Eusapia — Relapse Review
Eusapia an American post-black metal entity. On 21 September 2026, Eusapia released their second independent single, Relapse.
Eusapia, Relapse Review: This review will evaluate every aspect of the album, from its intricate musical composition to its production.
The First Three Sins, The Summary
The First Sin, The Strings/Keys: Three-guitar interplay fuses shoegaze clarity, blackened tremolo, and doom weight into a torrential wall of sound. The Second Sin, The Vocals: Distant screams and sorrow-laden phrasing channel anguish, despair, and emotional collapse. The Third Sin, The Percussions: Expansive beats, doom-heavy strikes, and sweeping transitions drive the hymn through collapse and eruption.
The Fourth Sin, Overall Discussion
Torrential Landscapes & Internal Tempests
As soon as the listener presses the play button, they are greeted by an expansive hymn spanning over six minutes, driven entirely by progressive post-black metal and rich, atmospheric textures.
Relapse channels the damp, rain-drenched landscapes and cold concrete of coastal Washington, grounding its sonic weight in the agonising, deeply personal cycles of addiction and suicidal depression.
Lived Experience Behind the Relapse
Cleopatra the Alchemist explained in our interview: “These are my lived experiences, I’m an alcoholic, I have bipolar disorder and have been suicidal for a lot of my life. Being around other addicts and alcoholics as a foundation puts you in a position where you are forced to acknowledge the realities of mortality, suicide, depression, it’s just my life.” [link below]
These themes emerge directly from Cleopatra’s lived experiences, addressing suffering honestly rather than attempting to glamorise it. This gives the hymn’s darkness a human foundation.
Three Guitars Beneath the Grey Mist
This is not my first encounter with Eusapia, having previously featured their latest EP, Thin Cities / Desert Festival. Before delving further, I suggest reading both the previous review and interview before diving deeper into this abyss. [links below]
The composition of Relapse is built not only upon a seamless fusion of clean shoegaze textures, dissonant post-black metal, depressive black metal, progressive elements, and heavy doom dirges within a torrential soundscape, but also upon a colossal, defining pillar: a massive three-guitar wall of sound.
Three Movements Through Collapse
Once again, Eusapia’s devilmanship and overarching composition are honed to perfection.
Listening closely, the composition unfolds deliberately across three distinct movements:
- Movement I (The Ethereal Opening) — the opening minute establishes a pristine, clean, and airy atmosphere, drawing the listener gently into the damp coastal fog.
- Movement II (The Wall of Sound) — the soundscape gradually expands, constructing a massive three-guitar wall of sound that is fully supported and driven by expansive, dynamic drumming.
- Movement III (The Blackened Eruption) — the tension intensifies sharply around the three-and-a-half-minute mark, where punishing blackened textures and searing vocals finally erupt through the mix.
The Three-Guitar Wall of Sound
The monumental three-guitar wall of sound is driven by the combined forces of Cleopatra the Alchemist, Chazdyn, and Frank Keeler. This formidable triple-axe configuration grants the band an expansive scope for overlapping melodic lines, blurred tremolo haze, pristine post-rock clarity, rich atmospheric chord layers, and contrasting textures weighted with heavy doom.
- The Beehive of Light — the guitar interplay functions like a beehive of rain-soaked light, constantly flicking back and forth between profound despair and fleeting moments of desperate uplift.
- Somnium’s Bass Foundation — beneath the soaring fretwork, Somnium’s bass presence remains subtle yet firmly anchoring — providing the necessary emotional gravity and subterranean pulse beneath the track’s massive sonic surges.
Percussion, Voices & the Cycle of Relapse
Anchoring the rhythm is drummer Deenie, whose broader percussive palette includes expansive beats and crushing doom passages interspersed with sweeping post-rock transitional swells. Rather than keeping simple time, the percussion actively narrates the relentless cycle of relapse: collapse, surge, and collapse. Furthermore, much of the pad-like atmospheric weight underpinning the hymn stems organically from sustained, heavily processed guitar textures.
Shared between Cleopatra the Alchemist and Somnium, the vocal delivery forms an essential pillar of the band’s anguish. The performance weaves together a haunting mix of distant blackgaze screams, sorrow-laden depressive black metal phrasing, and soaring, layered post-metal harmonies that cut straight to the bone.
Beauty Within the Abyss
The production on Relapse is vast, immersive, and deliberately layered. Rather than opting for sterile clarity, the mix allows the massive three-guitar wall of sound, processed atmospheric pads, and subterranean bass to bleed together into a torrential, rain-drenched wash. Every element — from the rain-drenched riffs and dynamic percussion to the distant, harrowing blackgaze screams — cuts through the grey mist with suffocating emotional fidelity.
A Torrential, Rain-Drenched Production
Relapse does not merely evoke the dark weather of coastal Washington; it captures the internal tempest of the human mind — leaving you battered, cleansed, and utterly transfixed by the abyss.
Overall, Relapse is an extraordinary, deeply affecting atmospheric fruit of art. Eusapia has successfully synthesised shoegaze, progressive post-black metal, and heavy doom into a cohesive, harrowing narrative on addiction and despair.
It is a work of staggering emotional gravity that demands to be experienced in total darkness — and channelled through headphones.
The Fifth Sin, The Memorabilia
For me, as mentioned before, this is not my first encounter with the band. While their music might be dark and depressing, Relapse has a strong meaning behind it that I think we can all relate to.
Now, I do normally find reviewing singles a challenge, but this one was not — and it had nothing to do with the interview. I think it was simply down to how the hymn was composed and that massive three-guitar wall of sound. I thoroughly enjoyed their Thin Cities / Desert Festival EP and the Relapse single, and I am already looking forward to their upcoming Mercy release.
What stands out most is how Eusapia blends post-black metal, progressive elements, doom metal, and depressive black metal into one atmospheric downpour, while still creating something beautiful inside the composition — much like a rainbow cutting through the grey mist.
The Sixth Sin, The Artwork
I’m not too sure about the artwork. There might be a reason behind it, or perhaps there is not — but ultimately, it is the music that speaks, not the cover art.
The Seventh Sin, Disrelish
There is nothing to dislike, with the only downside being the long wait for their new material.
The Hymns
01. Relapse
Eusapia
Somnium — Bass, Vocals
Cleopatra the Alchemist – Guitars, Vocals
Deenie – Drums
Chazdyn – Guitars
Frank Keeler – Guitars
