Lone Wanderer – Exequiae
Release Date: 30th January 2026
Label: High Roller Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Funeral Doom Metal
FFO: Mournful Congregation, Aphotic, Oromet, Atramentus.
Review By: Aeons Burning
It might be hard to believe, but it’s actually quite difficult being a funeral doom metal fan. It’s not the album length, but more so the quality of albums offered up each year. The actual amount of new funeral doom that gets released in a calendar year is already very little, and finding the gems buried amongst the slop is a Herculean endeavor. For example, last year we had THREE good funeral doom albums in a Deha, an Evoken, and an Oromet record, which means we were given a bountiful harvest. Thankfully, 2026 seems to be nearly as ready to give us the goods, because Lone Wanderer’s third album Exequiae is a fantastic monolithic slab of ultra-bleak funeral doom.
Part of what makes funeral doom so great is the cataclysmically slow builds that lead into beautiful payoffs, and nothing exemplifies this quite so clearly on Exequiae more than the opening 25-minute track To Rest Eternally. Beautiful leads, serene bass, and Bruno Schotten’s bestial roar all combine for a truly ambitious start to a pretty great album. Mournful Congregation is a clear influence on these Germans, and Lone Wanderer have earned their place in my personal pantheon of great funeral doom bands, most notably because of how well they structure their long songs. Not once does the pacing feel too slow, and they eschew the typical complaints close-minded people have when it comes to funeral doom albums (‘it’s the same riff played for an hour’). There’s not a dull moment on Exequiae, and the rest of the tracks ebb and flow gracefully until the close.
I find it funny that the normally heavy and speed metal oriented label High Roller Records has decided to release this, but in any case Exequiae is an album that rewards patience. This is, after all, funeral doom, and as is the case with any funeral doom album, it should be taken all at once and while you’re not doing much else in the background. Obviously, the length at 70 minutes is going to turn people off, but for those of you brave enough to undertake the journey, you are in for a treat. Lone Wanderer have delivered the first truly great funeral doom record of 2026, and I’m excited for more.
(4 / 5)
