If I have been gravitating around what France has to offer, I decided to “step” a little into Belgium as well and listen to what it has in terms of atmospheric black/doom metal. In doing so, I came across Splendidula, a band now composed of only three people, who have not remained idle this year either, but instead released the album “Absentia”, which, between us, also comes with an interesting artwork.
On 3 April, “Absentia” and its songs were released through Argonauta Records. The compositions are far from conventional form.
Splendidula
© Tom Hens
Filaments of Sound
“This is our pain…”, this is how the band chose to describe what lies behind the album. I admit, that sentence struck me and, in a way, led me from the very first moment to give it a listen. I found that, indeed, there is pain within the songs.
The album is composed of six tracks, carefully guided by a shared atmospheric architecture. It is evident that significant attention has been paid to both sound design and lyrical framing, with a refinement that surpasses earlier releases and signals clear progression.
“Absentia” starts low, with a creeping bass line followed by greyscale black metal riffing. The vocals hover between restraint and emergence, imbued with a cold clarity that cleaves through the instrumental fog. Lyrically, there is a notable precision here, a sense of internal monologue pressed into sound. It stands as an immediate focal point of the record. A defining statement, not a simple introduction.
From this opening, I was led towards a long, unbroken atmospheric continuum, yet the album resists such predictability. It refuses stasis.
“Echoes of Quiet Remain” expands the field dramatically, stretching into near ten-minute territory. The composition breathes in wide arcs, with swelling passages that rise and collapse like distant tides. There is a sense of dialogue embedded within the track, especially in its vocal interplay, which adds a fractured, almost conversational quality to its progression.
From there, “Donkerte” shifts the tone. It moves with more direct emotional articulation, its gothic undercurrent surfacing through vocal lines that carry a heavier expressive charge. The structure remains controlled, but there is a greater immediacy in its phrasing, as if the composition has chosen clarity over obscurity without abandoning atmosphere.
“Dalkuldar” arrives as a brief, reflective interlude. Restrained textures guide it forward, offering a moment of suspension. There is no escalation. It acts as a hinge in the album’s architecture, redirecting momentum rather than halting it.
“Kilte” extends into longer form again, but in a different register. The pacing is deliberate, almost inhuman in its steadiness, moving through blackened passages into doom-laden expanses that feel stripped of excess. It is a track defined by endurance and gradual transformation rather than abrupt shifts. It also reminds me a bit of Agalloch.
“Let It Come to an End” binds the record together. Here, the earlier tensions are not resolved so much as layered. Clean vocals, harsher textures, and atmospheric passages coexist without competing for dominance. It is the clearest expression of the album’s intent, where fragmentation and cohesion meet in the same frame. Lyrically, it carries some of the strongest moments on the record.
This may well be my favourite piece on the album. Many times I found myself starting with it, “starting with the end”, as some might say.
Shades of Absence
At the beginning of the review, I emphasised the fact that the album comes with an interesting artwork. Now is the moment to give it proper attention in writing.
Splendidula have, over time, established a visual language that feels consistent across their catalogue. From “Somnus” [2021] through to “Absentia”, there is a clear preference for subdued palettes, where non-colours dominate and contrast becomes the primary expressive tool.
In “Somnus”, the imagery already suggested interior stillness and nocturnal abstraction. With “Absentia”, that visual philosophy is refined further.
The artwork of the new release does not attempt to overwhelm. Instead, it isolates mood through restraint, using muted tonal shifts to reinforce themes of absence, spiritual fracture, and psychological erosion.
There is a continuity here rather than a break. Both works feel like variations on the same underlying conceptual framework, where light is not absent, but constrained. This restraint mirrors the music itself, where clarity is often achieved through reduction rather than excess.
Closing Reflections
For their fourth full-length and first since “Somnus”, Splendidula present a marked evolution in their compositional language. The integration of harsher black metal elements into their established doom and atmospheric foundations is handled with care, never tipping into imbalance. Clean vocal lines retain their presence even when confronted by more abrasive passages, while the instrumental writing demonstrates a firmer sense of direction than in earlier material.
What stands out most is not simply the shift in genre layering, but the confidence in pacing and contrast.
For listeners unfamiliar with Splendidula, the album offers a clear entry point into their evolving sound. For those who have followed their path since earlier releases, it reflects some people tightening their own language rather than replacing it.
I would not frame it as a rupture with the past. It is closer to a recalibration, one that strengthens what came before instead of dispersing it.
The Songs
“Absentia” [07:35];
“Echoes of Quiet Remain” [09:36];
“Donkerte” [05:51];
“Dalkuldar” [03:06];
“Kilte” [09:13];
“Let It Come to an End” [07:37].
Official Pages
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@splendidula;
Bandcamp: https://splendidula.bandcamp.com;
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2OkAaBRWXeHrCdShfzfkkH;
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/splendidula;
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/splendidula.band/.
