Altars of Grief: The Canadian Architects of Atmospheric Doom Death

Altars of Grief is a Canadian doom death metal band known for its melancholic and atmospheric soundscapes. Hailing from Regina, Saskatchewan, the band's primary achievement is their critically acclaimed 2018 concept album Iris, which solidified their reputation within the international extreme metal underground.

Early career

The band was formed in 2013 by guitarist and primary composer Erik Labossiere. Altars of Grief quickly established their signature blend of crushing doom metal riffs, melodic death metal aggression, and somber acoustic passages.

Their first official release was the 2014 EP Of Ash and Dying Light. This early work caught the attention of the German label Hypnotic Dirge Records, which would become their long-term partner for subsequent releases.

Breakthrough

The band's breakthrough arrived in 2018 with the release of their debut full-length album, Iris. This concept album, a tragic story of a father and his blind daughter, was met with widespread critical praise for its emotional depth and musical cohesion.

Released via Hypnotic Dirge Records and Funeral Rain Records, Iris did not achieve mainstream chart positions but became a cult favorite, significantly expanding the band's audience across North America and Europe.

Key tracks

Isolation — This opening track from Iris perfectly introduces the album's bleak narrative and the band's dynamic range.

Child of Light — A central piece in the Iris storyline, notable for its haunting clean vocals and devastating lyrical themes.

Become the Night — This song from their earlier EP showcases their foundational sound, blending aggressive death metal with melodic guitar leads.

Desolation — A track that exemplifies their atmospheric approach, often featuring extended instrumental passages and a pervasive sense of gloom.

The momentum from Iris led to notable live performances, including a slot at the 2019 edition of the Covenant Festival in Vancouver. The band's activity was impacted by the global pandemic, but they continued working on new material, maintaining their presence within the doom death metal community. Their music often explores themes of loss, grief, and mortality, delivered through a lens of both extreme metal power and fragile melody.

Fans of Altars of Grief often explore similar artists from the Canadian extreme metal scene. Novembers Doom shares a similar mastery of melody and crushing heaviness. Woods of Ypres is another key Canadian act in the genre of melancholic doom metal. Mournful Congregation represents the funeral doom side of the genre with a similarly atmospheric approach. Swallow The Sun offers a Finnish parallel with their blend of melodic death and doom.

The somber and powerful music of Altars of Grief has earned it rotation on specialized online radio streams dedicated to doom metal and extreme atmospheric music. Independent music radio stations with a focus on the metal underground frequently feature tracks from the Iris album in their programming.

Listeners can discover the atmospheric doom death of Altars of Grief through the curated playlists of radio stations featured on onairium.com. Tune in to hear their melancholic anthems alongside other defining artists in the genre.