Merging a variety of influences into a single substance that is 100% pure metal, Dysanchely's darkly metallic epics fearlessly cross genre boundaries, ranging from midpaced funereal doom to progressive death metal, and allowing each shadowy passage, each jagged guitar riff, to twist and turn with the tortured angst of a warrior fallen upon his own blade. Gorgeous female vocals echo through the songs like a grim reminder of a barely-remembered beauty long since destroyed by war, further battered by a fierce arsenal of death grunts and blackened screeches. The song structures are complex without becoming convoluted, and refuse to become enmired in the single-tempo-trudge that has lain waste to many of Dysanchely's peers. The band frequently engages in tempo changes and even allows faster-paced passages to make their presence felt, adding an edge of aggressive violence to the desolate mood that the band so ably conjures. The only problem area for the band is that all of its songs use a similar approach and formula - and, while I enjoy that formula immensely on Songs of Sorrow and would not hesitate to recommend this album to fans of bands ranging from Thalarion to My Dying Bride to The Gathering (ca. Nighttime Birds) - I do think that additional experimentation both within and outside of that formula would add another dimension to this already-impressive band.