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The Fifth State of Grief

by LẼTUM

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Jan Roger Pettersen
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Jan Roger Pettersen Melancholic, ethereal and epic "funeral" dark ambient infused with some industrial rhythms, distant voices and even a few dungeon synth-like passages. Brilliant! Favorite track: Never Change.
Delta
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Delta Dark, unsettling, chilling. These are the words that come to mind when I try do discribe this album. The bleak atmosphere, combined with the haunting vocals make this album brilliant. I love this album. Favorite track: Let Go.
Danica Swanson
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Danica Swanson Letum's trademark bleak atmospheres mix beautifully here with the more bombastic passages he's also known for. I own the CD as well as the digital version of this long-awaited release, and I must say that the gloomy funereal art on the CD - which is also the work of the multi-talented Mathias Henriksson - is gorgeous. Can't decide if my favourite track is "The Mourning Ritual," "Cast Me Into the Depth," or "Let Go," but in any case, I'm impressed. Favorite track: The Mourning Ritual.
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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    New album 8 years after the last release on Cold Meat Industry. 6-panel digipak with bandnamn and title in silverfoil. Limited to 500 copies.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Fifth State of Grief via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    edition of 500 

      €7.99 EUR or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €3.99 EUR  or more

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 6 LẼTUM releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Dreams and Illusions, The Face of Life and Death, Shades of a Lost World, The Fifth State of Grief, Broken, and The Entrance to Salvation. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      €19.95 EUR or more (20% OFF)

     

1.
2.
Let Go 04:29
There are no ways to explain or display the sense and purpose the outcome and crave to have been alive to have felt alive Without aim I’m not made to last Let go…
3.
Never Change 03:29
I need you, I need you to change I said, raise your voice I said, make your choice I believe, you will never change I know, I never will I know, I never will…
4.
Inside 04:13
5.
Slow, gently I fade into never-ending night Down, bleak I walk into vast delight You, you stand there burning bright Such a release to be at peace You, you stand there burning bright
6.
I lost my faith, I lost myself I had these dreams, I had those days Nothing is clear, nothing is rare Let my lust for breathing airbring end to my despair What else is there? I have no strength, no strength at all I’ve seen you smile, I’ve seen you cry I’ve felt the warmth of your skin I’ve done mistakes, I’ve done them all I’ve lived my life, from start to end The churchbells are ringingflowers on the grave This is the day when I passed away
7.
8.
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10.
11.
Empty 05:46
12.
There is no joy and no despair There is no light or deepest darkness There are no acts of love or hate in The Land of the Dead The Realm of Emptiness What is Thy hope ? oh, miserable soul !.. who gave us hope ? if we all end up... in The Realm of The Dead What lies behind ? the curtains of this endless emptiness... where we'll all end up In that silent depth vanity was all that we believed in... [whispers] there are no words to comfort us no hands to support there are no dreams to drive us out of... The land of the Dead... and that's the only truth... only some hope rests in our hearts... before we die

about

6-panel digipak with LẼTUM and title in silverfoil.
YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCTNwpHB2DSRW8AZ9KSe6H0A

Review from Heathen Harvest:
After eight years of silence, Mathias Henriksson of Letum has returned with a new aural epic of dark ambient compositions. What was assumed to be his final album, Broken, was released on the legendary yet sadly now-defunct Swedish imprint Cold Meat Industry. This time around, Henriksson himself is the sole proprietor of the new album, The Fifth State of Grief. At first glance this is a finely balanced cover with gloomy angelic statues that are locked in prayer, and it encapsulates the sense of desolation that has been worked into each track. I openly confess that Letum is one of the Cold Meat Industry acts that I had the least exposure to during my early delvings into the universe of ambient music, so I had to dig up my old copy of the project’s debut, The Entrance to Salvation—now nearly a decade-and-a-half old—from the uncharted depths of my nowadays rather dusty CD collection to remember once more the darkness of my atmospheric past.

must say that the years that have passed have done some really good things for this project. The Fifth State of Grief feels like a great improvement over the previous records in both production and style. Some passages on the album are more in line with the traditional cavernous sound of dark ambient music while others border on a neoclassical style that has been bastardised by nearly martial-industrial rhythms and the use of harsh vocals, blending in perfectly with the album’s strongly evolving style. The contrast of using powerful outbursts against calmer sonic landscapes of dreamy dark ambience works surprisingly well with sections of minimal brooding melodies that suddenly explode out into bombastic crescendos of harsh metallic percussion and raspy chants. These masterfully crafted transitions breathe a grotesque power into otherwise gloomy and foreboding tracks, and the vocals add the finishing touches, enhancing the already pitch-black sensation of the album. Not all tracks are vocalised, however, but those that are—such as ‘Never Change’ and ‘With Closed Eyes I Can See’—gain a truly sinister touch with the raspy and mesmerizing voice of Henriksson, whose performance greatly adds to an already potent sensation of darkness. Not all songs work as well mixing bleak atmospheres with molten brass though; ‘Inside’ feels strangely paced with a minimal introduction that emerges into something more akin to a distorted brass section. This song in particular was particularly off-putting. On the other hand, ‘The Mourning Ritual’ is an amazing track that seethes of distorted minimalism only to merge into angelic choirs and doom-laden melodies. This is absolute and unexpected brilliance from a gentleman who has been absent from the genre for nearly a decade.

Overall, the album is a fine work of art and the songs are just as ethereal, harrowing, and melancholic as one can suspect of an album named The Fifth State of Grief. It is a solid work of dark music that really is a hybrid of many different shapes and styles. It is ambient yet borders on something else completely when more classically driven elements entwine with harsh black speeches and industrial outbursts. The Fifth State of Grief is certainly an enjoyable new addition to the genre, and though I had expected more of a pure dark ambient album, I’m happy to say that this state of existence is even better.

Rate: 8.5/10
Written by: Skarsnik

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released December 26, 2014

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LẼTUM Lindesberg, Sweden

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