The finished templars of death doom have made their return! Four years after the release of 2021’s grandiose album, “The Tritonus Bell”, Hooded Menace is here with their latest offering to the altar of horror, “Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration”.
With a career spanning nearly twenty years, Hooded Menace have been lurking in the shadows with their perfect blend of death doom. Drawing inspiration from early purveyors of doom, such as Candlemass & Paradise Lost & melding the punishing tones of death metal exemplified by Autopsy & Asphyx, the band creates a perfectly crafted sound of the macabre & haunting.
Their latest album “Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration” sees main mastermind Lasse Pyykkö dig back into the band’s back catalogue to bring the chunkier & heavier side of the band’s sound into this newest album, while still keeping the influence of classic metal that heavily inspired the band’s last album “The Tritonus Bell”.
“Twilight Passages” is a gorgeous introduction to the album, synths that feel like crushed velvet & soaring guitar leads lull you in. Like a hybrid of Goblin & Fabio Frizzi, this track sets the bar high as the first track, “Pale Masquerade,” takes the first swing & it’s a hammer blow to the head.
The heavy pumping guitar riff that drives the opening of the track & its verse sections grabs you straight away. Drummer Pekka Koskelo keeps a solid but hard-hitting backbeat underneath the monolith-style riff. This steamroller of a track has everything you want from a Hooded Menace song. Heavy arse guitar riffs, solid classic rock style drums, face melting leads, a sense of atmosphere & lately a superb vocal from Harri Kuokkanen. Who, since joining the group in 2016, has really added another level to the band.
Keeping that bar high still is “Portrait Without a Face”, the following track with its superb opening section that feels like the perfect blend of King Diamond & My Dying Bride. Clean guitars soaked in echo & reverb slowly introduce the track’s lead riff, which is a slobberknocker. This slowly paced riff, with its loads of character, builds throughout the track. This track is heavily cloaked in a doom feel. A huge chorus on this track makes it an instant hit & has a Judas Priest-like British classic metal feel that fits snugly within the track’s groove & feel.
The keyboards & textures underneath this track are also perfectly executed. They sit perfectly within the mix “The album was recorded by Heikki Marttila at Guru Studio, mixed by Heikki Marttila & mastered by Jaime Gomez Arellano at Orgone Studios” Where other bands sometimes bury those elements underneath everything & end up getting lost. What I love about Hooded Menace is they lean into that feel & those elements feel right at home with all the other instruments.
The standout track for me on this album is the mighty “Lugubrious Dance”. Opening with this hard as nails guitar riff that fades in gradually before the band switch things into another very bouncy, groove-heavy riff that catches you off guard. Harri Kuokkanen’s vocals on this track are also his most anguished, sounding like a guy retching. There is a point in the track where they slow things down & the doom-soaked riffs turn up the epic, but wait, there’s more.
At the halfway point, a stomping riff is introduced, and the galloping turn for the track picks up the pace; Pyykkö plays a complex but mesmerising solo over it. At the same time, this theme repeats & the track feels like a perfect slow buildup to the last half, which just blew me away & I’m all in for it. Fan-bloody-tastic lads!
Hooded Menace have yet again crafted a masterpiece. There aren’t many bands that consistently hit a home run with every album, but every time the group releases a new one, I’m always taken aback by how they can maintain their core sound while expanding it just enough with each new release to give you something different. The entire band’s discography features albums for various moods, seasons, and more. So when it came to the first spin of “Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration”, it gave me everything I love for Hooded Menace, those epic & harrowing doom moments with the heft & no bullshit death metal, and sprinkling their love for the early classic metal that gives them a different feel to most other death doom fans.
This album ranks alongside their early material, which for a band with such a long career is no small feat. Let’s hope the band will tour one day so we can hear these superb tracks live!
10/10
Review: Joseph Mitchell
Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration is out via Season of Mist on 3rd October 2025
Tracklist
1. Twilight Passages (1:04)
2. Pale Masquerade (7:50)
3. Portrait Without a Face (7:15)
4. Daughters of Lingering Pain (7:25)
5. Lugubrious Dance (7:20)
6. Save a Prayer (6:12)
7. Into Haunted Oblivion (9:47)
Full runtime: 46:55
Line-up:
Harri Kuokkanen — Vocals
Lasse Pyykkö — Guitar, Bass, Keyboards
Pekka Koskelo — Drums
Production Credits:
Recorded by Heikki Marttila at Guru Studio, Joensuu, Finland.
Mixed by Heikki Marttila.
Mastered by Jaime Gomez Arellano at Orgone Studios, Portugal.
Guest Musicians:
Antti Poutanen — Cello
John McNulty — Spoken Word
Cover Art:
Wes Benscoter (https://www.wesbenscoter.com/
Photography:
Pasi Nevalaita
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