St. Petersburg, Russia, Inner Missing has been a nice and pleasant surprise listening to all this week, although Deluge is not their first rodeo. The band has been in existence for over a decade now, moving around smaller labels in Europe and alternating that with self-financed independent releases. The band is by now a duo of what appears to be a husband and wife pair of Sigmund and Melaer, the former taking care of all strings and vocals, and the latter providing keyboards (whether there is a session drummer on this I have no idea).

The above details are perhaps unnecessary to you, but they are mapping out where the band came from and may be explaining the band’s sound. After all St. Petersburg doesn’t have the nicest of climates. The opening riff of Daybreak, along with its percussive rhythms, and how In the haze straddles the dividing line between sad gloomy melodies and heavier guitar spots strongly reminds of Katatonia, which now crossed into gothic territory, given some audible keys in In the Haze or vocals mostly sung in soulful baritone, but also stretching from obligatory whisperings to some slight strain and harshness. Some songs (A Trice of Verve) explore heavier and more dissonant territory, or walk the line between edginess and calm (title track). Keyboards of Inner Missingmay be aiding in the drama (Daybreak), but they are definitely not cheap, overwhelming and fit perfectly in the overall instrumental ensemble. From the doomier corner Inner Missingmay even sound like Draconian cleaner moments, but just as there is a gothic angle to Inner Missing sad doominess, there is some progressive edge to their songs as well. Specifically the instrumental Locusts, unburdened from Sigmund’s dominant voice, evolves in a super interesting way from another sad percussive melody, through an audible bass line supported by percussion to an all-out industrial heavy sideways bonkers guitars closing on a free jazz terrain. Songs sequencing is clever as well, as The Gift calms things down after impulsive Locusts, bringing comfort level back with a familiar Katatonia song closing melody line. Speaking of the dominant vocals, Sigmund’s voice is an excellent fit for Inner Missing sound, weepy, depressed, detached, yet carrying some intestinal fortitude power in it. If Jonas Renkse ever needs a break or a concert stand-in double, I recommend calling Sigmund.

After going through most of Deluge veering between things more or less within the same gothic doom genre, Elegy is pure dark cold piano song, very Antimatter circa Planetary Confinement especially Mick Moss’ acoustic rock. German language Grodek is another interesting sidestep, even more gothic in its disposition, touching upon Lacrimosa’s Elodia, the calming brood after more than half hour of varying emotions.

Well crafted, extremely professional, enveloping and crossing multiple plains of melancholic music Deluge is a very good album.