SUB ROSA IN ÆTERNUM

"Sub Rosa in Æternum" is the sixth full-length studio album by Swedish gothic metal act Tribulation. The album was released through Century Media Records in November 2024. It´s the successor to "Where The Gloom Becomes Sound" from 2021. There has been one lineup change since the predecessor as guitarist Jonathan Hultén (a longtime member of the band) has been replaced by Joseph Tholl.

While Tribulation started out playing death/thrash metal oriented music on their first couple of releases, they started to incorporate gothic metal elements to their music on "The Children of the Night" (2015). Over the course of the next couple of albums ("Down Below" from 2018 and the above mentioned "Where The Gloom Becomes Sound" from 2021), the extreme metal elements of the band´s sound have descreased and the gothic metal/rock elements have increased. On "Sub Rosa in Æternum" we´ve now reached a point where this can be fully labelled a gothic metal release. The only extreme metal element left on the album is the sporadic and very rare use of raw snarling vocals (for example heard on "Tainted Skies"). The vocal style is otherwise now deep register clean vocals in typical gothic metal/rock style. It´s artists like Tiamat, Type O Negative, and Paradise Lost who Tribulation are now similar to (or at least share similar musical element with). The less known New Zealand based The House of Capricorn and the equally less known Finns in Babylon Whores are valid references too. Dark, melancholic, and ominous sounding gothic/heavy metal.

The material is effective and well composed, although a few more surprises wouldn´t have hurt. There is a predictability to the song structures which isn´t always a positive feature. Tribulation are a well playing band and lead vocalist/bassist Johannes Andersson has a powerful, emotional, and convincing delivery. The sound production is organic, detailed, and well sounding too, so upon conclusion "Sub Rosa in Æternum" is a high quality release from Tribulation. I personally think they´ve lost some of their uniqueness by cutting the extreme metal elements from their sound, but it´s obviously a conscious choice and there´s probably a better chance to reach a wider audience with a sound like this one compared to the sound of the last couple of releases (and definitely a better chance compared to their early releases). A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).