Lord Sin - Confessions

Lord Sin is a doom metal band from Portugal, that hit the scene in 2020 with their debut album “Portrait of the Devil.”   Four years later, the duo return with their second full-length album, “Confessions.”

I haven’t had a chance to check out their debut so I don’t really have anything to compare it to but “Confessions,” is a solid album with more variety than one would think for the genre.  Although rooted in shadows of doom, this album that also speaks in sludgy tones with a dark psychedelic rock atmosphere.  There are even blackened moments, due to the extreme vocal style used. 

It’s low, slow, and raw.  Primal doom, perhaps?  Regardless of what you want to call the music, the DIY production makes the songs stand out.  This is a collection of dark, bleak songs that are highlighted by dismal melodies and almost trance-like catchiness. 

The opening song, “Spectres,” highlights the overall style of the album although each song does stand apart on its own.  The fuzz drips off the riffs, like blood from a knife.  Vulturius’ vocals, much like the music, are slow and steady but that allows each harrowing second to seep in. 

Around the 1:24 mark, what amounts to melody for this band layers over the guitars.  It isn't a melody so much as it is a different shade of darkness.  Tosher’s drums are fantastic—full and interesting enough on their own while complimenting the song structures.

“Living Sin,” is an interesting song, the guitars building up the tension alongside the vocals, which are in the cadence of spoken word. I really like the bass here too because it builds up a foundation head of the song really kicking in so when it does around the 1:30 mark, everything sounds massive.  The rest of the song is sinister and stalking, especially the guitars in between their moments of melodic passages.  The energy of the drums is great, particularly in the song’s more groove-oriented moments. 

My two favorite songs on the album are the longest ones:  the ten-and-a-half minute “Negligent.” and the twelve-minute finale “Regret.”   The former is a cloudy and muddy romp that is held together by dour, Gothic melodies that share the load with a tight rhythm presence.   The tempo picks up a bit after the six-minute mark, offering up one of the heaviest passages on the album. 

The latter is the album’s bleak epic.  The art of building up a song is one of the many reasons I love doom and “Regret” nails it.  Horror-filled psychedelia stretches over the first few minutes of the song like a slow moving fog slowly suffocating an early morning landscape.

This is one of the more atmospheric songs on the album too, the band using clean melodies to fill the liminal space between the heavier moments.  After the eight minute mark, the aggression is ramp up with deep, violent riffs and a ton of double bass.

Lord Sin’s “Confessions,”  is a very good late year surprise that deserves your time and attention,  especially if you like your music darker than black.  It might be buried beneath the mountain of albums that came in the previous eleven months, but this one is well deserving of a deep dive.