Unseen and Unfound

Wraithstorm are a U.S. Funeral Doom act formed by Alicia Cordisco and Lux Edwards, both of which are veterans of the underground who’ve done time with plenty of bands, including bigger names like Judicator and Seven Churches, as well as their own current projects Project: Roenwolfe and Soulmass. Consisting of one nearly 40-minute title track, Unseen and Unfound shows the two putting their years of experience to good use and making a professional and stirring composition that’s so well done it’s almost surprising they haven’t taken a stab at the genre before.

Funeral Doom requires a band to have a strong understanding of atmosphere and how it can be used to build and resolve tension to be more than just slow, plodding nonsense, and Wraithstorm accomplish this with a crunching heaviness and depressive growls that contrasts the often-stirring melodic work and solid baritone vocals that pop in from time to time. They do make the common mistake of dragging out certain sections longer than necessary, but they often make up for it with some haunting, emotional guitar work that really serves as a highlight of the band.

What makes the band stand out the most, however, is their evocative and tragic lyrics, which here focus on the complex suffering and longing caused by gender dysphoria (i.e., the pain of physically presenting as a gender you don’t identify as). A lot of Doom is content with making songs about more nebulous concepts of despair if that’s even their focus, but both Lux and Alicia have clearly personally struggled with dysphoria in their lives, which gives more meaning to every sorrowful dirge and triumphant lead that all comes together to give the music a poignancy and honesty that is often lacking in the genre. As a work of Metal art from a community that’s often overlooked when it’s not grossly disparaged, this stands as an aching and earnest monument, and as a Funeral Doom album, it serves as a strong introduction to a band worth watching.