Oftentimes, less is more. It’s a simple concept that can make or break an album when a band reaches too far and tries to accomplish too much, but when a band manages to come around that is actually able to deliver on such a premise with naught to be had but majesty unbound, it’s not uncommon to see the word “masterpiece” thrown around. Doom metal has no shortage of bands that are, at the very least, willing to try their hand at it given the breadth of the genre itself, but the same truth remains as few are able to really tackle such a formidable challenge. Success, however, sometimes comes from unlikely sources. With what’s only their second album, For the Storms achieves heights that are damn near tear-inducing to behold.

Above all else that goes on within it, it’s the minimalistic structure of “Losing What’s Left of Us” that allows the record to cut so deeply and so profoundly. A dense creation that’s consisted of three immensely distinct chapters that touch of the different yet always related realms of death-doom, sludge, and more than a little bit of funeral doom, For the Storms is surprisingly proficient in each of those styles with the sheer weight of every given minute something that really taps upon the sorrow of the human soul, drags up a profound sense of longing, and what it means to come face to face with the sheer facts of this fleeting existence. Through varying degrees of immense riffage, an astounding diversity in the pacing of the record, and the raw in-your-face actions that such a record dares to be, “Losing What’s Left of Us” is extremely deep on all levels with there being far more than I could ever hope to truly understand much less convey to you. It’s a brooding experience that does not sit idly choosing rather to break apart the facets of life that bog us down in the face of best days gone by, loved ones lost, and idols withered before our eyes. Choosing instead to burn those vestiges of sorrow and sitting in the small yet no less freeing glow of ultimate catharsis, “Losing What’s Left of Us” is definitely a bleak listen, but not one that seeks to leave you a hollow husk with nothing left to continue onwards with. This is macabre beauty on this highest order without compromise nor blemish upon art unyielding for all that it dares to be, unbound by creation. For all that they dare to be, For the Storms has accomplished so much more.

Intense and crippling in its might and always gentle even if darkest in its smallest moments, For the Storms has put forth a creation of this revered genre that, for once, absolutely warrants to use of the word masterpiece. For if that’s not want For the Storms has crafted here with “Losing What’s Left of Us”, then I know not what is.

LISTEN to “Losing What’s Left of Us” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE For the Storms on Facebook here.