ALBUM REVIEW: In Somnolent Ruin – Draconian

DRACONIAN are a band often spoken about in hushed tones amongst gothic doom metal fans. Formed in 1993, the Swedish veterans have long established themselves at the forefront of the more epic end of the doom spectrum and on In Somnolent Ruin they prove they’ve still got what it takes to remain there.

This is the band’s first release since 2020’s powerful Under A Godless Veil and also sees the return of original vocalist Lisa Johansson after initially departing in 2011 due to personal reasons and, as an album, it brings together everything that has served the band so well since its inception: a bleak, imposing atmosphere, vocals that combine the ethereal with the demonic and an emotional spectrum that ranges from utter despair to shimmering hope.

Opener I Welcome Thy Arrow sets the tone perfectly and all doom heads listening will no doubt have a smile on their faces as the song begins with a cacophony of tolling bells and gongs underscored by a sinister echoing keyboard line. Johansson’s dreamy vocals enter next, mournful and fragile before the rest of the band crashes in with a mountainous riff and Anders Jacobsson’s beastly, bowel-bothering growls to fracture the silence like an anvil shattering through glass.

This interplay between the tranquil and the violent has long been a key element of the epic doom subgenre but the musicianship and production quality throughout In Somnolent Ruin means it never feels tired or overdone and this is highlighted particularly well in the contrasting vocal deliveries, with the music knocking it up a heaviness notch to compliment Jacobsson’s more brutal voice. Tracks like the more traditionally metal The Monochrome Blade and doomier album highlight The Face Of God use this dynamic balance brilliantly, creating an immersive and haunting atmosphere to really lose yourself in. These two tracks also show off the best of Johansson’s vocals, at once beautiful and desperate, and lyrically they do a great job at summing up the album’s dark themes of questioning one’s place in an increasingly lost world: ‘I saw the face of God and it was weeping. I saw the fate of man and I was screaming’.

Similarly, the more uptempo but no less desolate Cold Heavens explores the delicate balance between life and death and finds no solace in this exploration. ‘What is life but to learn how to die?’ barks Jacobsson before Johansson’s pleading, powerful vocal lines in the chorus take this anthem to soaring new heights. Musically reminiscent of PARADISE LOST in some places and of OPETH in others, it always retains its own unique balance that means drawing comparisons to other bands of their ilk is ultimately meaningless. The slow, cinematic atmosphere of album closers Misanthrope River and Lethe is beautiful in its desolation; both songs coming across like doom ballads, if such a thing can exist (and no, Changes does not count, SABBATH fans).

Epic doom often only really works if the musicians involved have the appropriate chops and the members of DRACONIAN have them in abundance. The guitar work of Johan Ericson and Niklas Nord especially impresses throughout the record, allowing space for Johansson’s voice to live and breathe within the music, while crushing with hammer-blow riffs and monstrous solo lines when required. Drummer Daniel Johansson also does a great job, mixing classic, sparse doom grooves with more technical double kick work to ramp up the intensity. Impressively, the album’s production has been largely handled by guitarist Ericson and often this genre of music lives or dies based on how the whole thing sounds. Thankfully Ericson, along with mixing and mastering support from Karl Daniel Liden, has created an enormous yet still organic sound. Ethereal soundscapes are balanced with the colossal weight of the heavier sections, yet nothing ever sounds overcrowded or over-produced in any way, leading to a dynamic and cinematic sound that gives the whole album a truly epic feel.

Whilst not completely reinventing the wheel with In Somnolent Ruin – DRACONIAN practically invented this wheel so why would they need to? – this album creates such a powerful and spellbinding atmosphere that it’s almost impossible to imagine listening to it only once. An epic doom metal triumph.

Rating: 8/10

In Somnolent Ruin is set for release on May 8th, 2026 via Napalm Records. 

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