Album Review: Wounds of Recollection – Warm Glow of the End of Everything (Trepanation Recordings)

Warm Glow of the End of Everything is the 10th album by blackgaze/post-black metal band Wounds of Recollection. It will be released on February 10th, 2023, via Trepanation Recordings.

Warm Glow of the End of Everything is an exploration of liminality – a transitional space or time between two states of being. The album is inspired by the final transition into adulthood representing the fact that one’s youth is no longer accessible. It is an acceptance of the past with an anxious embrace of things to come. It represents the fear of forgetting or being forgotten by the people and places that once brought us immense joy.

You’d have to have a stone heart and no soul to not feel something upon hearing Wounds of Recollection’s new album, Warm Glow of the End of Everything. The sheer emotionally wrought beauty of the post-metal, intense blackgaze, doomy heaviness, and ambient effects is staggering. It doesn’t just leave an impression; it is downright unforgettable.

Spread across 7 tracks, lengthy trawls through the deep and eccentric imagination of Wounds of Recollection, Warm Glow of the End of Everything leaves feelings of ecstasy and despondency. Sometimes several times throughout the same track. Such is the peaks and valleys this band traverses.

It is a journey, an arduous one, but one that is more than worth taking. There’s not a dull moment on this album. Not a single point when it slips into monotony or is found lacking bite. Regardless of if that bite comes from the heady melodies, other-worldly ambience, or the rampant black metal speed. Be under no false illusions, regardless of how pretty this music can sound, it can also be unashamedly heavy. Just check out the doom-infused intensity of Crushing Weight of Empty Space to hear that.

Their mean and meaty sound is just one part of what makes Warm Glow of the End of Everything such a spectacular experience though. The other is their use of synth and melody. Creating unbelievable amounts of atmosphere and nowhere better showcased than on the stunning Vacancy. One of the best pieces of music you may hear this year outright.

It’s far from the only moment where this album will make you smile though and the simple advice is to listen to every second if it.

Links

Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram