Finnish death/doom metal band Hooded Menace announces new album »Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration«; first single/video streaming now!
Finnish death/doom metal band Hooded Menace has announced their seventh album, »Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration«, which will be released on October 3rd, 2025 via Season Of Mist.
Watch a music video for the first single »Portrait Without A Face« below!
Tracklist:
01. Twilight Passages
02. Pale Masquerade
03. Portrait Without A Face
04. Daughters Of Lingering Pain
05. Lugubrious Dance
06. Save A Prayer
07. Into Haunted Oblivion
Courtesy of Season Of Mist:
Over the past 20 odd years, Hooded Menace have stood not as a bridge but a pillar between two different realms of underground metal. The cultishly beloved band’s upcoming seventh album is still bound by a morbid obsession with classic horrors. But on »Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration«, Finland’s stewards of death-doom remain far from stuck in their ways. Lead single »Portrait Without A Face« cranks up the neon-soaked nightmares while digging out a grave new surprise from under their long-sleeve.
Watch the classic horror video for »Portrait Without A Face« on the Season Of Mist YouTube channel.
»Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration« comes out October 3, 2025 on Season Of Mist. Pre-order & pre-save HERE.
Photo by Pasi Nevalaita
Hooded Menace continue to pave a harrowing path for undying metal legions who crave creepier, crushing tempos. The band’s new single opens with drummer Pekka Koskelo pounding like death’s door. Their flesh-eating muse still looms over »Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration«. Cover artist Wes Benscoter recreates director Amando de Ossorio’s the Blind Dead in all of the film’s ghoulish glory. But the album hammers home the influence of ’80s heavy metal that was rung in by previous LP »The Tritonus Bell«. With its conspiratorial web of leads, »Portrait Without A Face« bears a glowing resemblance to King Diamond.The lasting influence of Candlemass and Paradise Lost hasn’t vanished without a trace, but Hooded Menace continue to break the mold that they’ve set for death-doom. While the bone-crushing riffs of founding member Lasse Pyykkö cement the rock-solid foundation beneath »Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration«, even he was surprised when sculpting the album’s lead single. Like an echo from beyond the grave, what should appear within »Portrait Without A Face« but the haunted moan of a cello.
“Sucked into the realm of sweet damnation.” vocalist Harri Kuokkanen growls deep into the dead of night, as if lured down a darkened hallway by former live bassist Antii Poutanen’s sorrowful string saws.
The video for »Portrait Without A Face« was directed by Tekla Valy with additional footage filmed by Mikko Saastamoinen.
Hooded Menace is:
Lasse Pyykkö – Guitar, Bass, Keyboard
Harri Kuokkanen – Vocals
Pekka Koskelo – Drums
Guest musician:
Antti Poutanen – Cello
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well