Release Date June 5th, 2026
Format Digital
Genre Funeral/Doom Metal
Origin France
Abysmal Growls Of Despair is the solo funeral-doom band of Hangsvart, active since 2013 and rooted in France. During more than a decade of activity, the project has moved through ritualistic dark ambient, drone and funeral doom, drawing inspiration from Funeral Moth, Ataraxie, Comatose Vigil, Sunn O))) and Remembrance. Ancient civilizations, spirituality, despair, grief and madness have remained central subjects, alongside Hangsvart’s experience with schizophrenia since 2007. This background has shaped an austere form of extreme doom based on prolonged tempos, guttural vocals and oppressive atmosphere.
Every role is handled by Hangsvart, allowing the music to follow one bleak vision with no outside compromise. Earlier material has often moved between formless ambience and crushing doom, making atmosphere as important as riffs. “Torn” turns toward an intimate tragedy, following a husband caring for his wife through cancer. The subject is approached through fear, devotion, helplessness and the slow collapse of ordinary life, placing human suffering above fantasy or abstract darkness.
Released via Wormholedeath, “Torn” contains four long compositions and runs for about forty three minutes. The production places eight string guitars and the guttural voice in the foreground, with trombones and tubas deepening the low register through a grave, ceremonial presence. The mix is broad, suffocating and stripped of brightness.
Chords decay for long periods, low frequencies dominate, and smaller guitar or brass movements are sometimes buried underneath. Brass enters as an extension of the guitars, and its low tones add a funeral character that separates the album from standard genre habits.
Cancer is not romanticized, and suffering is not dressed in heroic language. The pace is extremely slow, with small changes in tone stretched across long spans. At times, those spans blur together, and several sections continue after their emotional peak has passed. The narrow range of tempo and texture can reduce the impact, especially across the two longest compositions. At the same time, this drag reflects the endless hours of caregiving, where time becomes shapeless and every day circles the same fear.
The album’s solemnity is genuine, and the closing stretch leaves a cold aftertaste through the merging of brass, guitar and voice. “Torn” is severe funeral doom built around personal pain, not spectacle. Its length requires patience, and its limited variation places a ceiling on the final result. The emotional core remains difficult to dismiss, and the brass arrangement brings a distinct character to an album buried in grief from beginning to end. It is a draining listen with a precise emotional target, one that reaches deep without turning suffering into decoration.
|7.0
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