Bulgarian proto-doom trio Obsidian Sea bring their fourth album into clear view: Pathos.

Obsidian Sea came together in 2010 in Sofia playing a classic rock style layered into doom horizons. Prior to the new record, the band released a demo at the beginning and three long-players since – Between Two Deserts (2012), Dreams, Illusions, Obsessions (2015), and Strangers (2019). Their musical approach relies on melodic passages and extended diversions set in sweeping idiomatic paradigms of venerable rock and roll. According to the Metal Archives, the band is Bozhidar (drums), Anton (vocals and guitar), and Delyan Karaivanov (bass).

There are seven songs on Pathos, each hovering in the five-to-six minute range. Well-worn, reliable set-ups are played as bedrock formations holding up incredibly well-executed guitar work and impressive compositional talent. You can expect fuzzy guitars on the regular and softened melodic expressions that form a low hedge for the greater guitar adventuring.

Some of the song titles are quite grim. Witness the first two tracks, “Lament the Death of Wonder” and “The Long Drowning.” The music itself, while living in the land of doom, is not depressingly-oriented and the vocalizations are more earnest and dramatic than they are dreary and dank. Dark fantasy more than horror, you might say.

My favorite tracks include “The Revenants” and “Mythos” as they both highlight the features I have just mentioned, and I appreciate the sternness of the guitar moments. The former song especially has a mystical sensibility. The final piece is “The Meaning of Shadows,” and it approaches the avant-garde in comparison to its fellows. It also has a delightful noir aroma, a sinisterness. The song builds toward the end into an urgent finale, functioning as a gleeful capstone to the set. Excellent, all the way around. The music is not what you might typically think of when doom is being discussed, but it has a legitimate place in that world. Recommended.

Pathos is out now through Ripple Music. Snap it up at the label’s website, Bandcamp, or any of all those other places you can get music.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/pathos

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/ObsidianSeaDoom/

Ripple Music, https://www.ripple-music.com/