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SOULBURN "Quantifying Cosmic Doom"
SOULBURN "Quantifying Cosmic Doom"
By Dr. Abner Mality
I was expecting this band to be in the vein of ASPHYX and GOD DETHRONED and why not? Like those bands, they're from the Dutch death metal scene and they actually feature guitarist Eric Daniels, who was a fixture on the early ASPHYX records. Well, I got something a lot different than just another OSDM effort. SOULBURN have mixed genres in a way I don't think I've ever heard before. And that's pretty refreshing.
How to describe this? The foundation is still in that unique Dutch death metal of ASPHYX and HAIL OF BULLETS. But that's just a platform for SOULBURN to venture into a lot of sounds. As the album titles suggest, there is a very strong doom metal influence here. "Down Among The Stars" could almost pass for a WINDHAND song with its thick, syrupy riffs and slow pace. A feeling of gloom envelops the whole album even on the faster tracks. And there's often a black metal vibe to the riffing, best heard on the lengthy "Powehi, Embellished Dark Source of Unending Creation". Blackened death/doom is a good description, but there are other aspects of the songwriting here that extend into unexpected areas like grunge, Gothic post-rock and a kind of post-metal aura.
The vocals of Twan Van Geel (ex-LEGION OF THE DAMNED) have a lot to do with the unpredictability here. A lot of the time, he uses clean vocals that croon like DANZIG or even sound like something on mainstream hard rock. Before you panic, these vocals are used during some of SOULBURN's heaviest and most crushing parts. Van Geel also has a mean death growl and shrieky black metal rasps, but the cleaner vocals predominate. And there's also a lot of weird spoken word monologues, like on "The Braveheart of Nightmares" and "An Innocuous Swathe of Sky". Frankly, I could have done without that. But Van Geel's chameleonic approach here is fascinating and unique.
It would take several pages to describe the way the songs writhe and mutate here. There are some honestly bone-breaking riffs, like the opening to "The Braveheart of Nightmares" and "Powehi..." but they often change to more low-key flanged and jangly parts. Other killer tracks include "Stalactite of Molten Flesh" and "A Pyramid Absurd". What they are singing about it is anybody's guess...the lyrics are are as unorthodox as the music. I will say that when things start to go into weird zones, everything comes back to that classic death metal sound. That's what keeps SOULBURN anchored and steady.
If you want to experience one of the most unpredictable yet heavy death metal efforts of 2026, you can start right here.
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