Between Wit’s End and Myopia last year, 2020’s Dialetheia and 2019’s Cairns, Mizmor have been on a tear that is hard to ignore.  ALN has always been a doom darling, but his recent efforts have expanded the scope of the project to include black metal, acoustic guitar, noise, philosophy, visual art, animation and more.  Where, then, does one go to continue this artistic momentum?  The answer lies in the throughline between this album and the last album I reviewed: “introspection and self-acceptance.”  Prosaic doesn’t reinvent Mizmor sonically, but the process behind making Mizmor’s music is transformed through these tenants.

Prosaic marks the first Mizmor release not on Gilead Media.  Instead, ALN made the jump to Profound Lore, joining the ranks of illustrious doom innovators like Bell Witch.  In addition to the new label, ALN also switched up the thought process behind the creation of his art in a way that might surprise long-time fans of the band.  “Often when I make records, it becomes a slog and I find myself in a proverbial hole where I’ve lost perspective.  I simply wanted to see if I could make a record I was proud of without going to that place,” said ALN.  Yes, a lot of Mizmor’s themes deal with trauma, existential dread and grief, and while Prosaic isn’t what I would call a “happy” record, it’s important to make sure that, especially for artists, you have fun and find joy and worth in what you’re creating.  “The idea behind the album was to make an intentionally less conceptual, more slice-of-life record.  I wanted to make an album that was less precious and obsessed-over, more honest and real; less grandiose and more human.”  As such, Prosaic deals much more with everyday struggles and and less with large, overarching philosophical topics.  The result is something that feels a lot more immediate; no shade at all, but on records like Cairns, it can take a while to build up to the point of the record.  Prosaic comes hard right out of the gate, and because each song is its own individual story, they wrap up in a way that satisfies before moving on.  

This also means that the sense of dynamics that runs through an entire Mizmor album, especially between the mix of doom, black metal and acoustic passages, is now condensed into the length of a song.  I appreciate this about Prosaic because, even though it has an appropriate 45ish minute runtime, it can be broken up into digestible pieces if that’s your prerogative or if you’re, say, driving to the grocery store and you don’t have time listen to Yodh front to back like you’re meant to.  Opening track “Only an Expanse” kicks off with a vengeance, pitting mournful chord strums against blast beats and ALN’s signature howl before shifting into what comes natural to Mizmor: spacious, ringing washes of doom punctuated by sparing melodic phrases and coming back around to where it began for a finish.  It wraps itself up nicely as its own vignette as opposed to a chapter in a larger story.  Similarly, “Anything But” takes a path that weaves in and out of black metal and doom, with acoustic passages tying the two sides of the coin together.  Maybe I’m misremembering things, but Prosaic seems to shine a much brighter light on the black metal side of Mizmor’s sound, and I’m having a really good time exploring different aspects of music that can normally be overlooked when only focused on the larger picture.

Sonically, this is the Mizmor we’ve come to know and love; anyone looking for something fresh or new is probably going to be disappointed.  Admittedly, I find myself wishing for some of the noise elements I loved from Wit’s End and Dialetheia, but still, this is a thing of beauty.  It’s a fresh take on the classic Mizmor formula, and it injects something pretty damn close to hope in Mizmor’s lyrics, if you can believe it.  If ALN’s goal was to make a record he could be proud of, I would dare say he’s done just that.

— Ian

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Prosaic will be available July 21 on Profound Lore Records.  For more information on Mizmor, visit their Facebook page.