{"id":105568,"date":"2025-10-03T00:00:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T23:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=105568"},"modified":"2025-10-14T08:54:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T07:54:00","slug":"album-review-hooded-menace-lachrymose-monuments-of-obscuration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-hooded-menace-lachrymose-monuments-of-obscuration\/","title":{"rendered":"HOODED MENACE – Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration (2025) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOODED MENACE
\nLachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSeason Of Mist (2025)<\/span>
\nRating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Getting more unorthodox with each release, this latest opus from Finland\u2019s Hooded Menace tests my patience somewhat, and not just with the cover rendition of Duran Duran\u2019s 1982 pop classic \u2018Save A Prayer\u2019. I feel that with Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration<\/em> we are hearing a band caught in-between, somehow transitioning forever more through a musical limbo that never quite sits right.<\/p>\n

This new album \u2013 the seventh full-length from the band \u2013 comes adorned in nostalgic cover art which reminds me of the 1977 cult classic children\u2019s book The World Of The Unknown: Ghosts<\/em>. Equipped with a synth horror intro and six lengthy cuts, this album still serves up the death n\u2019 doom malevolence we\u2019ve come to expect from the trio. This time though the morbid mob entices us with a sound that sits somehow between early 90s doom metal and Mercyful Fate. Maybe it\u2019s this intriguing mix which makes the album feel patchy, but Hooded Menace pack so much into each song that you can\u2019t say you\u2019re not getting your money\u2019s worth even if the tracks do tend to drag.<\/p>\n

The ringleader here is mad axe man Lasse Pyykk\u00f6 who provides a feast of styles whether in the form of traditional metal licks or Cathedral-esque crushings. In fact, a few times throughout this album I hear shades of Cathedral alongside early Paradise Lost with the heavyweight drags often juxtaposed by melodic moments of some subtlety. However, the mammoth riffs slither and throb in their element on those lengthy cuts; great rolling slabs of gloom. Case in point is \u2018Pale Masquerade\u2019 which somehow pits Icon<\/em>-era Paradise Lost with Deceased and King Diamond \u2013 an intriguing mix which actually works.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very interesting how the band marries the expected doom riffs with the Gothic streaks, especially the flecks of cello with \u2018Portrait Without A Face\u2019. \u2018Lugubrious Dance\u2019 also brings atmospheric elements within the doom, the vocals very much in that chesty Nick Holmes (Paradise Lost) style as the expansive closer \u2018Into Haunted Oblivion\u2019 sizzles with excellent lead work which rises from the thick plumes of smoke. Okay, so the cover of Duran Duran\u2019s \u2018Save A Prayer\u2019 isn\u2019t actually that bad at all, but it does sum up the uneven nature of an album that is obviously trying to do something a bit different.<\/p>\n

I do think most Hooded Menace fans will like and appreciate the diversity here. It\u2019s still very much deathly and doomy, but it also requires your focus much more than previous outings. From here on in one can only guess as to what creative pathways the band will take, but Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration<\/em> is certainly the start of a new chapter.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOODED MENACE Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration Season Of Mist (2025) Rating: 7.5\/10 Getting more unorthodox with each release, this latest opus from Finland\u2019s Hooded Menace tests my patience somewhat, and not just with the cover rendition of Duran Duran\u2019s 1982 pop classic \u2018Save A Prayer\u2019. I feel that with Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration we are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,401],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-hooded-menace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105569,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105568\/revisions\/105569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}