Photo by Max Holsbeke

“‘Inheritance & Solitude’ is about the acceptance of suffering and eventual demise. No matter where you are in life, there is always suffering, and there’s always death.” A very astute and truly a very goth existential assessment to be making there, guitarist Jay Torblaa, though you and your BALMORA brethren may strike the world more like the next of kin to Nosferatu rather than the mopey, wearing-all-black-and-very-into-witchcraft kind after listening to the latest preview from the Connecticut metalcore band’s debut album, These Graven Halls. The band’s grander flair for theatrics continues to eagerly coming into their own here, charring the earth with the blackest of black metal, grinding axe to sword in each breakdown, and bridging its dueling outro solos with an organ fit for a Castlevania cosplay recreation in the center of the pit. “Unsheathe thy blade and put me through / Grant me my inheritance and solitude,” shreds vocalist Paul Cole. Not all vampires wear capes, as BALMORA rains down death.

BALMORA’s These Graven Halls will be released May 29th on DAZE.