Lord Almighty - Wither

Lord Almighty, "Adrift" in the Realms of Maddening Black Metal


Releasing singles for an album is challenging: they’ve got to be good, and they have to convey the essence of the album while leaving some treasures for a full listen to unearth. Even with two stellar singles already out in the wild, Lord Almighty‘s upcoming album Wither still has a staggering amount of depth left to reveal: their third single “Adrift” rampages through sludge, heavy rock, and more, all coalesced under black metal’s unifying shroud.

Accompanying it comes a trance-inducing music video providing a lot more questions than it answers — and the swinging pendulum it features sends chills down my spine. Watch and behold:

Lord Almighty showcases how progressive combinations of extreme metal can bring the raw, heavy facets of their ingredients to the forefront. The heavy dose of sludge here on “Adrift,” as well as the black-‘n’-roll that briefly makes an appearance, are not tacked on to check boxes, nor do they draw the song out. Everything is in its ideal, natural place here, measured out exactingly.

Notably, the blackened, rock-oriented riff that kicks off the second half of the song lasts an almost painfully short period of time to me, but the impact and menace it brings is crucial to the structure of the track. That fits with the rest of Wither, which draws from an impressive array of influences and styles without simply showing them off in a round-robin fashion.

It’s not a full expedition into the whirlwind of styles in Lord Almighty’s intense approach to progressive black metal, but “Adrift” is a vivid snapshot of the awaiting mayhem.

Wither releases October 16th. Digital preorders available via Bandcamp, vinyl can be found here.


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