Review by Jeger on July 14, 2024.

Grief - undergoing the process of accepting loss - usually of a close human companion: family, friend or that one guy in the group who couldn’t quite get his shit together but always made everyone laugh, only to get hit by an SUV one night while he was blacked out drunk… The real big one though? Like losing your wife to a random act of violence or a baby to SIDS? Couldn’t even fathom it. God’s fun little ways of showing you how loving and merciful he is… 

Grief is an inescapable process that we all must undergo at some point and what better way to soundtrack the suffering than with black metal? Greek black metal to be exact. Dark Affliction! One of Hellas’ newest entities on the scene but signed to the prestigious Theogonia Records and seemingly in the business of making everyone depressed with albums like its debut LP, Five Stages Of Grief, released on May 24, 2024. 

Five Stages Of Grief is an easy guess. It’s about grief and the music is melancholy and soothing during some parts, particularly in 'Denial' and 'Depression': dreamlike melodies, atmosphere alive with the radiant tone of the guitars but looming like the dread of imminent death and contemplative spoken-word vocals - agony’s bitter soliloquy to bridge the gap between here and the grave. The anger phase: done bargaining, not sad anymore and you’re pissed, but not in the road rage, beat someone up on the side of the road sense of the word. It might get to that if someone pushes you but what you really feel is 'Hate', and this cut’s a slow burn. 'Hate' just kind of festers and its energy is sickly and tortuous, much like the actual emotion: atmosphere even more ominous, vocals like the dread of a thousand mothers dying incarnate and just this overall hopeless sort of gravity to it - suffering the heft of grief’s weight and only a cold blanket of loneliness to extinguish your building rage. 

There’s always this triumphant vibe to these types of black metal records; a vivid melodic silver lining to edge the grey and with Five Stages Of Grief, that silver lining is manifested through soaring leads and gripping, melody-rich passages that oft give way to lulling clean guitar arrangements accented by the somber sound of violin and angelic backing vocals. You will most certainly not be hovering over the skip button during this one. Five Stages Of Grief is a gleaming example of contemporary black metal refinement and a testament to the genre’s capacity for catharsis - those eyes closed, fists clenched moments that you just don’t get with shit like death metal or thrash. The misery niche down pact here like Mgła, only sadder, more elegant and with these beatnikish jam parts that sound like something out of a Quentin Tarantino flick. “Grief is love with nowhere to go”. Nicely put and eloquently lain out for us with Five Stages Of Grief - a modern day specimen but traditionally Greek in spirit and in grandeur. 

Rating: 8 out of 10