom” begins the album with a churning undertow of sludge. The song is a throttling blend of But across six tracks in one hour, Beholden reveals a band that represents every season, not just winter’s harshness. “The Dagger” seeps into your psyche with haunting melodies. “Oh Brother” feels autumnal with its disparity of Gladding’s dreamy vocals and the chilling backing screams. After an interlude of swirling dark psych, album closer “Lie to the Angels.” begins with a nimble riff that invokes pre-21st century Tool. The track is the best example of the album’s dichotomy, achieved beautifully by engineer Mike Uscifer at Beacon Soundworks. Like the cover art by David Paul Seymour, the album is a brooding and dusky. But there are evocative flourishes of fire and color throughout.

“The overall theme is the power of relationships and connectivity,” Inherus share in a statement. “Life challenges us but ultimately we have to know our own strength. Like the Stag Priestess depicted on the cover of the album, there is an otherworldly part of each of us that tames the fire of the unpredictable and approaches the world in spite of it with kindness. She can walk the forest in the dark. The songs call upon that desire.”

Article by: Sean Frasier