Hangman's Hymn - Life Is Not A Miracle

Hangman's Hymn is a blackened doom metal band from Belgium, who formed in 2021.  After an EP and a string of singles, the band has dropped their debut full-length album  “Life Is Not A Miracle.”   The two musicians behind the band are scene veterans, GVC and XDS, both of which have been in a plethora of bands, including Aken Manah, Splendidula, Anomalocaris, Witherwill, and Plagueland. 

“Life Is Not A Miracle,” may be rooted in black and doom metal but the dimensions which hold it together include atmospheric and melodic touches.  It makes for a compelling journey as the perpetual darkness that permeates from the album benefits from these other styles, stretching their core sound to other boundaries.  A lot of drum of images and sounds of “lighter” bands like power metal or anything in the Gothenburg scene when someone speaks of a band using melodies or harmonies.  But the truth is, melody doesn’t always mean those things and can help make an album sound even more despondent.  That’s exactly what happens here.  

A fine example of which I speak is “Dagelijks Blood,” around the 3:45 mark.  The clean guitar 100% fits the vibe of the song and flows with all the other pieces.  Instead of taking away, it adds so much and, even though it is an obvious contrast, works with the sea of distortion that rides underneath it. 

The final song, “Moe,” is all clean vocals and instrumentation but, again, it works within the context of the album.  After the previous songs,  it’s like the aftermath of some kind of apocalypse.  It isn’t a time for reflection but a time for walking through the wreckage, surveying all that was lost. 

The production must be praised.  It very much takes a DIY approach and, after giving this album a very detailed listen,  it is exactly the type of sound it needs.  Some might prefer a cleaner route, and while I think that works great for some bands, when it comes to blackened doom, DIY really is the best way to go.

As I’ve said before, black and doom have a lot more in common than people know so a raw production helps bring out these common elements, especially the atmosphere.  Indeed,  this album is loaded with a depressive, hopeless scenario.  The music cries out, clawing, like a person trapped in a suffocating coffin, desperate to break their nails down to bloody stubs in a desperate attempt to avoid finality. 

While that finality is represented in spades across the album’s 11 song, 50 minute run time there also exists a sense of urgency.  The guitars, which have a fantastically diabolical tone, are harrowing against the strong rhythm section and low end.  

The intro song, “Doors,” is another piece of clean instrumentation and sets up the mood of the album as it flows into the first full song “The Cats.”   As the clean tones fade away, chucky riffs paired with keys take over.  Clean vocals and blackened riffs arrive and give way to death growls and music that, while atmospheric, is surprisingly catchy.    The blackened vocals reach out from whatever cesspool they crawl from, a maddening plea.  

The clean and extreme vocals are both used in a balanced fashion, each of them exactly where they need to be to give the song more meaning. 

“To No One’s Health,” is catchier than any extreme metal song as a right to be but I’m not going to complain.  The keyboard riff is a simple but highly effective earworm that was embedded into my head for days.  Doom doesn’t always have to be slow—the guitars and drums bridge the more introspective parts of the song with fast paced performances.  The clean vocal chorus is yet another catchy element but the blackened wails bring the song to a fitting conclusion.

“Ashes,” is a great interlude, somber and funereal, whose delicate touch is as sharp as broken glass.  It’s placed in what is basically the middle of the album; a wise choice for respite or the breaking of any potential monotony, although the album doesn’t have any. 

The song that follows is “Thresh,” with an immediate hooky riff.  The melodies swirl among the choppy rhythms and extreme vocals as the intensity swells.  It all breaks at the halfway mark, low spoken vocals pushing against the lead guitar.  The bass and keys that follow are the like the rising of the river, a final act of destruction.

The album leans heavily into the black metal side with “Be On Your Way,” and its speedy riffs have a enough melodic edge that cuts deep.   This is one of the more straightforward songs on the album but it has some of the best riffs and, again, it’s more catchy than one would realize.  

“Des Nichts” is somber piece brimming with violence; it boils over as the song move forward and festers until the guitars cut loose at the 2:59 mark.  The winding lead guitar and riffs/bass make for a compelling mixture.  The last minute is great, clean vocals brooding over the music then the growls push the tempo back up.

Hangman’s Hymn’s “Life Is Not A Miracle,” is an apocalyptic journey that truly melds doom and black metal together, the void created bonded with atmosphere and melody...and all full embraced by smartly written songs.