With a debut entitled "Italian Dark Sound" you'd expect the band of said album to be from Italy and maybe to specialize in, well, some dark sound—you know, like doom or goth or black. And you'd be mostly right, though not so much on the black metal bit. MIDRYASI'S KULT does indeed hail from Italy and they do indeed partake in a mix of metal subgenres, creating their own unique sound. On March 27, 2026 the band releases their debut, "Italian Dark Sound," via Dying Victims Productions. It's an intriguing album that begs multiple listens.

MIDRYASI'S KULT is a duo—The Kult on bass and vocals and Avenir on drums and guitars. With two members you tend to get a high level of internal consistency and low level of diversity. And that's fairly true of MIDRYASI'S KULT. Their music is mostly a blend of heavy metal, doom, and gothic. Clean vocals with dramatic intonations; mid-tempo with no blast beats; crystal clear solos; well-contained riffs. Oh, and several instances of spoken word as well as synth flourishes. Thematically, it's mostly doom oriented including a few tributes to the Italian metal scene itself. The album cover looks like a kinder version of HORN OF THE RHINO's "Weight of Coronation." I'm guessing this wasn't intentional, though HotR was from Spain which feels a bit adjacent to Italy geographically if not culturally.

The album itself comprises eight tracks for just over 31 minutes of runtime. Three of the tracks also appeared on the band's 2025 demo, "Mountain Devil." Standout tracks include the title track. With solid locomotive riffs and doom inflections, it comes on fairly strong. A good salvo for the rest of the album. Nice solo as well. "Mountain Devil" is another of my favs. A bit thrashy, this one. I also really dig "Hypnopriest" which features some delicious guitar overdubs. The track also veers into the psychedelic, getting all cosmic around mid-track.

As far as things that didn't work so well, there are a few attempts throughout the album at what I'm guessing is their attempt at dungeon synth. Just not my thing, though others may appreciate them. In the end, however, "Italian Dark Sound" holds together fairly well, and while it wasn't terribly diverse it does have a few unexpected twists.