Portland progressive sludge masters LORD DYING transform tragedy into triumph. A pair of albums powered by skull-crushing riffs and confrontational howls introduced the doom dogs to the world. In 2019, they delivered Mysterium Tremendum, a record Kerrang! declared a “prog-metal masterpiece.”
The heady and adventurous existential meditation on death kicked off a trilogy. That story continues in 2023 with an increasingly ambitious follow-up, the aptly named Clandestine Transcendence.
“Ultimately, the album is about self-discovery and becoming what you want to become in the face of adversity, no matter how the cards are stacked against you,” Olson says. “I’m not really a spiritual person. But a lyric on the album talks about the transformation of energy, how matter cannot be created or destroyed. It’s from a scientific standpoint.” He laughs. “But maybe the science is spiritual.”
Side A
1. The Universe Is Weeping
2. I AM NOTHING I AM EVERYTHING
3. Unto Becoming
Side B
1. Final Push Into The Sun
2. Dancing On The Emptiness
3. Facing The Incomprehensible
Side C
1. A Brief Return To Physical Form
2. A Bond Broken By Death
3. Break In The Clouds (In The
Darkness of Our Minds
Side D
1. Soul Metamorphosis
2. Swimming In The Absence
3. The Endless Road Home