Joe Sinclair contributes guest vocals to OBSCURA QALMA's new single “Hollow Bastion,” taken from Immortality Through Ashes. The Venice-based orchestral blackened death metal band announced the album through Dusktone, with an October 23 release date.
Sinclair, formerly the vocalist of She Must Burn and now frontman of HeartRitual, joins a song positioned near the conclusion of the album's story. The announcement describes his horror-tinged vocal contribution as part of the atmosphere surrounding the protagonist's descent. A visualizer accompanies the single.
According to the press announcement, “Hollow Bastion” follows the central character beyond his first physical death, through resuscitation and toward a second, more devastating death. Its setting is a cold, vaulted hall between life and complete death. The character describes his surroundings while trying to recover memories that continue to disappear; his earlier pursuit of a supernatural gift and his arrogance have left him without what he once possessed.
That episode belongs to an eight-chapter narrative informed by Goethe, Kant and Baudelaire. Immortality Through Ashes presents a contemporary interpretation of Faust, addressing desire, transcendence, suffering, egoism and pride. The announcement identifies it as OBSCURA QALMA's second full-length album and their second release for Italian label Dusktone, following the 2024 EP Veils Of Transcendence.
The supplied musical description places deathcore, industrial metal, technical death metal and blackgaze elements alongside the band's orchestral blackened death metal foundation. Recording, mixing and mastering are credited to Leopoldo Santoro. OBSCURA QALMA created the album artwork, Marcelo Vasco designed the logo, and Miriam Brigge is credited for photography.
The eight tracks are presented in this order:
- Aphasia: The Seventh Exile
- Fire Tongues Speak Empty Words
- Obsidian Numen
- The Venomous Oracle
- A Sepulchral Obsession
- Sapphire Epitaph
- Hollow Bastion feat. Joe Sinclair
- Anhedonia.exe
OBSCURA QALMA formed in Venice in 2018. Their first EP, From The Sheol To The Apeiron, appeared in 2019, followed by the full-length Apotheosis in 2021. Orchestral releases have also been part of their catalogue: Soundtrack To Apotheosis followed in 2022, while 2023's From The Apeiron included orchestral versions of the first EP and orchestral tributes. The supplied biography describes 2025's Aiwass as collecting the band's orchestral compositions to that point.
The announced lineup consists of Sirius on vocals, guitars and arrangements, Lucas on guitars, Theo on bass and backing vocals, and Res on drums.
