REVIEW

The debut full-length from San Francisco blackgaze band Embrium.

Now operating as a five-piece—Mosahefu (gt/vo), Jade Forsythe (vo), Joey Menicucci (gt/vo/ba), Ayani Hayashi (ba), and Matt Baird (dr)—the project began in 2020 as a pandemic-era collaboration between Mosahefu, Forsythe, and Menicucci. Following their self-titled EP in 2021, this album expands its scope with a narrative focus on themes of time, loss, magic, and self-discovery.

Embrium fuse black metal intensity with shoegaze atmospherics, layering folk-tinged melodies that add emotional depth beyond sheer volume. The contrast between Mosahefu’s clear clean vocals and Forsythe’s piercing screams is particularly striking, and may invite comparisons to Sylvaine.

A highlight is #5 “Eclipse” inspired by Kentaro Miura’s Berserk. Referencing the Band of the Falcon and the God Hand, the track traces the arc of the Eclipse with dramatic weight. Fluid lead guitar lines surface between crushing passages, suggesting a melodic sensibility reminiscent of Amorphis and Swallow the Sun, reinforcing the album’s dark atmosphere.

#6 “Awakened” inspired by Norihiro Yagi’s Claymore, opens with shimmering dream-pop textures before erupting into full-throated screams in the chorus. The dynamic shift provides one of the record’s most vivid contrasts.

The closing track is a cover of The Mars Volta’s “Televators” featuring guest vocals by Kyle Schaefer (Fallujah, Archaeologist). While preserving the original’s introspective mood, Embrium reshape it through serrated guitars and visceral intensity, fully translating it into a blackgaze framework.

Drawing from established influences while displaying notable compositional control, the record suggests a band poised for further growth within the blackgaze and post-black metal sphere. Listeners drawn to Alcest, Sylvaine, or Shedfromthebody may find this particularly compelling.