

With just six songs spread across 80 minutes, Aussie funeral-doom wizards Mournful Congregation have perfected their majestic sprawl on The Incubus of Karma. Slow-motion chord explosions teem with crystalline melodies and lurch toward despondent climaxes on towering epics “Whispering Spiritscapes” and “Scripture of Exaltation & Punishment,” while instrumentals “The Indwelling Ascent” and the acoustically driven title track—both bejeweled with weeping twin guitar harmonies—seem to exalt in some unseen bereavement. This is truly gorgeous and compelling stuff.