UMUR "Where The Gloom Becomes Sound" is the 5th full-length studio album by Swedish metal act Tribulation. The album was released through Century Media Records in January 2021. It´s the successor to "Down Below" from 2018 and features no lineup changes since the precessor.

Stylistically "Where The Gloom Becomes Sound" pretty much continues where "Down Below (2018)" left of. Dark, melancholic, and atmospheric gothic tinged heavy metal, featuring blackened snarling vocals. The vocals aren´t extreme in nature, but they are raw and snarling. Tribulation come from a past playing both aggressive death/thrash metal and progressive death metal, so it was quite a change of pace when they released the 2015 goth metal influenced album "The Children of the Night". "Where The Gloom Becomes Sound" is now the third album from Tribulation in a similar style, so it must probably be concluded that they´ve now settled and feel completely comfortable with the sound they play.

...and play it well they do. There hasn´t been much development since "Down Below (2018)", but Tribulation deliver their brand of gothic tinged heavy metal with both great passion and conviction. It´s obvious these guys are skilled musicians and that they also know how to write an effectful and memorable song. If I have to mention an act which in many ways have a similar approach it would be fellow countrymen Tiamat, although Tribulation are slightly darker and more heavy. One of the great assets of the music are the many well played lead parts and harmonies, which provide the album with a suiting dark and melancholic atmosphere. Most of the album goes by at mid-pace but some tracks are slower and touches doom metal territory.

"Where The Gloom Becomes Sound" features a dark and gloomy sounding production job, which is professional and suits the album well, but sometimes becomes just a little too dense and murky. Some of the riffs could have stood a little sharper in the soundscape with a slightly more clear sounding guitar tone. Other than that and maybe the fact that the vocals are slightly too one-dimensional in nature, "Where The Gloom Becomes Sound" is a high quality release through and through. Fans of the two direct predecessors should find this one a great listen to. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

Nightfly Big news in the Tribulation camp recently was that longtime guitarist Jonathan Hultén has left the band after 16 years. As he was one of the main songwriters his leaving may in the future have an impact on the sound and direction of the band. Not so on the band’s latest album though as Where The Gloom Becomes sound was written and recorded while Hultén was still on board.

Where The Gloom Becomes Sound finds Tribulation in the same musical territory they’ve been in since 2015’s Children Of The Night where they ditched the death metal in favour of a gothic rock/metal approach. The only thing retained being Johannes Andersson’s growling vocal delivery. The new album wasn’t as immediate as the last couple, apart from a few tracks like Hour Of The Wolf and Leviathans which with their strong hooks and (often used) guitar arpeggios got under the skin straight away. A few plays though and it’s apparent all is well on a musical level as their melancholic melodies take hold. WTGBS is probably slightly heavier than Children Of The Night and Down Below in places like on the driving Daughters of Djinn and Funeral Pyre though the band’s sound remains intact with few changes overall. A minor criticism is the album finds Tribulation re-treading old ground a bit too close for comfort here and there and as a whole the strength of the songs doesn’t quite live up to the last two albums. That aside WTGBS remains another strong collection of quality songwriting.

With new guitarist Joseph Tholl now in place it’ll be interesting to see if he has any impact on the direction Tribulation take. At a release rate of an album every three years or so we may be waiting a while yet , but for now this one will do very nicely.