Pantheïst - Uncanny Times

Short, to the point review:  

You know what is wrong with this album?  Absolutely nothing.  Masterpiece.  

Long, boring review that only nerds will read:

I can't imagine there is anyone who doesn't know Pantheïst at this point but just in case you're a mainstream poser, this band has been churning out funeral doom since the year 2000. 26 years later, the band seems to have a newfound sense of energy on their seventh full-length. “Uncanny Times,” is unbelievably good regardless of the band’s age but for a band to be quickly rushing towards the big 30 and still putting out albums of this quality is nothing short of spectacular.

Much of the reason this album deserves any and all praise is because of clean vocalist Linda Dumitru. Although she collaborated with the band for their 2024 EP “Kings Must Die,” she has since become an official member, and she adds a new dimension to their sound.  She is a professional soprano, and she has one of the most powerful and emotional voices I have ever heard.  I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll say it a thousand more times:  few things in life are as good as a strong female clean vocal over crushing metal.    This album is the epitome of that notion.  The “beauty and the beast” style may be very tried and very true but if it works, then it works.  However, nothing is working as good as Pantheïst is right now on that front, except maybe Draconian.  Linda sings her ass off–a truly, masterfully done performance that elevates Pantheïst to new heights and adds a layer of nearly unidentifiable allure and a regal sense of being.   Linda joining Pantheïst is probably the best thing to ever happen to them.  Absolutely insanely talented vocalist.  Throw her vocals side by side with the extremes from Kostas then what we have here is a chilling performance on all fronts, on every song. 

What can I say about Mr. Pantheïst himself, Kostas Panagiotou?   Clearly, he still has much to say and is in no danger of running out of ideas.   His songwriting on “Uncanny Times,” just isn’t good for a legacy band—it’s utterly engrossing and works on every level.   His growls/screams, which I feel are underrated and are actually among the best in the business, have never sounded more visceral or urgent.  His keys/organ/soundscapes/atmosphere…as always, very tasteful and very complimentary in relation to the rest of the band and their instruments.  

Bassist Matt Strangis (also from the excellent Doubtsower project) and guitarist Atanas Kyurkchiev, both of which released a great album with their band Thrakian this year, bring a mastery of doom with them.  Is it a fast-paced riff?  A slow slab of cold death metal? Atmospheric doom?  Intricate cleans?  Straight up suffocating funeral doom?  Yes.  They do it all and more.   A band like Pantheïst stays true to its roots but also doesn’t repeat itself—the two gentlemen roll with the best of them and offer a very dynamic approach to doom.  Oh, and my review of their Thrakian album can be read here.  

Fanel Lefterache handles the drums, and his performance is just as dynamic.  It takes a special drummer to handle a doom band, but his energy is never-ending and expertly placed beats and rhythms control the flow of the music while helping the ears pinpoint points of interest.  He is a very musical drummer, and he gives the songs exactly what they need. 

The production/mix/mastering of this album is immaculate.  In fact, “Uncanny Times,” may very well be the best sounding album I’ve heard this year, regardless of genre.  Having production this open benefits their sound because it captures every little detail while maintaining the ever-important low end.  This is very dark music that doesn’t mean it has to be kept in the dark.  The production roars every song to life like an ember to inferno.  

“The Final Journey,” is the first song and I guess there is some irony in that for some.  The song is 13 (and a half) minutes long.  It is pretty bold to open it up with an epic but it’s a bold song.  It very much showcases Linda's vocals and the overall new direction of the band.  No offense to any prior musicians in the band, but I don’t see how anyone could listen to this song and not think this is the best lineup the band has ever had.  The riffs rage from gallops to lead heavy bombs and all the way back around again.  The bass and drums strike hard and deadly, digging deep to hammer in the doom but also fluid enough to lift the song up to the light when needed.  The keys are as integral as ever and both vocalists give it their all.  Perfect opener.  And it doesn’t feel like 13 minutes.  It feels like 3. I guess next album they should open with a 25-minute song!

I don’t know what it found that’s so funny but the “Laughing Falcon,” is definitely finding something to headbang about.   The band rages hard in the opening moments, their death metal elements coming out through the open flood gates.  Listen to that guitar tone!  What!!!  I love the subtle way the keys work alongside these massive riffs.  After Kostas finished ripping his throat to pieces, Linda comes in swinging.  Wow, what a performance!  Pulling this off at the halfway point of the song is a good decision because the two halves of the song are bridged together with such grand finesse.

“Kuebiko,” grabbed me from the first moment when it did that very slick fade out then came stomping back in.  The drums are very powerful, and I love how they move around the song while Linda powers through.  The mixing of the whimsical keys and punishing riffs as the song marches towards its halfway point is one of the best passages on the album. After the halfway mark, Kostas and Linda trade off vocal lines and it is spine tingling.  The final minute is what I call ‘doom majestic,’ as a very high-pitched vocal delivery from Linda sets off a climatic chain of events. 

“Entropy” is the shortest song and an instrumental.  Unlike most bands who just use short boring atmospheric pieces as an album filler, this one is a full song that actually matters.  While it has heavy moments, it isn't overly intense but instead a wholly unique experience that still manages to fit into the greater whole of the album.  It’s a great breather and respite before the plunge of the final two songs….

These two songs, “Ithaca Out of Sight,” and “Requiem For Your World,” are two of the best songs Pantheïst have ever done—these two are worth the price of admission and your time just by themselves.  And both of them contain more depth than some bands can fit into several albums.

“Ithaca Out of Sight,” seems, at least to me, a song of both tragic lost and unbreakable hope.  The ending sounds like the birthing of some new emotional experience that I can’t comprehend yet I can feel it pulling pieces of me out of it.  I was human wreckage by the time the whole band arrived, but they built me back to life with tower, epic doom that only the real can truly understand. If I thought Linda was majestic on the prior songs, then she has turned into a goddess on this one.  How can a person sound THIS good?  Kostas isn’t a slouch on this one either; near the end he gives quite a memorable vocal performance in his own right.  The riffs move with purpose, pushed by a real sense of weight and the burdens that caused the punishment to begin with.   Words like ‘epic,’ ‘grandiose,’ and ‘cinematic,’ are thrown around a lot (I’m guilty of it myself) but few songs this year truly match those terms musically like this one does.  You know that feeling you get when the music hits hard and you truly feel it with not only your body but your very being?  This whole song is that feeling.

If you take that feeling then add it to monuments of grief, rage, and the facilities of existing then you might get something like “Requiem For Your World.”  Like I said, this is one of their best songs if not their best.  This is the perfect doom metal song.  It’s long (just over 16 minutes) doesn’t get lost in its own sound even while you get enveloped by that sound, and includes every little perfect detail that honors both the album it ends but also the career of the Pantheïst itself.  Linda’s vocals, Kostas’ growls, his keys…riffs, drums…everything about this song is absolutely perfect.  I want to say to Pantheïst don’t ever change but you have changed.  You change with every album.  But long as you keep changing into some of the best goddamn doom around then I welcome your ever evolving adventures. 

I have, as of the time of this writing, and counting this review as well, written 143 reviews this year.  Pantheïst ’s “Uncanny Times,” is only the second album that I have given a ‘perfect’ score to, with the other one being Aphonic Threnody’s “Grace My Hand,” which is cool because Kostas used to be a part of that project as well.  You can read the review of that album here. 

Pantheïst’s “Uncanny Times,” is both their most accessible album and yet perhaps the one with the most depth.  Its unique approach to the genre is beginning to be used as a steppingstone to those new to doom but it’s also an album that even the most cynical of doomers will dive into and spend months absorbing.  I don’t know what else to say about this album.  My fingers hurt.  Just listen to it.  

PS: This actually Pantheïst's second album this year as they released a collab full-length with funeral doom project Dauðaró called "Af holdi og málmi," and you can read my review here.

Rating:  Masterful