Stuporous - Asylum's Lament

Jazz has slowly been infiltrating its way more and more into the black and doom metal scenes over the past few years. Bands are increasingly willing to experiment and bold new visions have been unveiled across the genre. One of the newcomers to this ever fertile creative ground is Stuporous whose new album Asylum's Lament is an absolute monster, seven tracks of challenging, off the wall and wonderfully weird blackened doom metal that is sure to draw listeners deep in and make them fall in love with the twisted darkness of the vision that they present. 

This record is wildly ambitious. This is both the albums greatest strength and its greatest weakness. At its finest Asylum's Lament is bold, visionary and on another level, at it's weakest these same elements make it feel overwrought, and like a hodgepodge of ideas. The end result though is a record that definitely demands multiple listens and whose highest highs are utterly transcendent, more than worth the time put into the record. When the horns come in on a track like "Distorted Echoes" for instance, accompanying whispered growls it becomes clear what kind of vision Stuporous have and just how thrilling their work can be at its highest level. 

Asylum's Lament is bold and exciting, it's a record that fans of the underground are going to keep coming back too and which points at a band who could be so much more. This is a thrilling offering and one that for those of us who have been lost in the world of jazz metal before, will find to be a welcome new friend in this sonic maelstrom. Stuporous is like few other releases to cross my radar in recent weeks and I'm curious to see where the band goes after Asylum's Lament. 

Pre-order the album! 

https://voidwanderer.com/product/stuporous-asylums-lament-cd/