GODTHRYMM - Distortions (CD)

British epic doom metallers Godthrymm (featuring members once involved in such luminaries as My Dying Bride, Anathema, Vallenfyre, and Solstice) return with their new album, Distortions. The follow-up to 2020's widely-lauded Reflections shows the Halifax-based quartet of Hamish Glencross (guitars / vocals), Catherine Glencross (keyboards / vocals), "Sasquatch" Bob Crolla (bass), and Shaun "Winter" Taylor-Steels (drums) elegantly expanding upon their sound and vision. With tracks like "Follow Me," featuring former My Dying Bride compatriot Aaron Stainthorpe, "Echoes," and "Devils," Distortions advances Godthrymm into the hallowed halls of the genre they adore to death.

"I absolutely wanted to create a much more layered and complex arrangement in the sound," says Godthrymm's Hamish Glencross. "Totally amping up the contrasts to the extreme-the light shines brighter, and the darker depths are vast trenches. There is a lot more harmony and melancholy for much of it, but also some slab-heavy riffing, too. We wanted a total progression in the production and more class and clarity in the sound, as opposed to Reflections, which could get quite dense in tone."

Distortions is the second part of Glencross' Visions trilogy-the third part, Projections, is already in the works. Throughout its seven-track, hour-long expanse, Godthrymm's sophomore effort delves deeper into the despondent march of post-pandemic singles "Chasm" and "In Perpetuum," the latter released exclusively on Decibel Magazine's Decibel Flexi Series in 2022. Glencross' emotionally-charged vocals pair perfectly with his towering riffs and thoughtful, crestfallen harmonies. The rhythmic foundation of Crolla and Taylor-Steels is absolutely critical to Glencross' woebegone clat. With Catherine Glencross' angelic vocals and atmospheric keyboards stitched into the monumental "As Titans," the granite-hard "Obsess and Regress," and the stirring "Pictures Remain," Distortions has it all.