Ephel Duath are “Shaped by Darkness”

Ephel Duath’s forthcoming album Hemmed By Light, Shaped By Darkness is trying its best to claw its way into my year-end list. Both songs we’ve heard from the album so far have been positively fantastic, first “Feathers Under My Skin” and now “Shaped by Darkness,” which premiered today via Lambgoat in lyric video form. The phrase “avant-garde” gets tossed around a whole lot when it comes to Ephel Duath and their mastermind Davide Tiso, but I can’t really think of a better way to describe this brand of metal: it’s completely off the wall, nothing else sounds like it and it sounds like nothing else. The tones are clear and crisp (via MS fave producer Erik Rutan) and the performances are razor tight. Wins all around.

Also: that gorgeous, detailed cover artwork by Dehn Sora and Aeron Alfrey! Wow. Click to enlarge.

Hemmed By Light, Shaped By Darkness comes out November 26 on Agonia.