Blackened thrash and shoegaze have to be mixing as well as oil and water, especially if black thrash comes from the belly of the sewage filled raw beast, while shoegaze is brought forth in unfounded delirious happiness (see Alcest Souvenirs d'un autre monde). In the case of recently formed Swedish trio Sorgeldom the mixture works wonders as atmospheric depressive black metal, with an occasional expressive outburst, glides along the same emotional lines with equally depressive, yet cold, spacey and withdrawn, instrumental post-rock compositions.

Sorgeldom can be bipolar and come off as a little unfocused at first, racing persistent waves of rising and falling riffs reminiscent of Primordial and Heresi crushing into despondent psychotic stupor, transitions between the parts rough and undefined (I Kloaken Lattar Vi Ankar, Darskapens Karneval). On a pair of songs, however, The Cold Empty Void and the title track itself, the symbiosis comes to fruition yielding the deeply penetrating impressive result.

Simultaneously stirring and downcast waltzing riffs of The Cold Empty Void drill the hole in your psyche, clamoring forward with an urgent guitar tone, until in’n’out of thrash takes one final flight with icy keyboard notes jammed into its midst. The title track takes on the tone of the early, more chaotic, more blackened Dark Tranquillity, painting those sweeping dark melodies in broad brushstrokes, weepy acoustic with an occasional false note embedded in between.

Sorgeldom black metal, even if the guitars slide in familiar tremolo and the drums blast along, is not slicing the flesh off the bones. Instead, it is meant to almost prepare the listener for the withdrawnness which is to follow, the combination of the distant breathing rough vocals with a splash of some clean lines leading the way. The post-rock tracks are mostly instrumental, Vintern Var Hard pacifying as sunny winter day during which all you can do is squint. Watery outro Dyk is short and I Vantan Pa Telefonsamtalet begins on a funeral note and is rather keyboard dominated in the vein of Fear of Eternity. Galactic space travel of Drommarnas Galax makes the cover of Slowdive Summer Day at home, with its stoned out Depeche Mode singing bobbing along to some stuttering rhythms. No metal per se of any kind is to be found on these compositions, but they are just an integral part of Inner Receivings as earlier forceful thrash.

I can see this band going further and further away from its BM part and delving deeper in the atmospheric dark post-rock in the future. Genre labels be damned, Sorgeldom made me feel at home this week, for which I am thankful. It allowed a perfect diffuse soundtrack to wallow in the mire, to feel the sad pang, something I needed. And once an album like Inner Receivings hits you in the right mood, you will be thankful you discovered it then, it will invade your player for a good chunk of time, so when it is finally out, the mark will be left. This is not recommended if you are looking for an Alcest clone or you feel like smashing things.