Discouraged - Farewell in Stages

Discouraged are a death/doom band from Germany who formed in 2024.  Their latest release, “A Farewell in Stages,” is their full-length debut; they have also released a demo This album completely pulls off one of my favorite styles of all time:  melodic death/doom.  Beyond that, it isn’t just melodic–the melodies are typically completely fused with their more aggressive aspects, so it truly feels like death/doom that is melodic rather than melodic death/doom.  There is a difference and if you know, you know.    

But there is a stark minimalist quality peppered throughout the album, in the form of clean instrumentation and tones.  These are used very smartly, always there to move the songs forward and heighten the atmosphere just enough without losing any of their primal potency. The vocals are utterly mesmerizing and fantastic:  deep/mid-range growls and screams that still have incredible inflections and are able to show off their own emotional range. 

There are plenty of moments strewn across the album that bring a death metal intensity to their melancholic sound, including some paced groovy that brings urgency to the pain.  When the vocalist cuts loose in these more “hurried” sections, he sounds vicious.  I do like how easy the band can slide in and out of these passages into slower, dirge-like riffs without skipping a beat.

“A Farewell in Stages,” sounds like an album that is a true collection of sounds that belong together rather than a bunch of random ones thrown to see what sticks.  It also has a very ‘live’ feel to it, feeling like the band recorded this together all at once instead of pieced together.  Did they?  I do not know but the album sounds amazing in both production and mix. 

The band takes their influences to heart but they leave out much of the Gothic tones and I think this works very well in their favor.  Not everything needs to be Gothic tinged, and the band is able to be melodic and cathedral like without the use of these elements.  

The album opens up with “Insomnia,” which apparently appeared on their demo.  I haven’t heard anything from that release so I’m not sure if this one is a standard re-recording or if it’s been changed in some way.  But this version is obviously a fantastic opener.  After a brief intro of clean instrumentation, the band dives full into the cold waters of the river melancholia where they thrive.  The guitars have a real weight to them, and I can feel their emotive properties as the dense static slams against the grain of the stalwart rhythm section.  Just after the halfway mark, the band brings in that groove I spoke of earlier.  This is a wonderful section that builds up a lot of tension that isn’t often found in doom. The last minute of the song is the band diving back into doing what they do best: a dirge of melodic death doom that’s also catchy as hell.

It should go without saying at this point, but this album is as dark as its cover art but “For All Things Must Die,” runs with this notion.  But it isn’t just depressing; there is an angry frustration, perhaps even desperation, to the song especially in the more up tempo passages.  The lead guitar offers simple but effective lines of macabre melody that fits in perfectly amongst the riffs and hammering drums. My favorite part is the bass line after the 5-minute mark that leads the band into wonderfully balanced riffs.

“Traces,” is one of my favorite songs on the album.  This one showcases how the album, as seething and hopeless as it can be, can also be catchy with memorable moments.  The opening of this song is a banger, but what really impresses me is the spaces between, where the clean instrumentation mixes with the death growls.  It’s beautiful, heartfelt, and even majestic.  The band brings back their death metal roots in the second half of the song with the drums and bass leading the charge on a field of rumbling destruction.  

The album ends with the second song from their demo, “Farewell.”  Again, I can’t speak for how it used to sound, but this song is another personal favorite of mine.  The chugging of the riffs is a stark rhythm that pushes through the song’s nighttime atmosphere.  The melodic riffs that lead up to the chorus are quite gripping, but the chorus itself is an earworm. . The guitar solos are engrossing, beginning in an almost curious fashion before turning into a shredfest.  Fucking awesome.  

“A Farewell in Stages,” is a doom metal album with a classic song that captures the hey day of the melodic death/doom genre.  Fans of the old school sounds of Paradise Lost, Katatonia, and Anathema will fall in love with this release.  But, despite their obvious influences, this isn’t a repeat of the past but instead is a move forward to bring this tried-and-true but much-loved sound back to the forefront of the underground.  This album just completely shook up my best of (so far) list of 2026. 

Rating: Excellent