“Ceasing to Exist” was the nine-minute closing track of Craneium‘s debut album, Explore the Void, which came out in 2015. Its origins go back further, as the band explain below, and as they celebrate 15 years together in 2026, the Turku, Finland, progressive heavy psychedelic rockers have revisited the track with a new and expanded arrangement, a richer melodic take, and a fuller sound on the whole to represent who they are now, inherently providing a showcase for how the band have grown along the way over the last decade and a half.

The original, streaming below, feels more indebted to heavy psychedelia of the post-Colour Haze or Samsara Blues Experiment vein, and rolls out with a jammy fluidity. “Ceasing to Exist (Revisited),” on the other hand, is lush enough to feel like plunging into feathers (without all the pokey bits) when you put it on. Joined by Andreas Österlund on guitar and Lari Oksala on synth, the core four-piece of guitarist/vocalists Andreas Kaján and Martin Ahlö, drummer Joel Kronqvist and Jonas Holmström have a better sense of where they’re going — surely having already written and recorded the song 11 years prior has something to do with that — but make the journey all the more immersive for the patience they’ve taught themselves in the interim. They say they still play the song live. I would not at all mind seeing that, fleshed-out arrangement or no.

One imagines that the post-crescendo comedown at the end of the (new version of the) track is more accurate to the live experience, since in the studio original that was handled by a layered-in acoustic guitar, and while bands going back and redoing earlier works is always a touchy subject, as somebody on the internet is bound to be mad about it, I’ll say flat out that I like the new take for how it feels expansive in addition to big in tone. The Rhodes-esque sounds help convey the fluid melody of the verse, and the vocal trades between Kaján and Ahlö represent the dual-leads that have been an asset to Craneium all along, and only more so with time. If you heard 2024’s Point of No Return (review here) or the subsequent singles “Empty Palaces” (premiered here) and “The Flow of Time and Age” (posted here), it’s easy to argue they’re doing their best work to-date right now. Nothing in the eight-minute stretch of “Ceasing to Exist (Revisited)” strikes as contrary to that supposition.

Which is to say it sounds frickin’ rad, and I hope you dig it. If you decide to go the one-into-the-other route, I’d suggest starting with the new video, which is premiering below, and the dipping back to the original, which is further down by the links (after the blue text; you know this, I don’t need to say it). You’ll hear some semblance of the creative growth that’s taken place in the band over the last decade-plus, and perhaps even get a glimpse of how that will continue as they move forward.

Please enjoy:

Craneium, “Ceasing to Exist (Revisited)” video premiere

Craneium revisited their iconic track “Ceasing to Exist” in the studio, re-recording it to deliver a fresh, even more powerful version. This song originally ignited their career and established them as a standout name in the stoner/psych scene. The new take amps up the heaviness while making it even catchier and more crushing than the original!

“We wrote Ceasing to Exist when we first started Craneium and the song has followed us ever since. This year marks 15 years of playing together and to celebrate that we wanted to record the track as it has evolved on stage over time. For us Ceasing to Exist captures the core of what Craneium is about – weight and atmosphere, Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath, air and vacuum.
With added layers from our friends Andreas Österlund on guitar and Lari Oksala on droning synthesizers we are happy to finally present a studio version that comes close to how we have always imagined the song should sound live.” — Joel Kronqvist

“Ceasing to Exist is the essence of what Craneium is trying to achieve musically: softness and heaviness. At every gig I feel that once the intro starts, I know that I am home and everything is as it should be.” — Martin Ahlö

“The first thing I ever wrote for the band was Ceasing to Exist, Martin had the verse and some lyrics. I added the melody. Funny how it has become a staple for our little band. We still enjoy playing it, and people expect us to. We love the response every time.” — Andreas Kaján

Credits:
Video by Bike On Buss Production
All music written by Craneium 2011:
Martin Ahlö, Andreas Kaján, Joel Kronqvist & Axel Brink

Recorded by Jussi Vuola at V.R. Studio, Turku, Finland October 2025
Mixed and mastered by Kalle Lilja, Welfare Sounds
Artwork by Johan Erenius of Mangobeard Design Co.

Additional instruments by:
Andreas Österlund – guitar
Lari Oksala – synthesizers

Arranged and performed by Craneium:
Martin Ahlö – vocals & guitar
Andreas Kaján – vocals & guitar
Joel Kronqvist – drums and percussion
Jonas Holmström – bass

Craneium, “Ceasing to Exist” from Explore the Void (2015)

Craneium on Bandcamp

Craneium on Instagram

Craneium on Facebook

Majestic Mountain Records webstore

Majestic Mountain Records on Instagram

Majestic Mountain Records on Facebook

The not-quite-underlying message of Craneium‘s new single, to appreciate the time you have because you’re not getting more than you get, resonates. To put it another way, ain’t none of us humans currently walking around on the planet getting any younger. Don’t waste your life, said the progressive melodic fuzz rockers.

On general principle, they’re probably right. There are arguments to be made for throwing yourself into a nihilistic existential chasm as well, I suppose.

You were there in November when the Turku, Finland, four-piece signed to Majestic Mountain and premiered the “Empty Palaces” video. “The Flow of Time and Age,” which you can see below, while at the bottom of the post you’ll find the clip for “Empty Palaces” and the stream of their 2024 album, Point of No Return (review here), which came out through The Sign.

They’re reportedly working their way toward a new LP — Fall? Winter? Early ’26? — which will be their fifth overall since 2016, and while I don’t know that they will, it would feel like a waste if “The Flow of Time and Age” and “Empty Palaces” weren’t on it. In the meantime, the video finds guitarist Martin Ahlö portraying himself aged, mirroring the song’s theme, and some light chicanery ensues, including at Craneium rehearsal. I won’t spoil it, but it all works out in the end.

Enjoy:

Craneium, “The Flow of Time and Age” official video

Craneium Share Music Video for “The Flow of Time and Age”

Finnish progressive heavy psychedelic rockers Craneium have just released a music video for their latest single “The Flow of Time and Age”, marking their second track under the Majestic Mountain Records banner.

Leaning heavily into their signature riff-laden fuzz and heavy rock energy, the song delves into themes of mortality and the quiet urgency of time slipping away.

Watch “The Flow of Time and Age” now!

“Finnish fuzz-rockers Craneium swear their guitarist Martin isn’t getting old, but the walker, the afternoon naps, and deep sighs suggest otherwise,” the band jokes. “The video is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the fact that time waits for no one, but luckily fuzz pedals help soften the blow.”

“Lyrically, we’ve often returned to the subject of mortality and the choices that shape your life. You only get one,” reflects guitarist Martin Ahlö.

“Another track that we decided to save for later on. We felt like it could stand as a single on its own. It started out with an acoustic intro that turned into something else completely when the bass-riff came along. Droning guitars and dreamy mellotron-melodies on top. It’s different but definitely Craneium.” Shares guitarist/vocalist Andreas Kaján.

When on tour we listen to the classic Pink Floyd track “Time” a lot, and I think it is safe to say that “Flow of Time and Age” is a not so distant relative, musically and lyrically,” adds Martin.

“Our new track dives into the weight of memory, the slow collapse of what we hold dear, and tha/t urgent need to act before the moment slips away. It’s heavy, melodic, and it hits like a truth you weren’t ready to face.” Concludes drummer Joel Kronqvist.

To celebrate the release, Craneium have also announced a new European tour, kicking off this June. Check out the full itinerary below:

CRANEIUM – EUROPEAN TOUR 2025
5 JUNE – Copenhagen, DK @ Lygtens Kro (w/ Dunes, Grinding Eyes)
6 JUNE – Berlin, DE @ Pump Track (w/ Black Magic Tree, Zen Bison)
7 JUNE – Frankfurt am Main, DE @ Ponyhof (w/ The Black Cat’s Eye)
8 JUNE – Göppingen, DE @ Zille (w/ High Priest of Haze)
10 JUNE – Prague, CZ @ Sally O’Neals (w/ The Winter Sounds)
12 JUNE – Leipzig, DE @ Black Label
13 JUNE – Słupsk, PL @ Motor Rock Pub
14 JUNE – Łomża, PL @ Pub “Pod Ratuszem

With a new album in the works and live momentum building, Craneium are poised to bring their distinctive blend of progressive fuzz-rock to an even wider audience in 2025.

Craneium are:
Andreas Kaján – vocals, guitar and keys
Joel Kronqvist – drums and percussion
Jonas Ridberg – bass
Martin Ahlö – guitar

Craneium, “Empty Palaces” official video

Craneium, Point of No Return (2024)

Craneium on Bandcamp

Craneium on Instagram

Craneium on Facebook

Majestic Mountain Records webstore

Majestic Mountain Records on Instagram

Majestic Mountain Records on Facebook

Craneium have signed to Majestic Mountain Records. The Finnish progressive heavy psychedelic rockers aren’t yet at a full year’s remove from putting out their most vivid realization to-date, Feb. 2024’s Point of No Return (review here), but as is their wont, they’re ready to move forward. Streaming on the player below is a band-made video for “Empty Palaces,” a new, (at-least-for-now) standalone single to mark the occasion as they continue to write for their next outing.

If you know Craneium, having either caught wind of Point of No Return or any of the Turku four-piece’s prior LPs — 2021’s Unknown Heights (review here), 2018’s The Narrow Line (review here), or 2015’s Explore the Void; they also had a split with Black Willows in 2018 (review here) and various singles and odds and ends as fodder for Bandcamp perusal — the new song represents them well. I don’t know if it was tracked at the same time as Point of No Return, but they list a 2022 recording date, and the team of producer Joona Hassinen at Sweden’s Studio Underjord and mixing/mastering engineer Karl Daniel Lidén is consistent across both album and single, so if it’s a leftover from the album sessions, it’s one well chosen to feature by itself.

Point of No Return isn’t short on hooks, with songs like the leadoff “One Thousand Sighs,” the emotive and atmospheric cast of “A Distant Shore” or the side B highlight “Things Have Changed.” “Empty Palaces” works in this vein but is slightly shorter and more direct in doing so. Its verse picks up around a comfortably-paced swinging groove, as the vocals of Andreas Kaján — he stars in the video as the frontman very much not involved in lugging equipment back and forth, which is what guitarist Martin Ahlö, bassist Jonas Ridberg and drummer Joel Kronqvist are up to throughout; to be fair he’s busy playing along to the song — draw the listener toward the melodic catharsis-release of the chorus. There’s nothing too tricky happening structurally, and there doesn’t need to be.

The band have long since proven themselves able to conjure grand expanses of tonal reach, but fuzz rock is still somewhere at the core of that. “Empty Palaces” doesn’t revisit their past even if it’s stripped down in comparison to some of the songs on the record, but it hits in a different way, which, again, makes it work well as a single. See? I knew we’d get back around to the point eventually. One strives for the kind of efficiency Craneium show here.

Enjoy the clip, congrats to the band on joining forces with Majestic Mountain (and to the label on the pickup of a killer band), and here’s looking forward to what comes next:

Craneium, “Empty Palaces” video premiere

Martin Ahlö on “Empty Palaces”:

“A friend of the band gifted us a book on old Egyptian magick, and some of the spells carried really empowering messages. It also inspired the themes that we explored a lot in our music at the moment: the inevitable decay of mankind’s empires and monuments at the hands of nature and time.”

Joel Kronqvist on “Empty Palaces”:

“We’re beyond excited to share a new single called “Empty Palaces” with the world. This track is the perfect blend of our signature 90’s edge mixed with the soulful, retro vibes of the 70’s.”

Craneium is back with a new track ‘Empty Palaces’ and the first to be released on Majestic Mountain Records!

Their latest album, “Point of No Return,” released on February 23, 2024, dives deep into this sonic universe. Tracks like “One Thousand Sighs” and “The Sun” promise an auditory journey through expansive landscapes, both physical and emotional. This album marks a continuation of their evolution since the critically acclaimed “Unknown Heights” in 2021, which was also the start of their venture with The Sign Records.

Video created by Craneium. All music written, arranged and performed by Craneium.

Recorded and produced by Joona Hassinen at Studio Underjord, Finspång, Sweden October 2022
Mixed and mastered by Karl Daniel Lidén.

Craneium are:
Andreas Kaján – vocals, guitar and keys
Joel Kronqvist – drums and percussion
Jonas Ridberg – bass
Martin Ahlö – guitar

Craneium, Point of No Return (2024)

Craneium on Facebook

Craneium on Instagram

Craneium on Bandcamp

Majestic Mountain Records webstore

Majestic Mountain Records on Facebook

Majestic Mountain Records on Instagram

Each successive full-length from Turku, Finland’s Craneium up to this point has been a progressive step forward from the one before it. It’s where that progression has brought them that makes their fourth long-player, Point of No Return, a special moment. As the sweeping, lush and gorgeous crescendo of opening track “One Thousand Sighs” to its final peak — a tonally rich and urgent but not too fast chug pushed forward by emphatic snare carefully placed in the mix, surrounded by layers of melodic vocals in a dynamic movement that prefaces the encompassing breadth of much of what follows before dropping with residual echo to a sentimental intertwining of acoustic and electric guitar as denouement across the last 40 seconds of its 5:34 — the band’s mastery is glaringly obvious, a brightness cast in kind with the Jaime Zuverza cover art. Point of No Return is the four-piece’s second outing backed by The Sign Records after 2021’s Unknown Heights (review here), and sees them working again with that album’s producer, Joona Hassinen, who also mastered late-2018’s The Narrow Line (review here), at a Studio Underjord now relocated from Norrköping to Finspång, Sweden, while Karl Daniel Lidén of Stockholm’s Studio Gröndahl handled the mix and master.

Across the six songs and deceptively-expansive 37 minutes, whether it’s in the underlying performances of guitarist/vocalists Andreas Kaján and Martin Ahlö, bassist Jonas Ridberg and drummer Joel Kronqvist, or the more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts grandeur they cast in the memorable choruses of “One Thousand Sighs,” “The Sun,” “A Distant Shore,” “…Of Laughter and Cries,” “Things Have Changed” and “Search Eternal” — yeah, that’s all six; it’s front-to-back — or the way even the most impact-minded stretches complement and maintain the atmospheres harnessed through contemplative, patient, purposeful semi-drift, the overarching mastery can’t be ignored. More than a decade on from first getting together in 2011 and nine years after their debut LP, Explore the Void, got them picked up by Ripple Music for a 2016 release, Craneium present themselves as mature and intentional in their craft, graceful in rhythm and melody alike, and aware of what they want their songs to be doing and how they want each to inform the greater context and undulating flow of the album as a whole.

This is conveyed in Frida Eurenius of Spiral Skies guesting on vocals to help put that already-noted apex of “One Thousand Sighs” over the top, as well as Skraeckoedlan‘s Robert Lamu contributing lead guitar to “The Sun” — I’ll note also what seem to be keyboard or piano strikes in that song’s verse; Lamu‘s band employed similar urgency in “Mysteria” from their own new album for a nice shout-out — and, for a just-them example, the way the final solo of “A Distant Shore” holds its tension in Kronqvist‘s soon-fading toms as the non-lyric vocals (ready for an audience singalong as much as they are an epilogue), far-back Mellotron and airy guitar end side A only to have the initial crash of “…Of Laughter and Cries” immediately reground with the more uptempo groove that follows. With a direct shift, that bit of contrast echoes how the buildup of “The Sun,” which is Point of No Return‘s most fervent shove, responds to the quiet finish of “One Thousand Sighs” just before, and though the interaction changes as the couple seconds of silence on side B between the penultimate “Things Have Changed” — the chugging verse and declarative chorus of which mirror “The Sun” in their grounded execution — and “Search Eternal” are tense with anticipation, Craneium nonetheless feel mindful in these pairings and their arrangement across the two sides, each set up such that its procession complements the other.

The split on the vinyl version (I’m not sure there is a CD; take that, ’90s heads), between “A Distant Shore” and “…Of Laughter and Cries,” makes for three songs on each side, and the symmetry of construction extends to “A Distant Shore” (7:35) and “Search Eternal” (7:23) each as the longest running track among its respective three. It’s not the most radical difference between those and the others between five and six minutes long, but still a choice that feels purposeful, especially as “Search Eternal” enters its final outward-pointed movement in a midsection marked by near-elephantine keyboard swells and cycles of guitar that, indeed, seem to be exploring and finding their way forward. And that “Search Eternal” has a hook in its early going is no less representative of Point of No Return as a whole.

On sound alone, it and “A Distant Shore” both work as grand finales. The side-A-capper plunging into Mellotron-laced melancholy and a post-stoner float, and its chorus stands ready to imprint itself on your brain, but the way its riff hits more straight-on before the cymbal wash and danger-zone guitar lead into a heavier rush — still methodical in the detailing with key or guitar sounds peppered in the momentary tumult — before the solo brings “A Distant Shore” to a head and it recedes into the aforementioned, immersive ending, Ridberg‘s bass and Kronqvist‘s drums tasked with keeping feet on the ground through the transition as the melody and ambience lend an aspect of drama without feeling like Craneium have pushed too far and gotten lost. What makes “Search Eternal” function so well where it does is how it emphasizes the fluidity of everything preceding. Beginning with resonant low end fuzz and moving swiftly into its verse, it lacks nothing for fullness of sound at its heaviest — and the mix is a significant space to fill — but Point of No Return would be a much different album if volume was its only priority.

Further, the ease with which they turn from a few measures of bombast to the march-through-the-cosmos instrumental ending, while evocative of the stated climate-crisis thematic, underscores the point of the directorial role they’ve played a songwriters. It’s not that they’ve given up the riffy foundations from whence they’ve come, but while the core “The Sun” could be read as extrapolated from Songs for the Deaf-era Queens of the Stone Age, there’s no denying that Craneium take that particular charge and use it toward their own ends. That, coupled with the care and attention so clearly paid to the root performances and the additional layers constructed around them, affirms Point of No Return as the defining statement of Craneium‘s tenure thus far. Accordingly, where their own ‘search eternal,’ i.e., their collective ambitions in sound, craft and expression, might take them from here feels broader in possibility than it ever has.

Craneium, “Things Have Changed” official video

Craneium, “One Thousand Sighs” official video

Craneium, Point of No Return (2024)

Craneium on Facebook

Craneium on Instagram

Craneium on Bandcamp

The Sign Records on Facebook

The Sign Records website

My understanding of the situation is that Turku, Finland, heavy progressives Craneium finished recording their upcoming fourth LP, Point of No Return, in Oct. 2022. That was a month after premiering a video for “Victim of Delusion”, which was issued as a standalone digital single following 2021’s Unknown Heights (review here), which was their first album for The Sign Records.

That’s plenty of lead time. I say put the thing out Friday. “One Thousand Sighs” sure sounds ready to be heard, let alone either of the tracks they’ve put out as singles thus far, “Things Have Changed” (true: the band have grown) and “The Sun,” which boasts a guest appearance from Skraeckoedlan‘s Robert Lamu. All told, Point of No Return runs six songs, and as someone listening to it right now, I’ve yet to find a dud in the bunch.

I can only imagine the relief Craneium will feel to get this out after sitting on it for a year-plus. Note the Karl Daniel Lidén mix and master and keep in mind ideas of clarity and refinement. Their choruses speak more to the listener here than they have before. I’m interested to get to know the songs better and I’ll hope to have more before the record’s already been out for like four months or some such.

From the PR wire:

Craneium are set to release their fourth album “Point of No Return” in February 2024 via The Sign Records. The Finnish four piece’s upcoming, studio recorded effort is their most ambitious one yet, washing over you through a constant ebb and flow of fuzzy heaviness, complemented by psychedelic melodies and atmospheric passages. The album follows their 2021 studio effort “Unknown Heights” (The Sign Records), “The Narrow Line” (2018, Ripple Music), and “Explore The Void” (2016, Ripple Music).

The album was recorded by Joona Hassinen at his new Studio Underjord in Finspång, Sweden with mixing and mastering duties handled by legendary Karl Daniel Lidén (Studio Gröndahl). The band has long admired his work with giants such as Lowrider and Greenleaf, and we are more than pleased with the end result. With the songwriting expanding upon the Craneium sound with atmospheric guitar leads and heavy riffing, the dynamics have become more polished and clean. Conceptually, the lyrics deal with the climate catastrophe and the responsibility of mankind for planet Earth. The artwork was handled by psychedelic artist Jaime Zuverza and complements the music perfectly.

Craneium is:
Andreas Kaján – Vocals & Guitars
Martin Ahlö – Vocals & Guitars
Joel Kronqvist – Drums
Jonas Ridberg – Bass

https://www.instagram.com/craneiumband/
https://www.facebook.com/craneiumband/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fRtbrVBXuRjfpdyEiOBRK
http://craneiumband.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thesignrecords/
https://www.instagram.com/the_sign_records
https://linktr.ee/TheSignRecords
http://www.thesignrecords.com

Craneium, “Things Have Changed” official video

Craneium, “The Sun” (feat. Robert Lamu) official video

Last I heard from Finnish outfit Craneium, the Turku-based heavy rockers had finished recording their next full-length for The Sign Records, following up on 2021’s Unknown Heights (review here). Frankly, it still hasn’t been that long since that record came out, so it’s not really a worry that instead of news about the next album, the new song “Sands of Gold” arrives specifically pointed out as a standalone single rather than a herald of an LP to follow.

If it’s the ubiquitous pressing delays, cost-of-everything concerns, or whatever else might be behind putting this out before moving forward with a new album, it doesn’t really matter. New Craneium is welcome regardless, and if this is the capstone for their Unknown Heights era, it both reminds how cool that record was and makes me look forward to what’s coming next.

YouTube stream is at the bottom of this post. If you prefer another service, there’s a bunch linked in the PR wire info that follows here:

Craneium release stand alone single “Sands of Gold”!

The new single from Finlands’ Craneium is called “Sands of Gold” and it oozes of heavy blues rock, desert sand and gasoline. But it’s more than a heavy rock tune with a lot of drive, it’s also a song filled with hope.

The stand alone single was written during the sessions for the bands’ latest album “Unknown Heights” (2021). The band recorded the song at V.R. Studio in Turku together with Joona Hassinen from Studio Underjord.

Listen to the single via your favorite streaming platform or right here: https://orcd.co/sandsofgold

Guitarist Martin, who also handles the lead vocal duties on the track, explains:
“The line ‘we all must do our part / got a new world here in our hearts’ is inspired by a quote by anarcho-syndicalist Buenaventura Durruti. The song is about believing in your thing and staying true to your ideas, even if it at times may seem dark. Something we all could use a little more of right now.”

“Sands of Gold” is out now on all streaming platforms via The Sign Records: https://orcd.co/sandsofgold

Craneium is:
Andreas Kaján – Vocals & Guitars
Martin Ahlö – Vocals & Guitars
Joel Kronqvist – Drums
Jonas Ridberg – Bass

https://www.instagram.com/craneiumband/
https://www.facebook.com/craneiumband/
http://craneiumband.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thesignrecords/
http://www.thesignrecords.com

Craneium, “Sands of Gold”

Returning after four-plus years presumably spent repenting for how good their first record was, Finnish heavy cultists Mansion offer Second Death as the follow-up to 2018’s First Death of the Lutheran (review here) and bring even more sinister atmospheres and religious authoritarianism to bear across seven songs and 49 minutes of unrelenting commitment to aesthetic and presentation, sex and death. They remain true to their founding basis in exploring the ideas and practices of the Kartanoist sect in the first half of the 20th century led by Alma Kartano, a role played with if not exactly fully embodied by the band’s own Alma, who is introduced with due theatricality by fellow vocalist Osmo on opener “Sword of God,” full of warnings to the righteous and sinners alike of deathly penance to be paid.

The eight-piece band — Alma and Osmo singing, Jaakob and Samuel on guitar, Immanuel on bass, Matti-Juhani on the crucial organ, Aatami on drums (also guitar) and Mikael with lyrics — are malevolent in spirit and patient in the delivery of their material, as demonstrated early with the choral intro “Procession” before “Sword of God” begins its rollout, in the buildup of the second half of layered vocal highlight “No Funeral,” in the ambient transitions between songs throughout seemingly contributed by Juhana that make the record so effective in never quite letting you go until entire mass has ended, or in the chugging low end and semi-industrial wash that serves as the payoff for centerpiece “Heathen Hole,” that song something of an encapsulation of Mansion‘s take on making doctrine out of kink and vice versa.

As lush in its production — recording, mixing and mastering took place at Noise for Fiction in Turku and was helmed by Joona Lukala — as it is resonant in its darkness, Second Death answers back to the realizations of Mansion‘s first album with the increased dramaturge of “In the Court of the Sorrowless,” which moves from its slowly unfolding hook into an actual trial in its second half backed with chastising and foreboding lines of keyboard, far away percussion and rumbling bass that gradually give over to the transition to “Second Death” itself, the march of which is immediate and answers back to “First Death” from the debut in its emphasis on songwriting. Like “Sword of God” — which boasts the chorus, “Don’t break the rules, little boys and girls/There’s nothing out there for you in the world” in a tidy summary of the cult’s self-imposed misanthropy as led by Kartano — and “No Funeral,” “You Are Suspicious” still to come and “Heathen Hole,” the title-track is thoughtfully composed and engaging, mixed for depth and wholly immersive even as it willfully slogs (flogs?) in tempo and declares a soul-death in a swirl of howls and consuming doom that would be ecstatic were it not so menacing and implicitly violent.

This is the balance Mansion ultimately cast with Second Death, between individual songs standing themselves out from the collection — “In the Court of the Sorrowless” has its hook as well, but is more distinguished by the aforementioned trial, which, by way of a spoiler: divorce not granted — even as they place emphasis on drawing them together through theme, of course, and with the atmospheric stretches that lead from one piece to the next. Also there’s just more sex. First Death of the Lutheran wasn’t lacking, by any means, but Mansion more fully convey the bound-for-hypocrisy tenet of celibacy and theorize Alma‘s various punishments — “I shall whip you good,” she croons before the chorus on “You Are Suspicious” — as about domination as much as contrition before one’s god. As the leader of the movement, she is the god and her will, thematically speaking, is cast across the entire record. They end side A with “Heathen Hole.” How much clearer could they possibly make it?

And maybe there’s a winking sensibility behind some of that, but what matters most is that Mansion are completely without irony in their presentation. Straight-faced. I’m pretty sure putting your tongue even in your own cheek is a sin in Kartanoism. But that is the way it has to be, because the group simply wouldn’t work otherwise. Mansion would be another cult doom band, if one with a gimmick. And no, I’m not saying that Osmo actually lives in fear of Alma or that the band are practicing Kartanoists in their private lives, but like good theatre, they’re able to transport their listeners into a world where that is the case, and to tell their stories in such a way that the backdrop of fanaticism is unflinching, unquestioned. It doesn’t matter if you’re actually being hunted in “Sword of God,” because the song, like the rest of the album that follows, is so well crafted that its, ahem, procession, is followable without having to continually suspend disbelief.

Right into the riffy turn that marks the crescendo of “You Are Suspicious” with the arrival of the buzzsaw guitar solo at 6:33 into its total 9:27 — an extended edition features as a bonus track on the CD with additional ambience at the beginning and guitar by Henrik — departing from the earlier organ-inclusive death-doom-worthy plod into a faster moment of tension-release, Mansion keep hold of the consciousness, and with intricate arrangements of vocals, guitar and bass and keys, they’re able to portray ascetism without any actual aural drudgery, or at least no more than is intended. They are punishing sinners, after all.

Be it the duet undertaken by Osmo and Alma on “Heathen Hole” or the severity of the lumber behind them in “Second Death” itself, the melody that seems to break through the early going of “In the Court of the Sorrowless” or the build back to full-volume crux with the above-quoted admonition in “Sword of God,” Second Death is disturbing in its beauty in exactly the way it’s supposed to be. It solidifies some aspects of the first record while progressing in sound and scope overall, and weaves its holy retribution with purpose and mystique, of and at once outside genre for residing on its own level of execution. Sex, death, violence, mystique and control. Mansion bask in these notions and, centering their theme as they do, use them to manifest the puritanical ideal of who they are as a band, conceptually and practically.

Mansion, Second Death (2023)

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Oh shit. Nearly four years after the release of their awaited debut album, First Death of the Lutheran (review here), Finland’s Mansion — who win at cult rock by not being horror cinema cliché — hereby announce their follow-up out Jan. 13, Second Death. As fate and timing would have it, I’ve got the tape master playing right now for the first time while I’m writing, and my goodness this is awesome. Classic doom unfolding early in “No Funeral” with an entire drama laid out in the arrangement overtop, only after the hook in the second half of “Procession/Sword of God” has implanted itself on my brain. That’ll be a fun one to hear in my sleep. Oh, and “No Funeral” also goes nuts later on. Just a heads up.

I’m not at “You Are Suspicious” yet, and that’s the song that you’ll be able to stream at the bottom of this post by the time it goes live, but if you heard First Death of the Lutheran and/or some of Mansion‘s other short releases, I’m not sure that’s going to have prepared you for what’s on offer here, and that applies both to the most outwardly heavy parts thus far into side one and some of the psychedelia as “No Funeral” gives way in a fluid change to “Heathen Hole,” some Britfolk acoustic there as Osmo joins Alma again on vocals. Oh and then it does a doomer take on ’90s David Bowie. Ask more of it, I dare you. I’m not even halfway through yet, either the song or the record.

And again, “oh shit” for the riff in “The Court of the Sorrowless.” I can’t wait to hear how weird this gets. Yup, there it goes.

Some info or other will follow here if it doesn’t yet:

MANSION – Second Death

Preorder: https://weshalllive.bandcamp.com/album/second-death

Do you feel the rising heat? Do you smell the sulphur? It has been written and foretold, thus the Second Death is upon you.

Oh poor sinner, you have another thing coming for Mansion’s sophomore album Second Death will be released Jan. 13

This intimidating release contains accounts of the trials and tribulations of the chosen few, those who will sit by the Lord when the trumpets roar and the angels mourn the demise of humanity.

The tracks on this album are the group’s heaviest to date both in sound and content.

The hymns of Second Death attack the pitiful bearers of unclean thoughts, the turncoat serpents among the flock and the hypocritical justice of the sorrowless.

Second Death will be available on cassette, compact disc, vinyl and streaming.

Perdition (black) vinyl: 90 copies

No Rest for the Wicked (tr. violet) vinyl: 90 copies

Lake of Fire (Red/yellow marble) vinyl 80: copies

CD: 100 copies

Cassette: 35 copies

First single: You are Suspicious

Better forget your wicked ideas for Mother Alma sees through you and your deviant wit. The first single of the sophomore Mansion album Second Death is called You are Suspicious. You will get caught for your trespasses, have no doubt in your deceitful little mind.
The track features a fierce guitar solo by Tommi Hoffren (Jess and the Ancient Ones)

Tracks:
Procession
Sword of God
No Funeral
Heathen Hole
In the Court of the Sorrowless
Second Death
You Are Suspicious

The Band and guests:
Alma – Vocals
Osmo – Vocals
Aatami – Drums, guitar
Samuel – Guitar
Jaakob – Guitar
Immanuel – Bass
Matti-Juhani – Organ
Mikael – Lyrics

With:
Juhana – Additional instrumentation & ambient soundscapes
Henrik – Guitar solo on “You Are Suspicious”
Kustaa – Ambient sounds on ”Procession / Sword of God” and ”Heathen Hole”

https://weshalllive.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/mansionalma/

Mansion, “You Are Suspicious”