This is a weird one, there’s no reason why I should be writing this. I’m however compelled to! “Second Death” is the second full length album of the Finnish Doom / Rock band MANSION who’ve managed to capture some of David Lynch’s eeriness on a record. The best part about this record is the simplicity of delivery, however, the songwriting is incredibly detailed with gentle vocal harmonies and subtle guitars that support them through and through. The cover of the album with two women, the one standing blessing the other woman sitting on the ground is a good representation of the mood of the album. There’s also an entire weird cult related story about the name which you can look up easily. I mean is it even a cult if it isn’t some form of crazy? And is it even an influence if some of that crazy doesn’t seep into your music? Some of the lyrical content is straight up Christian in nature, but is cleverly followed up with questions of personal introspection, which draws the attention back on the self. There’s expression of temptation and immediately there’s concern of actions leading to losing one’s soul. Moving away from the last few cryptic few lines, the music is incredibly straightforward, it’s minimalistic, dark and haunting. This isn’t how a traditional Doom Metal normally sounds, this is how a dark / ritualistic / psychedelic Rock sounds. MANSION manage to interweave simple musical melody with sober vocals leading to a brooding atmosphere on the whole. I have to give credit where it’s due, the production on this album is incredible. Every instrument and every note has the width that it needs to be provided. Clearly, this entire project has been closely monitored and nurtured from the get go. Like I said in the first line, this isn’t something I thought I’d be writing, but I’m pleasantly surprised with what this record delivered. I hope someone picks this up and releases this widely. To round it all up, MANSION offers beautiful haunting clean vocals that engulf beautiful heavy guitars and drumming that’s just needed, nothing more, nothing less! For more information please visit: https://weshalllive.bandcamp.com, www.facebook.com/mansionalma