"Timewrought Kings" is the debut release by Dutch band APOTELESMA: unfortunately, this might be their too early swan song, as, born in 2012 under the moniker MONUMENTS, just after publishing this album on November 2017, they went on indefinite hiatus. This is a pity indeed, as these guys appear to know how to handle their death doom: harsh songwriting, with few space for melodic insertions, beside some guitar melody or sections underlying clean vocals passages.

"Aural Emanations" opens the album juxtaposing beauty and harshness, with the insert of clean vocals over their doom sound building up over its 9 mins length. "The Weakest of Men" is a solid track, containing a remarkable guitar work. "Remnants" is enhanced by awesome clean vocals in the midsection. All the tracks and sections, whether going down on the doom side or elevating toward atmospheric black metal, show an underlying remarkable songwriting and album design: our fellow Dutch can weave their music on several different layers, using both a harsh or a mellow approach.

Although having shown with this work a certain degree of maturity, APOTELESMA deserve and need to continue their path, barely covered so far: it would be a real pity to waste their potential with a prolonged hiatus. They haven't reach their peak; some flaws might indeed be noticed along the tracklist but all hints to a lot of unexpressed rage and ability.