Originally formed in Kielce, Poland in 1992 under the moniker Nemorensis Rex, that band were active with that name until they went on hiatus in 1998. Becoming Where Innocence Died in 2021 with former Nemorensis Rex members Aleksandra (piano) and Danthe (guitar, bass, vocals) at the helm, they were joined by vocalist Adrian two years later. Therefore, there’s a strong continuity with their past, yet with that new name the band took a slight musical shift, further honing their craft and formulating a deliciously dark sound that fuses doom and gothic metal to great effect. The first fruit of their new configuration is the four track Shades Of Memories, a release that will appeal to anyone whose tastes veer towards the dark side.

Like following a trail of breadcrumbs in a petrified forest that lead to a deserted cottage in the heart of the woods, opener ‘Anniversary’ is strangely enticing. It has a magnetic pull that’s hard to resist; an instrumental of immense beauty, it is poetry without words and features keys that hang like icicles in the winter sun. A cinematic tone creates a dichotomy between the welcoming and uninviting; it’s akin to an “abandon all hope” sign, with Where Innocence Died finding beauty within the bleak. At under two minutes it is a fairly brief introduction, but one that sets things up nicely for the following ‘Funeral’. Not since the eponymous title-track on Black Sabbath’s debut album has a tolling bell sounded so ominous, whilst the funeral dirge played on the organ conspires to create a sense of dark foreboding. The whispered vocals sound like the Devil breathing a strange incantation in your ear and welcoming you to the garden of unearthly delights. It’s an immersive listen and one which totally submerges you in the band’s world and that makes the sonic shift at the 7-minute mark all the more startling. A cold splash of water to the face, it immediately shakes the listener from their reverie, and that’s something that will happen throughout Shades Of Memories as the band employ tone and timbre to reposition and change our perspective.

With themes and motifs recurring throughout, this isn’t the kind of release you can dip in and out of. Rather, it is a record with which you experience from beginning to end, and without interruption, to fully appreciate its ebb and flow and circular themes. For example, that Devil’s whisper will reappear on ‘Innocence’ where it creates a kind of Faustian pact with the listener. Likewise, the field recordings which create a sense of place and time will also stitch this release together, turning ‘Dream’ into an ethereal, otherworldly type of song that perfectly captures that moment betwixt wake and sleep.

At 33-minutes this is a fairly brief listen, yet it packs a lot into its running time and suggests there’s much more to come from the (un)holy trinity collectively known as Where Innocence Died.

• Shades Of Memories is released via Godz Ov War Productions and is available now (from here).
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Track List:

1. Anniversary
2. Funeral
3. Innocence
4. Dream