DYSPHORIAN BREED is the name of the Death/Doom project of Swedish musician David Fredriksson, whose debut album, "The Longing for the Tides of Metamorphosis" dropped this August. The album consists of three songs, all of which clear the ten-minute mark.

Holy Funeral Doom, Batman. If you want to talk about heavy, this album has heaviness in spades, and it's largely because of the bleak, suffocating atmosphere that permeates throughout its duration. The sickening, stomach-churning riffs achieve the maximum effect of despair in the songs' body-dragging tempos, and the ambient effects are the perfect icing on top. All of the songs use them to great effect, but maybe no more so than in the intro to "The Tides," which slowly immerses the listener in sonic oblivion over its duration.

The album's biggest strength is probably the execution. There's nothing particularly innovative about the musical approach, and the tone of the album is consistent throughout. However, it's clear that Fredriksson has a very clear idea of what the band's sound should be, and there's nothing about the musical ideas presented that suggests that they are anything less than fully realized. "Perfect" isn't the word for it so much as "satisfying", as fans of this style of music will likely find little wrong with any of the material here.

The procession marches on with "The Longing", another song whose heaviness just weighs down the very soul of the listener, followed by "The Metamorphosis", which has a more hostile, grim air to it while being otherwise similar musically to the previous songs. In addition to Fredriksson's admirable grasp for the instrumentation of this style of music, the lyrics complement the music very well, adding a raw, personal feeling to the music.

"The Longing for the Tides of Metamorphosis" is a strong effort that, while not perfect, definitely hits the mark musically and emotionally. It's an incredibly depressing, well-performed work in the upper tier of Death/Doom Metal albums, and I'd highly recommend it to fans of this kind of music.<