Northern Graves - Derelict Heart

When Canadian musician Damian Smith announced that the amazing Altars of Grief was on hold, I was sad.  In my humble opinion, their last album “Iris” is one of the best doom metal albums in modern times…but if Smith keeps putting out albums like “Derelict Heart,” from his new band Northern Graves, then I might be less sad.  Maybe.  This is blackened doom, so it isn’t exactly the happiest music. 

Smith, who provides vocals, guitars, and piano, is joined by Roman Chester (bass), Branson Heinz (drums), and Andrew Caruna (vocals and guitar as well).  These four gentlemen clearly have a great synergy together because even though this album moves through both whiplash passages of blackened destitution and somber causeways of doom, it flows amazingly well from song to song. 

I also want to spend some time talking about intros and interludes.  I hate them, and it is documented so throughout many of my reviews.  Well, I hate most of them.  There are exceptions and “Derelict Heart,” features two that join those exceptions. The intro song, “A Story Told by the Wind,” is the perfect intro for doom as its cold, clean keys and gentle but harrowing keys set up the album and compliment the mood.  Most importantly, it flows right into the first full-length song.   The interlude song, “Keeper of the Plains,” comes in and out of the tracks it is sandwiched between.  This keeps the story moving forward while providing quite the emotional bite. Because of these two songs, the album is an epic journey that sounds truly special if you listen from beginning to end.  

A lot of blackened doom bands tend to favor one side over the other, depending on the song or album.  Northern Graves seems at home with both styles equally as they truly meld the two together across the album’s 41-minute runtime.   I like this because even at its most aggressive, it never loses its cold, destitute atmosphere.  At the same time, it doesn’t rely solely on these macabre soundscapes, so the album has a real heft to it.  

“Lanterns,” has a short buildup before diving fully into bleak, blackened woods.  The drums are tight and crisp, the guitars weaving their magic through with the precision of needlework.   The vocals are throaty screams, a ferocious balance between emotion and raw destruction.  There are clean vocals too and they are just as expressive and potent.   The song is at its best in the second half, when it comes out of a black metal storm settles on a moody plain of doom.  

“Endless,” is instantly interesting with its mix of clean and heavy guitar, across a sea of bouncy rhythm and excellently layered vocals.  The lead guitar speaks in a language that only metalheads can understand—this song is devastatingly beautiful.  It still has plenty of dynamics though, including several passages that are just utterly brutal.  The cleans in the later half are excellent, capturing the band’s emotional prowess with ease.  

The band embraces their black metal side with the explosive song, “Nocturne.”  In the opening moments, this song takes no prisoners and strikes hard and fast, going for the throat.  Then it all fades to black with mesmerizing clean guitar and catchy clean vocals.  The interplay between the music and vocals is fantastic, both on this song and the album in general.  From the clean mid passage to the end, the music grows into an epic cacophony of blackened doom noise.  This might be my favorite song on the album.

The title track is up next, and it opens the exactly opposite way of the previous song:  slow, deep, and hard.  The extreme vocals are at their best here as they ride atop a slow but catchy cadence.  After the three-minute mark, the guitars get lean and tight, with rhythms that feel like they might snap in half.  The screams and wails as the song approach the 5-minute mark are something else and even a little scary.  

The final song is “Hazard,” which is apparently a cover of a song by a musician named Richard Marx.  I don’t know anything about him, but I checked out the original version.  It certainly wasn’t a bad song but definitely not my style.  Honestly, this might be one of the best covers I’ve ever heard. Seriously.  Most bands don’t actually play coves–they are really just doing tributes.  You know how many covers I’ve heard that sound JUST LIKE the original?  Nearly all of them.  Not this one.  This is as much of a blackened doom fest as the rest of the album and if the press release had not mentioned this was a cover, I never would have known.  It’s also nearly 4 minutes longer than the original so they definitely had a lot here.  Basically, this song kicks ass.  It fits into the rest of the album well and is a good ending which says a lot because normally I’m against covers ending an album.  These guys pull it off and then some.

Northern Graves’ “Derelict Heart,” is an impressive debut. With the band already being this good, I’m sure their next album will be nothing short of monumental.  As it stands now, “Derelict Heart,” is a very confident release for such a new band and I highly recommend this.  

Rating:  Excellent