Oldest Sea – A Birdsong, a Ghost – Album Review

It’s not often that funeral doom offers up an almost cleansing experience but A Birdsong, A Ghost – and particularly the hauntingly ethereal vocals of Samantha Marandola – took us to places filled with both darkness and light. So expressive in their ability to convey raw emotion, Marandola’s almost Kate Bush approach come surrounded by crushing heaviness and positively drips with atmosphere and mournful lament.

“Astronomical Twilight” may recall the stripped-back and timeless sound of My Dying Bride circa-Turn Loose The Swans (in essence we should add, as opposed to pure musical mimicry) but it’s on the gargantuan likes of “Untracing” that Oldest Sea‘s folk-tinged funeral doom truly comes to the fore. Patience, a pre-requisite when it comes to funeral doom, is rewarded once crushing guitars and solemn percussion make their way to the surface and just the merest hint of hope comes blinking, arms-outstretched from the gloom.

We weren’t expecting a release this close to the end of 2023 to rock us to our core….but Oldest Sea‘s A Birdsong, A Ghost is one such album. Exquisite. 9/10

Oldest Sea‘s A Birdsong, A Ghost was released on December 1st, 2023 via Darkest Records