Bulgarian melodic doom/death metal band Embrace By Dark unleashed their third studio album »Extrasensory«; out now via WormHoleDeath!

Sofia, Bulgaria based melodic doom/death metal band Embrace By Dark stream their third studio album, »Extrasensory«, which was just released on October 25th, 2024 via WormHoleDeath.

»Extrasensory« is available now on Spotify and all major streaming platforms!

Tracklist:
01. Zone Unknown
02. Bioenergized Hologram
03. Outer Realm
04. Preternatural
05. Aura Code
06. Extrasensory
07. Soul Mechanical Autism
08. Sonic Overdose

Embrace by Dark is of those rare kind of projects whose existence denies the limitations of time and space to become something much more lasting and significant than an ordinary metal band. Stared in distant 1995, with the years, they turned to be one of the most impressive and distinctive names within Bulgarian extreme scene – a status, hold up until today.

Shortly after the beginning they entered the studio to record their first album »Inlaid Dark Arches«, which aroused a great response from the fans and press and is still a sought after collectors item. Full of ideas and eager for a breakthrough, the group gradually layered more new material, which earned them a solid contract with the cult Bulgarian label 0.4.3., in the Spring of 2001.

Few examples could surpass this epic album in terms of efforts, means and scale. Crazy dreamers and pedantical perfectionists, the band designed something hard to achieve even in real world but almost impossible for the Eastern Europe by that time. It took two years, three sound engineers, seven recording musicians and a long list of collaborators involved, to see the »Sculpture Of The Godforsaken Aeons« completed. The final touch was applied by Stuart Ansits (ex-Cradle Of Filth) at Steelcagesounds (UK), who brought, with the mastering, the whole production up to the world standards.

But the effort was worth it, because the album really took the band to the next level. The originality and value of the material were widely applauded. With a 10/10 review, the German Legacy magazine sums it up like this:

“Embrace by Dark play a rather elevated version of what was called Goth Metal before the term became a dirty word. Dark and raw, similar to early My Dying Bride, Embrace by Dark approach is very innovative without being progressive, ie. songs sound organic and not artificially complicated, although each one of the seven tracks offers more than an entire album by others higher-rated bands has. At the same time, nothing sounds contrived or pretentious, but always relevant – even sometimes the unfitting at first glance, twists and turns eventually find their meaning and conclusion.

Embrace by Dark are not something to be listened to in passing; one should absorb the album with every fiber of his body. Then the soundscapes appear, that affect perhaps strangely, but fascinatingly, even thirling at times.”

Armed with this momentum, over the following years the band continued developing and writing, while also concentrating on their live performances.

Like with their whole art, the live shows of Embrace By Dark were also not designed as ordinary “metal gigs”. Their weird and conceptual music request a different kind of presentation, where the challenge was to recreate all the important elements conceived in studio – an organic and pure metal sound, combined with violins, piano parts, electronic samples, multimedia and a lot of artistry.

This growth culminated in 2009, when the band was invited to open as a special guest the first Moonspell concert in Bulgaria and made a truly valuable contribution to the historic show.

On the difficult path that Embrace By Dark chose to follow, in constant search for perfection and development, a particularly great challenge was to find and retain the right people, with the necessary creative potential, dedication and persistence. Many musicians have passed through the band, but as a rule, most of them were iconic figures – possessing unique talent and playing significant role on the scene.

The continuous efforts in this direction eventually resulted in building the most stable band lineup to date. Meanwhile – with Embrace’s own pace – the material for the latest, third album »Extrasensory« was gradually collected, refined and recorded.

The album was sculpted in several sessions, at SubZeroStudio/Audioslot, upon the expert professionalism of one of the best Bulgarian sound engineers, Nikolay Berberov – Bebo. In 2023, the finished material brought the band a contract with the Italian label WormHoleDeath for its official release.

Unfortunately, in addition to endless creative energy and emotional charge, this album by a sad coincidence was also marked by the tragic loss of the band’s founder, driving force, frontman, composer, lyricist, as well as the inspirer of generations of musicians – Ilko.

After a serious illness, he took to the Other Side on December 13, 2023, but still with the consolation that the album will see the light of day in 2024. Also, before his departure, Ilko managed to approve his place on vocals to be taken by Todor Krassimirov – Sirius (Dimholt).

In this way, the tradition was observed once again of only top representatives of the extreme scene to participate in Embrace By Dark. With this latest change, the band is preparing to present the new material to their fans alongside the release of the new album.

Embrace By Dark is:
Sirius – Vocals
Мinddwell – Guitars
Vlad – Guitars
Fortis – Bass
Angel – Drums

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well