I heard more than a few times in these halls that 2024 was a lean year for the doomier side of metal. Indeed, I spent the better part of my n00b period last year longing fruitlessly to review that particular flavor of death-doom that hits the sweet spot between melancholy and aggression, so this year I seized the first available opportunity to fulfill my wish. Atramentum, formed in Hamburg, Germany in 2018, released debut album Doomed in Time in 2023 during a dalliance with TeufelsZeug Records that lasted only two years. Undaunted, they decided to “go big or go home,” now self-releasing a whopping 72-minute sophomore album The Wrath Within. A brazen move, to be sure, but was it warranted?
If the band photo below is any indication, Atramentum wear their influences on their chests rather than on their sleeves. These folks are among the many disciples of the legendary Peaceville sound that My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost propagated. They excel at writing sturdy twin guitar melodies (performed by Oliver Dermann and Tim Stopar) alongside a charismatic vocal performance by Sebastian Schlenker. That said, to call them mere copycats would be a disservice. The music wields a rougher edge than the traditional Peaceville style, with plenty of fast guitar solos and death riffs. Further, Atramentum swap much of the customary gothic atmosphere for dour black metal and occasionally even blues rock, demonstrating great progression towards crafting their own sound.
the wrath within by Atramentum
The Wrath Within feels like a weighted blanket—cozy but not overly crushing or suffocating. “Higgs Field” and “Window” are on the hefty side, laden with big, ominous doom riffs and rumbling death growls. There’s plenty of mad to complement the sad; for instance, “Farewell” sees Atramentum unleash their Wrath Within in the form of aggressive drumming from Julian Gricksch and a killer guitar solo. No matter where any given moment lands on the death/doom slider, the guitar melodies are keen and enhanced enough to keep the bleakness at manageable levels. The vocal melodies, on the other hand, are where the record stumbles the most. While Schlenker’s voice is far from unpleasant, he struggles to imbue the low notes with force (“Living in Dystopia”) and his higher pitches sound tinny, particularly when double-tracked alongside his own formidable growls in the final chorus of “Lake of My Own Essence.” To be fair, there are other times when the singing fares better, but his cleans could surely use more training and practice.
Now it’s time to address the elephant in the room, both a figure of speech and a similitude of The Wrath Within’s runtime. With most of the 13 tracks lasting around 5-6 minutes, this is a case of the ideas being too numerous rather than too sizable. It helps that the songwriting is dynamic and at times unpredictable. The main guitar riff in “Emptiness Inside” and the soft bass grooves in the title track have a bluesy saunter which comes out of left field but integrates surprisingly well with the death-doom. While most songs are interesting enough individually, there is little sense of interplay between them, causing the album’s extreme length to work against it when consumed in one sitting. With so many disparate tracks, some are bound to be weaker (“Lake of My Own Essence,” “Another Life to Die”) and could have been left out to make The Wrath Within more digestible as a whole.
Atramentum is a band brimming with potential that’s realized in some ways but not in others. They are great at writing vehement songs and aren’t afraid to experiment while doing so. The Wrath Within may be overlong and uneven, but I can’t say I ever became bored while listening. The positive side of a stuffed album is that most enjoyers of downcast death-doom will likely find something appealing within. With some tightening of the clean vocals and judicious self-editing, Atramentum will be a moody force to be reckoned with.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Self-Release
Websites: atramentum1.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/atramentumhamburg
Releases Worldwide: January 24th, 2025
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