So what we have here is mildly aggressive mopey, doomy mid paced death metal with keyboards, gothic tones and lots of gloomy atmospheres and and riffs and song titles like ” Lamentation of the Lost Soul”, Sleep of Eternity” and “Where Freezing Spirits Fall”.  What it lacks it bite it makes up for in mood and purely mid 90s aura , including the musty, dry, but authentic (and analog) production  and Jari Filppu’s pained , raspy howls and growls with melancholy lead work that really imbues Rotting Christ‘s A Triarchy of Lost Lovers and  A Dead Poem era.

My feelings on the album are a bit torn as I kinda dug the sound back in the day but it was also mixed with heaps of disappointment at bands changing their sound, but there are definitely some poignant downtrodden moments that really seem like they were recovered from some lost 1994 time capsule like the opening strains of “Delusions Ad Astra”, delicate, morose melodies of “Scent of Venus” and “The Hourglass Infernal”, and its sweeping mopey keyboards and bombastic drums.

Almost nine minute album closer “”Where Freezing Spirits Fall” encompasses the band and the nostalgic sound with an dreary, doomy gait with just a hint of hope dancing in the melodic guitar lines that end the album on a wilting high note. In all, a decent rel;ease that takes you back in time to a weird, divisive and experimental time in metal, and depending on what you thought of that era will determine how you feel about this album.

We only get four tracks, but they’re a sumptuous bunch. Even though two of them are ethereal instrumentals, their Raison d’Etre quality keeps them from being throwaways like the ones you find on most other metal albums. I would even be interested in a full album in this style from them. But, of course, the death/doom is what we want the most, and those two tracks do not disappoint. At around eight and seven minutes each, these vast pieces journey through the raw, honest bite of early Avernus, the romantic melancholy of early Anathema, and the gloomy frolic of Visceral Evisceration. The vocals are of the impassioned, gruff variety similar to Shades of God-era Nick Holmes and Lee Dorian around the time of the Soul Sacrifice EP that you don’t hear too often nowadays, and it fits here perfectly. And, of course, no gothic death/doom recording would be complete without some angelic female vocals, which make a welcome appearance here in the closing track, “Nemo Ante Mortem Beatus.”

Even with throwback metal being all the rage in recent years, this is the first time I’ve encountered this specific sound from a new band. Hopefully, Asphodelus won’t succumb to the same fate as many of the bands that inspire them. We need more of this.