I truly hadn’t heard of this band before, but what Torrens Conscientium bring with All Alone With The Thoughts is one of the better things I’ve experienced in 2014 from Ukrainian soil (indeed, 2014, and we’re close to 2016, but so WTF???). For nearly fifty minutes this album is like a journey through spheres of emotionality, integrity, introspection, grief and, for one reason or another (yet not one the listener should underestimate), anger and disgust. Yet the latter not being of the blaspheme or misanthropic kind, and I think it is important to mention this, because this album contains quite some blackened parts / elements as well.
The focus lies on a rather atmospheric, somewhat traditional form of Doom-Death, though being heavily injected with elements from the Funeral Doom scene. There is a grandiose equilibrium in between the grandeur of the old schooled tradition (Shape Of Despair, Saturnus, Katatonia, Evadne), the funereal side of the game (Monolithe, Skepticism, Thergothon, Ahab) and the blackish view on it (Arcana Coelestia, Evoken etc.), with hints of about every related angle, whether it be the most misty and obscure one (I won’t forget to mention the earlier stuff by Anathema or My Dying Bride), or the rather floating, hypnotic approach (Doom:VS, Apostulum, Dolorian). Indeed, I am talking about quite a not-to-deny mixture of approaches - yet the strength of this band is to translate all this through a very coherent form of unicity. And unicity, in this case, comes close to uniqueness too. No, damn no no no - this band is not the most original one within the Doom-scene – at all. And no, they are not to reinvent the scene either. But their lack of originality is refreshing; can you imagine?
In my first paragraph I mentioned that this album was one of the best things I’ve experienced from Ukrainian soil in 2014, but as a matter of fact, All Alone With The Thoughts is one of the better things I’ve experienced in years within the worldwide Doom-scene. I do truly hope that this trio will come back with new material very soon! Sadness that makes me happy…