Album Review: Sonum – The Obscure Light Awaits

Band: Sonum
Title: The Obscure Light Awaits
Label: Dusktone
Release date: April 11th, 2025
Country: Italy
Format reviewed: High-quality digital recording

Album Review: Sonum – The Obscure Light Awaits via Dusktone by Michelle

Sonum, a quite underrated blackened death metal act will be releasing their new album ‘The Obscure Light Awaits’ via Dusktone on the 11th of April, so I thought why not give my honest opinion? This band’s melodic approach is what made me quite intrigued from the very beginning, considering how the intro (‘Due To Inner Mess…) sounds like with the violins and the orchestral elements. So, let’s see what this band has to offer.

The vocals are pretty enjoyable to listen to, and I’d also like the mention the way the guitars exchange riffs in the first track, ‘In This Void We Dwell’, near the end of the song. This aspect quite catched my attention, as I loved how they perfectly fused.
‘Famine’ introduces an amazing blend of melodic features with the violins at around minute 5, which is also the part I enjoyed the most about this track. Sonum manage to balance out both the soft and harsh characteristics of their sound amazingly, and I think this should be more appreciated, especially in black and death metal.

Another track I found very interesting is ‘Ad Mortem’, with its quite gloomier intro and the beautiful tremolo picking from around the first minute. This one may even be a favorite, as the rythmic riff at 2:06 is perfect to vibe to. The 6 minutes this song has to offer are perfect in terms of both sound and length, since I personally don’t have the patience for long songs.

‘Beyond the Gate…’ is possibly just a small pause between tracks, but I aboslutely loved the orchestral aspect of it. Just after this starts the self titled, ‘The Obscure Light Awaits’, and from the first few seconds I enjoyed a lot the energetic aspect of it. I loved the contrast between the melody from the previous track in comparation with the strident sound of this song. Besides ‘Ad Mortem’, this one is definetely going into my playlist once the album fully releases. The violins are perfectly fused with the guitars, and again the rythmic riffs is what makes the track most enjoyable, in my opinion. The song softens at around minute 5, yet the harsh vocals are still present, a pretty interesting approach I’d say.

The following track, ‘Nobody Is Innocent’, reminded me quite a bit of symphonic black metal act Carach Angren with its intro, though just after a minute the instrumentsl itself starts, vocals join in shortly aswell. This song feels slower and more desolate, and I can even hear the bass roaring in my ears.
‘Messenger Of Cosmic Dread’ really surprised me as it kind of stands out from the other tracks with its sound. First of all, we have the calm intro, present in other songs as well. BUT, it contains a calm guitar picking which I found extremely beautiful to listen to, especially in combination with the violins. After this passage we have the actual song starting, the diversity in the riffs being highly accentuated, in a way that I find hard to describe. I highly recommend you listen to this track with headphones on, because I think you’ll be left pleased.

I really enjoyed the drumming in ‘Deliver Us (Final Trip)’, the double bass being more noticeable here in my opinion. At around minute 4 I’m met with an unexpected bassline(?), and all I can say is wow. The way the guiar riff fades in and is in sync with the bass is absolutely amazing, then just after this there is a kind of ‘showing off’ part, as I like to call it. It’s hard to put it into words, but either way I really enjoyed listening to this track.

As much as I thought that I wouldn’t like this album much, I was completely wrong. There are definetely going to be at least three songs that will make their way into my playlist, thanks to Sonum‘s unique way of composing their material. I couldn’t really believe my eyes when I saw how unknown this band is, because I’m sure as hell that they deserve more recognition. 10/10

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10/10  Immortal Classic
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