Every single time I come across most if not every form of funeral doom that I’ve encountered, it is constantly an unrelentingly heavy experience that not many other styles in all of music could ever hope to match. We’re rarely treated to something that takes influence from classic doom works in terms of sound and put them in a funeral doom format. It’s something that could absolutely work and a concept that many are more than capable of, but it was only until tonight with the latest work from Dwaellicht that I’ve seen it come to life.

Thirty minutes across four tracks is a pretty conservative runtime when you take into consideration the majority of other funeral doom acts, but by no means whatsoever does that mean Dwaellicht has squandered this record’s potential excellence in the slightest. With a sound that very much captures the classic excellence of the first proper doom acts, “Te Vuur En Te Zwaard” takes the niche style somewhere that allows it to have so many more opportunities to become something interesting in every way, and it’s an absolute delight to behold what’s around every turn. This band does an absolutely phenomenal job with everything that’s brought forth for this record from the drawn-out riffs to the very sound production that allows “Te Vuur En Te Zwaard” to take on an essence that has since been devoid from my mind, and I can’t help but say that I’m already ready for more! This work absolutely delivers in every possible area with Dwaellicht knocking it right out from the very beginning and if this isn’t the sort of thing that can start more works like this to follow in its footsteps whether it be from Dwaellicht or a completely new act then that is a true crime upon the grandeur which we bear witness to here.

Admittedly, I didn’t know what I was expecting when I first dove into “Te Vuur En Te Zwaard” to see what its contents had in store but it should go without saying that this duo blew all of my expectations right out of the water and left one fucking hell of an impression. If this is just the start of what Dwaellicht can bring forth, then I’ll happily stand in line overnight to listen to new material from them any day of the week.

LISTEN to “Te Vuur En Te Zwaard” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Dwaellicht on Facebook here.