Published: July 26, 2017

Unleashing one of the most monumental Funeral/Epic Doom Metal releases of the last few years, today we have Ukraine’s Vin de Mia Trix and the double LP “Palimpsests”. Featuring over 90 minutes of highly melancholic music, this release is a fourth part aural exploration that traverses through many different styles and influences. Highly recommended for fans of bands ranging from Skepticism, My Dying Bride, to the likes of Candlemass and Ahab.

Opening with the 27-minute beast of a song “Matarisvan”, the band slowly builds up a punishing atmosphere that is perfectly elevated as soon as the My Dying Bride-esque weeping guitars make their mark. The vocals vary from harsh growls to some very solid clean singing that reminds us a bit of Epic Doom Metal outfits, and provides enough diversity to keep things fresh and interesting.

The first CD closes with the emotional “Pharmakos”, a ‘short’ 21-minute piece that features some lush ethereal atmospheric passages mixed in between some crushing Doom riffs. This track features more potent and demoralizing growls and killer Funeral Doom passages that will rattle your speakers. The release continues with “Fuimis” a faster paced track filled with desolate soundscapes crafted with powerful riffs and very well-timed drum patterns. The band excels at crafting unique tempo changes and very atmospheric passages to keep this track free-flowing and effective.

The album comes to a close with another mobster 29-minute piece that shows that the band was holding out to unleash the best at the end. Filled with weeping guitars and enigmatic passages, this track perfectly balances the atmospheric and the aggressive sides of “Palimpsets” is the most exhilarating piece of the album. Overall, the band does a great job in transporting the listener with powerful soundscapes that greatly vary in terms of intensity. We are quite blown away that a 90-minute release went by so quickly and had us wanting to hear it over once more. This is definitely one of the best releases of the genre in 2017, so be sure to pick up the lush digipack that Hypnotic Dirge and Cimmerian Shade have put together.