The Immortal out August 29th, 2025 via Supreme Chaos Records and Dalapop
In Mourning is one of the most underrated bands on the planet. The Swedish Death Metal group has created albums that are forever burned in the fans’ memories. Albums like The Weight of Oceans (2012) mix Melodeath, Progressive, and Gothic elements to create a truly unique listening experience. This is a band I think everyone should pay more attention to, especially with the rising popularity of Insomnium and In Flames. If you dislike the more mainstream direction In Flames has taken, maybe In Mourning can be your new Melodeath favorites. Although, In Mourning do not sound like anyone else to me. They are distinct. Three vocalists, all playing different guitar riffs and licks, and a Prog minded drummer all set In Mourning apart to me. They still have epic guitar solos as well, which is a great deviation from Modern Metal’s lack of guitar eloquence. The Swedish SadBois are back in 2025, but does the new album live up to their previous releases?
In Mourning have finally unleashed “The Immortal” after waiting four years and little teasers. “The Immortal” is everything you’d expect from a Melodeath album, and even more special coming from In Mourning. This album is a special experience. If you’re driving through the mountains in pitch black darkness with reckless abandon and the winter doldrums setting in, “The Immortal” is 47 minutes of soundtrack. It is not just an album, a collection of In Mourningesque ideas; The Immortal is a soundscape, laying out so much material and influences. They return to their roots, so you know it’s authentic, but it is not formulaic. It builds, it ebbs and flows, and it chugs. I had high expectations, but honestly didn’t expect to like this album as much. There’s something up with Me and Metal music this year. I am just continually disappointed with new releases. In Mourning has broken the lull for me.
“The Sojourner” is an instant classic Melodeath track for me. This song has everything I want from In Mourning, the Progressiveness, the longing feeling, the technical solo, the soulful clean vocals: It’s perfection. “Song of the Cranes” is just as good and a track with even more soul crushing depth. Each song stands on its own, but they all have the same moodiness and driving beat that ties it all together. If you’re a recovering Ghost Brigade fan, this album is the closest thing you will get to GB in 2025. “Moonless Sky” is all I love about Melodeath. It is an ode to the bands that have come before them, and a cementing outline of what In Mourning will continue to create. The emotion in this band is nearly unparalleled in 2025. I haven’t heard many heavy releases that really resonated with me this year, but In Mourning smashed the walls down and made me believe in Metal again this year. They go from emotional and moody atmospheric track “Moonless Sky” to Death Metal smasher “Staghorn”. That’s one of the most surprising moments in music for me this year. This song, as well as the rest of the album is so easy to get lost in. That’s what I expect from Metal. I expect an all encompassing, emotionally driving, unique artistic listening experience. I expect the highest level of catharsis. “The Immortal” hits these notes profoundly with each song. Of course, In Mourning always achieves these points on every release, but “The Immortal” packs a serious Death Metal edge that is so very satisfying.
“North Star” is a true tear jerker of an epic Melodeath song, reminding me so much of Insomnium in all the best ways, but even more satisfyingly heavy. The guitars are so tight. The chemistry in this band rivals old Dark Tranquility and Belakor for me. Each element feels so meticulously planned and thought out, but not over produced. It’s tight and clean, but not bloated like so much Metal is for me today. This album could’ve come out in 2010, because of its sheer precision and unfiltered emotion. It doesn’t have 500 layers of Pro Tools edited guitar tracks with huge compression or reverb. It sounds like In Mourning right off the board, which is exactly what I have always loved about them. Yes okay, maybe the songs become a bit predictable after awhile and you know when the instrumentals and soft parts are coming. But there is a “my comfort album” element here to immerse yourself into. It’s just absolutely solid Melodeath and no bullshit.
“The Immortal” closes with one of the best songs on the album, “The Hounding”. It is a blazing Death Metal track with blast beats, Black Metal worthy screams and chilling guitars, and atmospheric elements. What holds this song, and the entire band together is undoubtedly the drums. While they’ve changed drummers from one of my favorite drummers, Joakim Strandberg-Nilsson, now with Dark Tranquility, to Cornelius Althammer, there’s no difference in the Progressive Metal influence that stands out to me. “The Hounding” absolutely sold me on Cornelius Althammer and I am very impressed by his speed.
Overall, “The Immortal” is objectively a great album. The tracks standalone. While the album starts out a bit slow and predictable, it builds and becomes truly great. It will take a few listens to soak it all in, especially if you’re in an over stimulated state like I am these days. The album is worth replays and I think it holds up fairly well to In Mourning’s previous releases. It is nowhere as epic as previous ventures, but it is still surprising and enjoyable. If you like Melodeath, I think this album hits all the right Sadboi goodness. If you don’t like Melodeath, I am not really sure if this is an album to change your mind. If you’ve never heard In Mourning, start with “Song of the Cranes” and then listen to the rest of this album.
For over five years now, I have been testing various Music Streaming services to find out what worked best for me. I have tried just about every service, except Apple Music because I don’t really use Apple products except my Laptop. So, I will leave Apple out of this. Everyone has different criteria for streaming services, so I will go into great depth and detail to list what makes each service great or not so great. With Spotify continually making controversial decisions, many people might be looking for another service. I personally don’t like Spotify, not only because they continually don’t pay artists in a timely manner or what the streams are worth, but because they LIE about the quality of their streaming and they do not have a lot of the independent artists I listen to, and consistently lose licensed content. There are so many reasons to drop Spotify, especially with other Scrobbling Apps available if you like your monthly and yearly “Wrapped” or “Recap”. I will also explain the scrobbling apps, for us data and tracking nerds!
I will end the article with the best service (in my opinion) and the service I currently use.
Spotify: Rating 4/10
I used Spotify off and on for about eight years. Initially, I loved this Streaming App. The app had all of the content I listened to, even some obscure European music I listened to then. The quality, compared to Radio and Pandora was mind-blowing in the beginning. It had immense dynamic range and seemed to have a FLAC listening experience even while on Mobile Data. The “Offline Mode” was a must have. I live in Colorado and our cell service and Mobile Data is incredibly spotty while traveling. Offline Mode allowed me to per-download full albums in high-quality and listen to them wherever I went. Life was good with Spotify, and then they started pulling shady corporate business practices. Artists began complaining about how little they made from Spotify compared to other platforms. I noticed a decline in quality shortly after these allegations came out. Then, I became a huge fan of Devin Townsend when the album Z2 came out. Spotify notoriously dropped Devin Townsend albums, then got them back, and then dropped them again. This was extremely frustrating, especially at $20 a month for the App. Nothing was more frustrating than the lack of ability to stream brand new albums on-the-go, however. A new album would release, I would go on the Desktop version of the App, and pre-save the album so it would download as soon as it was available. Then, I would get in the car for a trip and the album would never load on the mobile app. I did this probably a hundred times, before giving up entirely on the App. The other reason I switched from Spotify to the next App on the list (Amazon Music), is the streaming quality was never as good as advertised. Another feature that was not worth the money was the “Family Plan”, which didn’t work as intended for my family. Maybe Spotify has improved on these features since then.
To test the quality, I simply plugged my Beyerdynamic Headphones into my Sony Hi-Res Amp, and played three of my favorite songs on Amazon, YouTube, Spotify, and Tidal. The songs were “Okapi” by Novelists, “Kingdom” by Devin Townsend, and Choke by The Warning. These songs have completely different ranges and span a huge range from different tuning, levels of layering, and vocals. Spotify was the absolute worst performer on this test. I couldn’t hear any of the quieter details, especially the intro on “Okapi”, and the flam (multiple snare hits with ghost notes) on the songs. The bass was too quiet, even after using the equalizer and boosting everything. The sound was flat, muddy, and even had distortion at louder volumes. I tried multiple mediums to test Spotify and try to get the best sound out of it, but nothing seemed to matter. It doesn’t perform as well as expected for me. Many people say it has the best quality, but to me, it’s the worst besides the Radio.
This absolutely sealed the coffin on Spotify. They claim to have the best streaming quality around, but based on the music I listen to, it falls incredibly flat. Once I tried other apps, I realized Spotify was not as good of quality as advertised.
Amazon Music: Rating 5/10
Amazon Music is a service my family and I received through our Prime membership. I was looking for an app other than Spotify that had a massive selection and worked on-the-go. I decided to try Amazon Music. Immediately, I was impressed by their selection, their suggestions for music, the ease of use of the App, and the high quality of the music on Desktop and the App. I found it to be better than Spotify right away. It was faster, crashed less, used less memory on Desktop, and had a much better fuller sound on their Metal tracks. It was working great for a year and a half, but then I noticed some glaring issues. Upon update, it lost my account login, my playlists, and changed the user agreement. I could no longer use my own account, and had to use my mom’s account. I tried to recover my account, but it required a new family plan. This was extremely upsetting, as we were not warned beforehand that this would occur. The countless hours I spent making playlists and collaborating with my family and friends was gone. The account was not recoverable, so Amazon lost my business. On top of that, Amazon’s “Offline Music mode” was incredibly inconsistent. It would randomly delete all my downloaded data without telling me. Then, I would get in the car and nothing would play offline. Every week I had to re-download a playlist or two. This was annoying and a wrongful advertisement of a great feature. Like most apps I’ve used since Smartphones became a thing, Amazon Music became worse and worse over time and was hard for my other family members to use.
Amazon’s music quality to my ears is superior to Spotify, but not enough to go back to it.
Upon research, I did find that Amazon does pay their artists a bit better than Spotify. But, ultimately you’re just funding Jeff Bezos’ personal and business ventures as well as shady dealings with China, where they sell all the data that the App collects to the highest bidder like most apps out there and ultimately funds the Chinese Communist Party, which isn’t something I wish to do.
Spotify: Pays artists an estimated range of $0.003 to $0.005 per stream.
Amazon Music: Pays artists an estimated range of $0.004 to $0.00402 per stream.
Soundcloud: 8/10
Soundcloud is great at streaming on Desktop. Upon testing the app, I cannot find an “Offline Mode”, unless it is for your own music that you own. Offline mode is only available on the Go+ version of the app. Soundcloud has a massive catalog of music, however. There is infinite level of discovering unsigned and underground music. It is a huge range of music from big names to independent basement artists in any genre or sub genre you can think of. I enjoy the huge range of music. There was even a Devin Townsend ambient album on there that I forgot existed. To stream music at a basic level is $4.99 per month. For high quality music, it is $10.99 per month. That is $2 to $10 cheaper than competing streaming services.
The high quality is god level, to be honest. It is just as good as Tidal for quality, which really surprised me. I tested “Kingdom” by Devin Townsend on Soundcloud vs Tidal back to back, honing in on parts of the song. On first listen, it sounds nearly identical. Plenty of punch and layers and clarity at high volume. But Soundcloud did something I thought no App could do, and that’s make it sound “live”. The reverb is way more audible on Soundcloud, giving the sound a more “anthemic” and epic effect. To be honest, I like the version of Kingdom on here much more than Tidal. Tidal sounds TOO distorted on this song, like there’s still too much distortion at high volume. Let me try another song and see if it has the same effect.
Okay, the “fullness” and full dynamic range definitely depends on the song. Some songs I listen to sound better on Soundcloud. Some songs sound better on Tidal. It is definitely a subjective preference. But I still prefer Tidal’s dynamic range. It provides a HUGE boost to the bast on Rock songs, especially The Warning when I want to hear the full range of Alejandra’s bass at full volume, Tidal is incomparable. For Metal listeners, I definitely recommend trying both apps. For EDM listeners, Tidal’s bass is unlike anything else I have ever experienced. It is a religious experience hearing the bass quality on Tidal. I listen to Hayla and The Chainsmokers regularity, and it just sounds so starkly better on Tidal than any other app.
Soundcloud is unassuming, a light weight juggernaut. The app seems so basic. It is so incredibly easy to use. You can find literally anything you’re looking for in seconds. I also enjoyed the tag based search. You can search based on anything from a mood, to a color, to a subject, to a region. It is miraculous how much bang you get for your buck on this app. I did not expect to like this App at all, but Soundcloud is my next choice after Tidal for a Streaming service. This app is simply amazing. Go+ is worth every penny. I highly recommend the free trial.
YouTube Music: 4/10
YouTube is one of the biggest websites of all time, especially after Google Monopolized it and but billions into optimizing the site and App and boosting content. I use YouTube Premium and YouTube every single day of my life since it all begin. I am a music video junkie (one of my next topics on this blog) and I love YouTube. So I was eager to try their “premium” music service. The quality on YouTube Premium Videos seemed pretty good. I can always tell when the audio is super compressed, which is a common complaint among YouTube users. Sometimes the music sounds ultra flat, distorted, and honestly garbled from CD or other Streaming Services that offer FLAC quality. I expected YouTube Music to be better quality than the videos. I ended up being very disappointed. YouTube Music provides the same quality as Music Videos, as far as I can tell. The App is overly complex. You can’t tell if it wants to play the video or the song. The artist names are not always correct on more obscure songs. It takes A LOT of Bandwidth and lags on WiFi, even worse on 4g or 5g Data. There’s so much I don’t like about this App. The family plan costs the same as Tidal’s, but I don’t think it’s worth the money. It’s not user friendly in anyway. It is hard to make playlists and time consuming, even if you’ve had a YouTube account for as long as I have. There’s nothing intuitive about the App. I really dislike the layout of it. It is small, clunky, and way too touchy. While the selection is great, even including exclusive live performances, I don’t think it’s worth $13.99 a month. You’re welcome to try it for yourself, but I didn’t care for this App at all.
Bandcamp 8/10
TLDR: Bandcamp is a choice App to support your favorite artists 100% with no Middle man, but you have to pay $10 an album to do so. If you truly care about giving real artists your money, USE BANDCAMP. Great App, Great quality, infinite possibilities and interactions with the artists themselves PLUS exclusives!
Bandcamp is a rare gem in the streaming industry. It allows for 85% or more proceeds to go to the Artist, but the honest truth is, this does not apply to Streaming.. You have to buy the digital versions of songs or albums to pay artists, and that applies to the entire industry. So don’t be fooled and think streaming on Bandcamp is any better for the artist, because it simply doesn’t pay. If you buy the albums or individual songs and then stream them, then they get paid. But Bandcamp does not pay the artist for streams without buying the album or song.
BUT, the download quality and Streaming through the App is absolutely incredible. I found it to be almost equal with Tidal, especially since you get access to FLAC files even through the App upon buying those versions.. It sounds absolutely fantastic. The selection is immense, especially for Rock, Metal, Indie, and Avant Garde. Taking into the account of being able to purchase albums and stream, knowing 85% goes to the artist, I LOVE the idea of this app. Is the App the best? No. The browser version is so much easier to use. So, if you’re on Desktop it’s fantastic. And if you want to track music for a Spotify Wrapped experience, there’s no way to do that with Bandcamp. BUT, I think having Bandcamp in addition to Tidal is a wonderful way to insure your artists are getting paid what they deserve.
Tidal 9/10
TLDR: I love Tidal more than any App ever made. It pays artists more per Stream. It’s seamless, easy to use, user friendly, family plan,, and offline mode actually works. The quality of streaming is truly unbelievable. It’s FLAC quality and dynamic range are unmatched. Tidal is mostly American owned by Block INC, and Norwegian owned with no shady dealings.
I have never been more blown away by a streaming service. Tidal is my end all be all Music Streaming App. It is the most intuitive music App I have ever used. It knows what I want to listen to and helps me build infinite playlists with ease. It’s selection is expansive. Anything you can think of, even Sea EDM, Indie, Shoegaze, and so much Metal and Classical music. It also allows users to upload their own music, which is great for sharing. It keeps a monthly track of your listening habits and makes a graphic every month. It works with Last FM to get a comprehensive stat based look at what you listen to. I can’t really find anything wrong with it, besides some small clarity issues on some songs. There’s a bit of distortion on loud streaming, and I have no idea why.. Other than that, you can hear every layer so well.
Progressive Metal sounds unbelievably good on Tidal, as well as old music. Old Music sounds better on Tidal than on Disc, because the volume is boosted and a little compressed so you don’t have to blow your speakers out on the louder parts. Every aspect of the App is optimized. It is fast, but the Desktop app is a memory HOG. It streams at such a high quality, it will bog your computer. It is not good for playing while gaming. I recommend listening on headphones on your phone while you game. It will crash your PC if you try to run new games with high intensity processor use. But I don’t care. I love this App anyway. It just sounds fantastic on everything; The car, your phone, home theater system, desktop speakers, it sounds EXACTLY the same no matter what you’re using to stream it on.
So, Tidal is my favorite Streaming service thus far, and I don’t think that’ll change anytime soon. But you ultimately have to find what service works the best for you. Give Bandcamp and Tidal a shot!
More importantly, go buy merch and physical copies from your favorite artist to support them in the maximum way possible. Streaming alone will never be enough to sustain the variety of new music.
Canadian doom-folk experimentalists VÖLUR have released their new single “Windbourne Sorcery I”, a transportive instrumental that draws on Kurdish rhythmic traditions, Persian timbres, and Western harmonic sensibilities. The track is the latest glimpse into Breathless Spirit, the band’s ambitious fourth studio album and their first full-length collaboration with avant-producer CARES (James Beardmore).
At the heart of “Windbourne Sorcery I” is the tanbur, a three-stringed Kurdish lute played here by Lucas Gadke in his first time recording the instrument with VÖLUR, though it previously featured on their 2020 EP Zwischen den Wäldern. Inspired by the playing of Ali Akbar Moradi and the atmospherics of TALK TALK’s “Spirit of Eden,” the piece flows intuitively through unconventional time signatures, primarily a 10/8 rhythmic cycle (3-2-2-3), before opening into a spellbinding stretch of free improvisation led by Laura C. Bates’ violin.
The song features no lyrics, but instead opens with a chant over a contrapuntal descending melody, eventually expanding into a complex, trance-inducing chant cycle in 24 beats (10+7+7), a hallmark of VÖLUR’s genre-defying sound. The band’s commitment to authenticity is clear: Lucas studied tanbur for three years with Tehran-born maestro Reza Houshvar, bringing a deeply rooted, personal resonance to this cross-cultural composition.
“Windbourne Sorcery I” exemplifies the sonic terrain of Breathless Spirit, a six-track journey shaped over five years, originally conceived as part of VÖLUR’s Die Sprachen Der Vögel series. Produced in deep collaboration with CARES, the album draws on Icelandic folklore, Persian modal structures, doom metal, and free jazz. The result is a deeply textured and emotionally resonant work that dissolves the boundaries between genres, cultures, and consciousness.
Breathless Spirit features contributions from Amy Bowles (PONY DA LOOK) and Zoë Santo (DIVKA), and is visually anchored by a striking stone-cut print by Inuit artist Saimaiyu Akesuk, which also inspired some of the album’s compositional rhythms. It will be available on black vinyl in two editions, including a “diehard edition” that comes with a bonus 7” and a custom Breathless Spirit tea blend created in partnership with BLACK THRONE.
About VÖLUR & CARES
VÖLUR is a Toronto-based experimental doom metal trio composed of Laura C. Bates (violin, vocals), Lucas Gadke (bass, vocals), and Justin Ruppel (drums). Known for their unorthodox instrumentation and boundary-pushing compositions, VÖLUR draws from a wide range of influences including doom metal, European folk, free improvisation, classical music, and Persian/Kurdish traditions. Their sound, often described as haunting and cinematic, blends thunderous low-end weight with fragile melodic tension. Since forming in 2014, they have released multiple albums and EPs, performed at festivals such as ProphecyFest and Sled Island, and collaborated with artists from around the world as part of their Die Sprachen der Vögel series.
CARES is the project of James Beardmore, a UK-born, Ontario-based musician and producer. Known for his experimental production methods and emotional sonic textures, Beardmore integrates analog synthesizers, hacked hardware, custom Max/MSP instruments, and field recordings into compositions that are as tactile as they are atmospheric. His work with VÖLUR on Breathless Spirit is a seamless collaboration that expands the band’s sonic universe, elevating their music into a richly layered fusion of organic and electronic sound.
Together, VÖLUR & CARES create immersive, mythically charged music that resists categorization, rooted in story and sound, breath and ritual.
VÖLUR is: Laura C. Bates – violin, electric violin, viola, cymbals, vocals Lucas Gadke – electric bass, double bass, harmonium, keyboards, tanbur, clarinet, bass clarinet, vocals Justin Ruppel – drums, percussion
Through a majestic shroud of symphonic black metal, adorned with cinematic grandeur and emotional weight, VESSELES has revealed the visceral and empowering new anthem “Flesh Throne”. Valira, a demon cast into the human world, has returned to the fiery realms of her homeland.
“‘Flesh Throne’ is a regal, thunderous, and grandiose embodiment of demonic symphonic black metal from the depths of The Beneath. Drenched in sovereignty and transformation, ‘Flesh Throne’ is about Valira (demon composer) reclaiming her power over humanity. This song is the perfect first track for the new era.
Upon writing the intro to the song, Valira immediately knew it had to have a powerful music video to go along with it, especially one with her sitting upon a throne judging the fate of feeble humans. That is exactly what it got.”
About VESSELES: Founded in 2023, VESSELES is the sonic vessel through which Valira speaks the language of her origins. As composer, orchestrator, and architect, she crafts bleak, incantatory soundscapes that fuse serrated guitars with haunted symphonic textures. Her voice, at once seething and spectral, now rises with increasing clarity, layered across both backing and lead roles in studio and on stage. This is not performance. It is possession. Through sound, she casts off the human shell and steps fully into her true form: demon, exile, survivor. VESSELES unveiled the debut EP I Am A Demon in 2024, a liturgy of identity dysphoria, rage, and revelation. In the new single, Valira steps out of the shadows reborn.
Credits: Composed by Valira Pietrangelo. Performed by VESSELES.
VESSELES Is: Valira Pietrangelo – guitar and backing vocals J Burial (Joel Ferry) – vocals Ron Graves – bass Nick Brown – drums
Metal Valkyrie 