Pilgrimage – Sigil Of The Pilgrim Sun
Release Date: 10th December 2021
Label: Sleaszy Rider
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal, Doom, Doom Death.
FFO: Officium Triste, Saturnus, Draconian, Mourning Beloveth, Doom:VS, Clouds, Novembers Doom.
Review By: Martha Skourteli
2021 has been, like his predecessor, a very annoying year for reasons we all know and dislike. Still, though, the field of music keeps presenting incredibly interesting and hugely promising new bands and projects. Although we’re near the end of another kind of miserable (again!!!) year, it looks like we’re still getting a lot of doom music coming in. I think it does make sense….doomy years….doom music, no?
A couple of months ago, I noticed a lot of references to a new band called Pilgrimage on social media. I kept a note to check but didn’t really do it until a few days ago when their upcoming album Sigil Of The Pilgrim Sun was given to me to review.
First reaction: What the hell is happening? Why didn’t I check these guys out right away?
Pilgrimage are an international band created by experienced musicians that really know what they’re doing, and I can assure you they do it very, very well. The members of Pilgrimage are from The Netherlands (guitarist Eric Hazebroek) and Malta (bassist Sean Pollecco, drummer Dino Mifsud Lepre and singer Dario Pace Taliana).
With all of them having doom metal running through their veins (all are or have been in gothic doom bands) they formed Pilgrimage in 2019 to express this love, and we’re now lucky to see their first child Sigil Of The Pilgrim Sun coming out on the 10th of December by Sleaszy Rider.
The album contains 7 songs and contains 50+ minutes of doom/ death metal of the best quality. I would say it’s like we’ve put together some of the biggest names of the genre and Pilgrimage are the final result. Think Officium Triste, Saturnus, Clouds, Draconian, Mourning Beloveth, Swallow The Sun, Doom:VS and Novembers Doom (to name a few) all giving inspiration and elements to the music of one band. That’s what these guys are making, and personally…I loved every second of it.
All songs have endless melodies (I mean melodies to-die-for) from guitars that seem to be the heart of everything and are building all the atmosphere. Then you get drums and bass that are hugging these melodies like a laced veil and add beautiful volume and heaviness. All this music is then elevated properly through the very expressive vocals of Dario, who really reminds me a lot of Pim Blankenstein both on his spoken vocals and on his harsh ones.
The lyrics are really beautifully written dark poetry and offer an immense field for exploration, thinking and questions. It’s the type of lyrics that challenge you to pay attention and try to find hidden meanings.
The artwork is simply beautiful and is done by DN Art of Daniel Neagoe (Clouds) who also does guest vocals on the song Silent Descent Into Solitude.
I think it’s plainly obvious that I was really impressed by what I heard. Sigil Of The Pilgrim Sun is a very well-made album by a new band that although they didn’t discover fire, they have created songs that are going to be favoured by a lot of doom fans. They have the experience, they have the skills, they have the inspiration, and they have what it takes to create seriously good doom-death metal that I believe should, and will be, embraced by the doom metal community.
(5 / 5)
