Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin Stygian Bough Volume II Review
Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin
Stygian Bough Volume II
Profound Lore Records
2025
I don’t pretend to be some Doom scholar or gatekeeping guru, but after thirty years of soaking in everything from the murkiest Funeral Doom to the weirdest fringe experiments, I know when a great album lands on my desk. A few weeks back, I opened an email containing the latest collaboration between Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin. I hadn’t heard of either band, not surprising at this stage in my life; I’m old as shit and not exactly “hip,” as the kids used to say. But a little reading revealed this wasn’t some one-off experiment. This trio has crossed paths before and this new release, “Stygian Bough Volume II”, is another dive into their shared abyss.
And honestly? No amount of background reading prepared me for what I heard.
If your tastes run toward Funeral Doom, Drone, Avant-Folk, ambiance, or anything that drifts between restful and spiritually crushing, this album doesn’t just hit the mark, it bends your mind into a pretzel and somehow makes you grateful for the contortion. Is it something I’d spin on a sunny afternoon? Hell no. This record crawls. It demands a certain melancholy, or at least the ability to summon that headspace, or the connection just won’t land the way it should.
Luckily for me, as I write this, it’s raining sideways, freezing cold, and I’m huddled indoors with this album as I contemplate life, death, and every questionable choice that led me to this exact moment. Those aren’t emotions your average Metal record stirs up.
There are only four tracks here, but they stretch across 57 minutes of slow-burning, drifting, shape-shifting atmosphere. At times, it feels like you’ve wandered into multiple different songs, but it’s all the same piece unfolding at a glacial pace. If you’re not someone who can vibe with repetition, drone, or movements that evolve at the speed of continental drift, this may not become a regular spin. Even for fans, this isn’t “sunny day, windows down, hot rod screaming down the highway” material. But on days like today - days that already feel apocalyptic, this is the perfect soundtrack: dark, bleak, hopeless, and beautiful in its ruin.
“Stygian Bough Volume II” is available on double vinyl, CD, and cassette, and it absolutely deserves a place on your shelf if you’re into the collaborative realms of Sunn O))) & Boris, Pallbearer, or anything else that thrives in the dark.