Review by Jeger on July 4, 2026.

Have you ever experienced existential collapse? Like fighting quicksand becomes the struggle as life-shattering event upon life-shattering event become the reality. It's as if you're standing still in real time while your entire Universe collapses around you faster than you could ever pick up the pieces. It's as if someone else is running the show behind the scenes. Eventually, hopelessness sets in and you feel like giving up completely. Sound like a good time? For those of us who've experienced such tragic existential synchronicity, the answer is an obvious no. But what of collapse on a global scale? We're experiencing it every day and it will continue to fester and grow until the Universe deems it should no longer. The downfall of Humanity - a planetary blight. And what if there was a soundtrack to both our individual and collective downfall? Enter Litosth…

Litosth is a Brazilian Melodic Black / Death Metal duo with leanings toward the symphonic whose Modus Operandi since their 2016 inception has been one of whipping the existential nightmares into a froth. On July 24, Litosth will release "Dreaming" - the fourth installment in what is already a respectable discography. The toll sounds and it's into the depths of nihilistic Black Metal we're plunged as we take in "Defy": symphonic, dread-inducing and villainous like a Sith. Wicked misanthropic BM filling your innermost emptiness with the weight of perdition's cement. Piano as elegant as a funeral service to usher in track two, "Ruin". And with every rolling undercurrent of melody an equal measure of solid rhythm - a mid-tempo'd Emperor-heralding cut during some parts, ominous Limbonic Art vibes during others but bolstered always by a rigid brutality-infused backbone. A proper ode to a tragic end indeed.

Mgła, Austere, HOR and Sicarius - some of the bands that come to mind during the "Dreaming" experience. A hopeless affair! BM for grim certainty and all love lost… And then sound becomes "Abyss"… Dragging ever-deeper before we begin to race along through each composition like a heartbeat mid-panic attack; an anxious segue into the epic "Monolith". Shades of Norway's Sworn blend with those of Germany's Sumerian Tombs; resulting in one of the most atmospheric/symphonic tracks on the record.

You wait around for months for an album like this one - a pro-level offering of elite Black Metal that further solidifies the reality of the fact that BM is indeed an elite genre of music deserving of its notorious/nefarious reputation. And its Artists are capable: capable of enthralling the spirit with gorgeous guitar work like what is put on display during "Iconoclast", inducing awe with chorale keyboard effects like the ones that ensconce the intro to Nadir and rouse up from the gut feelings of Devilish vocal terror a la the closing track, "Gólgota". Chilling spoken word vocals precede fiendish growls and hearty grunts before the album climaxes with one last symphonic onslaught.

The end is nigh! "Dreaming" makes me want to stand out on a busy NYC boulevard with a doomsday sign - muttering twisted curses and waiting for the proverbial trumpet to sound… Your dreams don't matter. Your efforts are worthless. Aspirations for peace do not matter. Our planet is doomed. Our existence is literally unraveling before us more and more each day and Litosth does a fine job at capturing the essence of it all with "Dreaming" - a new and unique chapter in the story of Black Metal nihilism/misanthropy.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10