Souls-themed blackened doom metal band Soulmass delivers us, through their indiegogo campaign, their new album, otherwise due October 31st, entitled Despairing Fates. The album is full of great riffs and deep vocals, along with a sense of loss and despair in its oppressing atmosphere.

Bryan and Brett, the two men of the band, wrote lyrics based on the ever more sad and melancholic stories found throughout the games Demon’s Souls, and Dark Souls I and II. This kind of music really is the best to support such lyrical content and emotions, the weight of the curse, and of the choices you make, the inescapable nature of fate and your helplessness in front of it. With a variety of riffs and guitar leads and solos, supported by typical black/doom drums and sung over by a good black metal singer (and a female guest ending the album beautifully), Despairing Fates truly immerses you in its bleak and vast universe.

The songs are varied in length and feel. From the fast-paced, almost thrash-y Scorpion Horror (Born of the Madness), to the long and epic Chronicles of the Abysswalker, and ending with another long, but slow and melancholic song, Throne of Want, you never feel like you’ve heard it all; there’s always something new to be heard along the duration of the album. At a little under 50 minutes, you also get your money’s worth – twice if you ask me!

You can get some really cool perks on their indiegogo page, like an advanced download of the album for $5, or other stuff like a poster, a CD, a shirt, and even a thank you video! So go support those jolly undead, and listen to Despairing Fates!

Here goes the lyric video for Keeper Of Cowardice.