Nemorous - What Remains When Hope Has Failed (2025) Review

Above average atmospheric black metal has the capacity to pull you into its world like gravitation, and What Remains When Hope Has Failed is one of those cases. From what was once Wodensthrone, a seminal force in the English underground,  arises Nemorous with their debut album as a meticulous resurrection of a long missed force in the scene. Four years in the making, the album is the product of reinvigoration, a cohesive melodic ambition that projects emotion and often outpaces the sum of its parts.

Right from the moment when opener "The Wyrm at World's End" unfurls its tendrils of tremolo and synth, its sense of longing embedded in the cold establishes itself. Nemorous' world draws from the unbearable grey, the lingering half-life of autumn's last leaves, and expresses itself through the exquisite musicianship of individuals who have already proven themselves within atmospheric black metal circles. Coiling with a fluidity that evokes both melancholy and beauty, the album's textural intelligence with subtle synth touches and gentle guitar tempo shifts, ensure that the listener never settles into complacency. 

There's a natural affinity to legendary atmospheric acts like Agalloch or Fen, but Nemorous does not sound derivative. Tracks like "This Rotten Bough" and "Sky Avalanche" display a real command of dynamics, with the guitars (newly expanded as Rob Hindmarsh has been added to the line-up) yielding rich soundscapes that shimmy between earthy swings and higher tension. Frontman Nick Craggs, the masterful vocalist of death metal wagon Vacivus, deserves his own mention. His delivery has range and nuance, whether it's the deeper growls, the painful shrieks of the spoken word segments, and lends the record a surprisingly human presence amid the atmospheric storm.

Revisiting Wodensthrone for a better verdict on where to place this album in the band's universe, might be in vain, because there's a more distinctly separate entity here, even while being strongly anchored in the atmospheric black metal sound. The production frames the music and its contrasts beautifully, as clean moments breathe, and the few more aggressive ones cut without confusion. What Remains When Hope Has Failed is reflective rather than reactionary, and shows how Nemorous now steps boldly into their own terrain, after a quite decent first EP in 2021.

Release: December 19th, 2025 | Bindrune Recordings
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 [Great]

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