English
On their fifth album, the Dutch veterans SOULBURN deliver a sprawling, cosmically charged work that fuses death metal’s blunt force with doom’s melancholic weight and black metal’s spiritual fire. The result is an album that feels both monumental and intimate: a dark, beautiful peak reached after a long, winding journey through many sonic dimensions.
The album’s narrative arc mirrors SOULBURN’s own history: a band that rose from the ashes of ASPHYX in 1996, endured lineup shifts and periods of consolidation, and finally coalesced into a confident, veteran unit. That experience shows in the songwriting: epic structures, assured dynamics, and a storytelling thread that runs through the record like a golden line.
Built on a solid death-metal foundation, “Quantifying Cosmic Doom” erects walls of melancholy chiselled from doom bedrock and crowns towering riffs with fierce, almost spiritual black-metal flames. The Dutch extremity here is not just about aggression; it’s about atmosphere, mood, and a sense of vast, cosmic scale.
The album’s core strength lies in its balance: Erzählerische (narrative) melodies sit alongside unrelenting, grollende (growling) riffs and drums, creating a dynamic push-pull between light and shadow.
Deep, guttural foundations drive every composition, anchoring the record in extremity. Also a slow-burning passages and clean vocal interludes (notably from Twan van Geel) introduce a doom-laden, almost gothic atmosphere. Finally fierce, high-pitched shrieks and spiritually charged riffs add a blackened edge, reminiscent of ENSLAVED or EREB ALTOR at their most atmospheric.
This triad of influences (Death-metal roots, Doom melancholy and Black-metal fire) is not just layered; it’s interwoven. The album constantly shifts between blistering black/death bursts and doom-laden, clean-sung sections, creating a sense of movement and narrative progression.
At over 61 minutes, the album is a journey, and certain tracks stand out as key waypoints:
“The Braveheart of Nightmares”: The opener sets the tone with black/death intensity before dropping into doomier, clean-sung passages that evoke a nightmarish, almost cinematic scope.
“Powehi, the Embellished Dark Source of Unending Creation”: A sprawling, multi-part epic that showcases the band’s storytelling ambition and musical variability.
“A Pyramid Absurd” / “An Impious Journey Through the Cathedral’s Mouth”: This aggressive duo gives the album a clear directional thrust, with the latter standing out for its strong melody and momentum.
“M87 – What Hopes To Be Born?”: A cosmic centerpiece, likely inspired by the M87 galaxy, blending astronomical themes with existential questioning.
“Down Among the Stars” / “The Desolationist”: Mid-album tracks that deepen the cosmic, desolate atmosphere, balancing aggression with introspective, almost melancholic passages.
“In the Very Time That Will Rot Us” / “An Innocuous Swathe of Sky”: The closing sequence brings the journey to a reflective, almost fatalistic end, with the final track offering a quiet, skyward resolution.
Recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered by Erwin Hermsen & Fons van Dijk at Toneshed Recording Studio (Horst, NL), with drum tracking by Jörg Uken at Soundlodge Studio (Rhauderfehn, DE) and guitar recording by Tom Meier (Enschede, NL), the album sounds both massive and detailed. Manuel Tinnemans’ cover artwork complements the cosmic, doom-laden themes, presenting a visual counterpart to the album’s astral despair.
Van Geel’s vocal range—from clean, doom-inflected singing to harsh, blackened shrieks—adds emotional depth, while Kreft and Daniels’ guitar work provides both crushing riffs and melodic counterpoint. Verhaar’s drumming is precise and powerful, driving the album’s epic structures without losing groove or dynamics.
“Quantifying Cosmic Doom” is SOULBURN’s most ambitious and cohesive album to date: a blackened death-doom epic that balances narrative depth, musical variability, and extreme-metal intensity. It rewards repeated listens, revealing new layers of melody, atmosphere, and storytelling with each pass.
