Pegah
Mortuanima (“dead soul”) is the debut album by Brazilian Funeral Doom trio Bleak Transcendence, composed of musicians Alexandre Antunes, Michael Siegwarth, and Wagner Müller. This album tells a mournful story of forgotten souls, lost dreams, and the weight of irreversible loss. The artwork, much like the music, blurs the line between life, death, and the unknowable, framing Mortuanima as a chilling meditation on existential horror. The distorted human figure on the cover evokes decay and spiritual corruption, while the mirror serves as a symbolic portal between the realms of the living and the dead. In the background, a shadowy staircase hints at fading memories and abandonment—a fitting visual for an album steeped in sorrow and reflection.
“Unrelenting Stillness” opens the album with a mysterious and enigmatic tone, immediately immersing the listener in a somber atmosphere. As the guitars and drums gradually emerge, they begin to sculpt a soundscape that feels vast and mournful. When the vocals echo through the mix, it feels as though we’re inside a cathedral, witnessing a funeral procession. Given that the track centers around death, it’s fitting that it begins in this way: pointing toward the unknown, an experience we can never truly grasp while alive. The slow, deliberate rhythm perfectly embodies the notion of stillness, while the dirge-like drums underscore the music’s grieving core. Layered keyboards introduce a classical, almost liturgical ambiance, and the addition of violin adds an emotional weight that deepens the track’s sorrowful tone. Altogether, the song sets a powerful stage for the rest of the album, inviting the listener into a realm of reflection and existential dread.
“A Lifetime of Memories” steps momentarily away from the album’s crushing weight. The guitars shift in rhythm, evoking the fluid and fragmented nature of recollection—like memories surfacing and fading in waves. There’s a sense of bittersweet reflection, as if momentarily basking in the warmth of what once was. With “Mortuanima”, the funeral atmosphere returns in full force. The keyboards take on the character of a eulogy, sounding like hymns for lost souls drifting through the void. The rhythm and soundscape align with the anguish at the heart of the track, creating a paralyzing tension that mirrors the emotional collapse suggested by the music.
As the album progresses, the soundscape grows increasingly dark and introspective. On “Darkening the Spheres”, the atmosphere becomes slow, gloomy, and shrouded in mystery. The track feels like a meditation on existence itself, as if exploring a place where the very fabric of being is questioned. “Half-Hearted” follows with a profound sense of mourning—for the past, for lost time, and for dreams that have withered away. It’s a sorrowful elegy that captures the emotional desolation left in the wake of loss.
“Emanating from Devastation” brings the album to a harrowing and resolute conclusion. It feels like the final dissolution of the soul—a descent into the eternal resting place where all journeys end. For those of us still living, it serves as a somber reminder: life continues only until our own time arrives, and then we, too, will vanish into the unknown. This debut will resonate with fans of Pantheist’s reflective grandeur, Evoken’s crushing intensity, and the sorrowful majesty of Funeral.
Label: Eclipsys Lunarys production
Release date: 28 April, 2025
Website: https://bleaktranscendence.com/
Country: Brazil
Score: 3.5/5.0
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