For The Storms - Losing What's Left of Us

It took me longer than I care to admit to write this review because FOR THE STORMS' second full-length album, "Losing What's Left of Us" is so damn good, I couldn't tear myself away from it long enough to type something out.   It isn't just good--it full pulls you into it's grey world, almost making you part of the music.

This Italian band mixes death/doom, sludge, and a host of other genres together for one of the most potent examples of extreme doom I've heard in the second half of 2024.  The approach to the songs on "Losing What's Left of Us," is very unique and makes for an exciting and imaginative listen. 

The album is divided into three chapters, separated by the interludes “Ghosts” and “May The Emptiness You Carry Bring Some Comfort When You’re Gone.”  I’m very hit or miss with interludes but they are both placed smartly into the track list and actually compliment the songs that come after them.  “Ghosts” is an emotional piano piece with subtle uses of spoken word–it’s quite haunting.  The following song, “Closures,” echoes the details of that song, specifically carrying over the clean piano and spoken word. 

“May the Emptiness…” is also a clean piece with melodic bass and ethereal clean vocals that make it stand out despite its shortness.  Much like “Ghosts,” it’s a haunting composition that works well within the album’s structure.  Its quiet ending makes the stark and ghastly opening of “The Void Below” all the more potent.  

The album isn’t  only separated by interludes—the music offers some changes to each chapter, even while keeping the core sound of their doom firmly planted.   The first two songs on the album, “Dogma” and “Regret” are definitely among the most abrasive and straight forward (ish).  Each of them has a modern sludge style to them.

The second chapter, featuring “Closures,” the title track and “Fragments,” takes a step towards death/doom and a much slower tempo.  However, the songs are melodic at times and even have some blackened elements.  

The final chapter, consisting of “The Void Below,” and “Nepenthe (To Watch Myself Die)” take everything the band is and mixes into epic and sprawling dirges—funeral doom and depressive black metal join the ranks of the subgenres these guys handle with apparent ease. 

The band describes the album as “minimalist” and I can definitely see (hear) that.  Sometimes the album is almost gentle in presentation but still heavy in tone and subject matter.  The band works well in these liminal spaces and even at its most stripped down, the music still speaks volumes.  

But, of course, it can be ultra-abrasive and nearly incompressible in its direct  heaviness.  This isn’t a prog album–nothing here is flashy or avant-garde but an album like this isn’t going for that anyway.  It doesn’t need it.  When it comes to the more dark genres, there is nothing better than playing darkness, facing that darkness, and controlling it.  

The production is basically perfect.  It’s open enough to make the clean elements stand out but it does so without polish or a bright sheen—just because something is clean does not mean it isn’t dark or intense.   The dynamics of the mix make each instrument clear, capturing every little note which makes the heavy parts all the more raw.  

As far as what my favorite chapter is, I can’t say I have one.  Each one offers a different perspective and approach—it’s not about what is the best, but about how each chapter feels.  I won’t go too much into the subject matter for fear of rambling in what is already a long review but a lot of it seems to be about the effects of time, loss, and just general non-existence.  If you want more, hit the bandcamp link and the end of review; the band explains it all on their page.

I may not want to pick a favorite chapter but I’ll talk about my favorite songs from each one.  “Dogma” does a fine job in introducing the album but “Regret” really hits me hard.  There exist a duality in the song, an unique approach of melding light and heavy elements together by not actually mixing them but letting the styles speak for themselves while complimenting each other through their differences.  After the halfway mark, their doom/sludge expands outward and unfurls in a natural way but it’s gripping and seemingly endless.  Nicola’s vocals are stunning—strong, extreme, but emotional as anything I’ve heard this year. 

I’m a firm believer that an album’s title track should be among the best the album has to offer; “Losing What’s Left of Us” confirms that personal necessity for me for the second chapter.  Doom, and anything under its vast umbrella, is my favorite music so I’m all aboard the nearly two minute long intro/buildup.   Everyone in the band has this uncanny ability to always keep the music substantial and weighty, even when they throw in melody.  The halfway mark finds the band reaching, and succeeding, on grasping the height of desperation with a scope that could even be described as cinematic. What I love so much about this song is that it captures the reasons why I love doom so much, why it speaks to me so much.  The first five minutes or so consists of raw, thunderous power. Afterwards, it drops the distortion and offers a clean passage that is tragic and just as raw in its own way.  

The two songs that make up the final act are nearly the same in their high quality but “The Void Below” edges out to be my favorite.  The screams/growls and the slow tempo create, well, a void that sucks me right into it’s impenetrable wall of sound.  I like how the song actually speeds up a notch (doom doesn’t ALWAYS have to be crawling) and turns into an uncommon fury of fire and ash.  I can hear a touch of post elements, especially in the halfway point where the song goes hypnotic.  Everything is grounded again after that with a riff fest that hammers away over and over.  

I don’t think I can say enough good things about For The Storm’s “Losing What’s Left of Us.”  It hits all the right notes, written by a band with a creative fervor they managed to translate exceptionally well into this massive opus.  Any fan of the slower, more despondent genres of metal should not miss this album.