Domhain: Stillness That Devours

Band: Domhain

Album: In Perfect Stillness

Release Date: 20-02-2026

Vinyl Release: These Hands Melt

For me, Domhain are something really special in the ever-evolving landscape of Ireland’s underground metal scene. This island has long been a breeding ground for boundary-pushing heaviness, but few bands have carved out a space as distinct and immersive as Domhain. They weave together the shimmering melancholy of blackgaze and shoegaze with the monolithic weight and slow-burning grandeur of mid-’90s doom metal, creating something both reverent and refreshingly individual.

There’s a confidence in their songwriting, the kind that comes from experience, vision, and an intuitive understanding of atmosphere. And that's the vibe I got from them when I interviewed them a couple of years back with Richie of The Metal Cell Podcast. They just know and understand their vision. It’s little surprise that their ascent within the scene has felt organic rather than opportunistic. Their 2023 debut, Nimue, was nothing short of magnificent. The record balanced fragility and ferocity with remarkable poise, delivering passages of aching beauty alongside crushing expanses of sound.

Beyond the music itself, Domhain also demonstrate an acute awareness of aesthetic cohesion. Their visual outputs are evocative, moody, cinematic and extend the emotional world of their sound. Many bands today treat visuals as an afterthought, but Domhain use them as another instrument. So! the inevitable question is, where do you go from a debut that feels so fully realised? How do you expand upon a record that already stands as such a definitive stamp of your identity?

Well, Domhain have returned with another towering statement with In Perfect Stillness, and rather than simply retracing the emotional terrain of their debut, they’ve deepened it. This is a record that inhales and exhales the same air that made Nimue so compelling, yet this album is sharpened by growth, confidence, and a clearer sense of scale. The textures feel richer, the dynamics more controlled, and the songwriting more deliberate. It plays like the next chapter in an unfolding story, but one written with bolder strokes and greater emotional weight.

From the outset, there’s a palpable sense of drama and suspense. “Una Tarra Ci He” opens in a wash of mournful strings and ghostly vocals that drift like sea mist over a rugged Northern Irish coastline. It’s stark, cinematic, and steeped in atmosphere.

Then “Talamh Lom” erupts. A barrage of thunderous drums and serrated blackgaze guitars crash in, yet above the maelstrom a higher-register vocal soars with striking clarity. It cuts cleanly through the distortion, adding height and texture against the cavernous growls beneath. The melody is instantly addictive, the structure tight and purposeful giving a clear sign of a band truly gelling and evolving. A sparse, frostbitten cello threads its way through the wreckage, adding a funereal chill before the rhythm section surges forward in a gallop. The momentum turns visceral, blastbeaten and tearing at the seams. It’s savage, but it’s  so well sculpted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqILqN9QAaQ

“Footsteps II,” a continuation of its counterpart from the last split EP, unfolds as another sprawling, emotionally charged centerpiece. It breathes and naturally takes its time. The spoken-word passage is delivered in a soft, elegant French accent courtesy of Anaïs Chareyre-Méjan which glides in with a disarming intimacy before giving way to Andy Ennis’s striking vocal range. His ability to bend his voice to the emotional contour of the music feels like genuine evolution where nothing sounds forced. Though slower in tempo, the track is no less immersive. Its brooding weight and melodic pull even hinting at shades of Katatonia in its restrained melancholy.

The title track, “In Perfect Stillness,” shifts the mood entirely. It arrives like a post-black blizzard, urgent, icy, and unrelenting. Where the previous track simmers, this one surges forward with speed and razor-edged precision, its intensity starkly contrasting what came before. It’s bold, bracing, and executed with absolute conviction.

Saving the most powerful statement for last, “My Tomb Beneath The Tide” is a masterclass in tempo and song structure. A patient, almost reverent introduction of lush, crestfallen guitars gradually parts the curtain before the song swells into a vast, crashing wave of bleak, downcast melancholia. The vocals once again command your attention, always carrying real narrative weight. Everything here is heavy, deeply emotive, and cinematic in scope, closing the record with a sense of grandeur and accomplishment.

With In Perfect Stilness, Domhain have crafted an album that uplifts you as a listener and almost overwhelms! It sweeps you up in surging melody before pulling you under with its titanic and emotional weight. There’s nothing here to fault. In Perfect Stillness is quite simply near perfect!

In Perfect Stillness | Domhain