Our Dying World - Hymns Of Blinding Darkness (2022)

Constantly evolving, American outfit Our Dying World returns with their latest release “Hymns Of Blinding Darkness”, with an engaging Symphonic/Gothic Metal sound. While not extremely polished and still a bit rough around the edges, this outfit delivers nearly 40 minutes of exciting music showcasing good skill and promising songwriting abilities.

After setting the mood with the opener “Ars Moriendi”, the band unleashes “Everything We Know Is Gone”, a track that has a Dark Lunacy vibe, with additional Power/Symphonic Metal elements in the relentless guitar work and keyboards. This style works very well for the band as they deliver engaging songs like “Under The Hunter's Blade”, “Survivor”, and “Path Of The Nomad”.

The band’s songwriting abilities are solid, but far from original, making this our only small gripe with this release. Hopefully they find their identity in future releases, as songs like “Diary Of A War Dog” have solid passages and explosive use of melody and aggression, but feel a bit familiar and will not distinguish this outfit from the crowded genre.

Closing with the excellent Melodic Death Metal-esque piece “Veil of the Reaper”, Our Dying World manages to keep the listener’s attention with soaring guitar melodies, engaging keyboards, and overall solid songs that are well crafted but need more of a personal identity. There are definitely plenty of excellent things about this release that fans of the genre will greatly appreciate, so don’t be afraid and check out this band.

Label: Self-Released

Release: June 24th, 2022

Genre: Symphonic/Gothic Metal

Country: USA