Promethean Misery – Bloodlet (Review)

This is the latest EP from Promethean Misery, a one-woman Australian doom metal band.

Full of melancholy and misery, this is a single 20 minute track of dark riffs, haunting piano, and seductive violin.

The aforementioned riffs are provided by a distorted violin rather than the more usual guitar, leading to a different texture than would be the case otherwise. The heaviness produced by this feels different, almost more tactile in nature, as if you could reach out and touch the darkness. Combined with everything else here it results in a very three-dimensional release, as if the artist has created something living that she is now unleashing on the world in waves of bleak majesty.

The music is neoclassical darkwave, infected by rich doom metal, and delivered with character and grace. A slow-building, gradual exploration of tormented suffering and beautiful loss, the track is lovingly crafted from Gothic materials and shaped into something quite sumptuous and darkly resplendent.

Soft vocals accompany the music, showing that the artist behind this band is just as talented a singer as she is at everything else here.

Promethean Misery is an extremely enjoyable and well-crafted release, from someone who really should be given more exposure for her art. She clearly knows her doom metal, and this kind of style spiritually harks back to the early, formative days of My Dying Bride. However, although this music is undoubtedly inspired by old-school doom, it’s been taken forward, stamped with her own personality and character, and brought into the present day darkness with power and style. For a more modern comparison, I can also hear similarities to the violin-driven contemporary classical output of The Monroe Transfer, as well as some of the funeral doom work of Monolithe.

An essential listen for anyone into sumptuous, rich, emotive Gothic doom metal.