For lovers of melancholic, autumnal music, today we are featuring In A Darkened Room, a darkwave trio from Texas, that have just released their first album, Sorrow. In A Darkened Room‘s debut is, as the titles indicate, a catalogue of sad songs, with a sound that the band manages to keep homogeneous. They released their first track in 2020, “Walls of Sandess”, which together with the two following singles can be found on the album we are reviewing today. Sorrow, whose cover art looks curiously similar to that of Nightwish‘s Once, is available on CD and as a digital download.
The band shows its cards already in the opening “Descend”: it starts with a melancholic guitar, which leads us through the song. CJ Duron’s voice enters, deep and aching, and near the end another melody apperas, giving some hope and easing the dramatic burden. We descend into the abyss of sadness, but everything is lost. Together with Duron, we find Svia Svenlava on bass and Kandi Keys on keyboards, who are more present in the second track, “Final Bows” which continues with the melancholic tones. The instrumental part and the beautiful melody stand out. With a name like “Doom and Gloom” you might expect something really sad, but it’s not so sad. It’s more a feeling of calm that I get, perhaps the calm that comes after a tragedy. “Walls of Sadness” has a long intro and the heartbroken vocals take over a minute to come in. “Sleep Again”, the last single before the release of the album, seems to me to be a good choice to describe the band: it contains good guitars and the voice of Duron that seems to be on the edge.
“Burn by the sun” is another good track in which the singer seems to whisper to you, telling you his problems, like a frined. It’s one of the most touching songs on the album. “Hollow”, on the other hand, is haunting, with a keyboard melody near the end that will give you goosebumps. “Water under the bridge” has a heavy beat, it’s a song full of pain and a bit epic, perfect as an ending. Sorrow is an album for people who prefer autumns to summers, that is, all our audience.
