Review | Blackbriar – A Thousand Little Deaths

Nuclear Blast Records

Blackbriar return with their third full length album, `A Thousand Little Deaths’, and from the very first notes it’s clear: this is no mere retread of past triumphs. Where `The Cause of Shipwreck’ [2021] felt like a graceful, storm-swept sea voyage, and `A Dark Euphony’ [2023] played like a gothic fairy-tale brimming with mythical creatures and dark romances, `A Thousand Little Deaths’ dives deeper. It’s more intense, more personal, and more emotionally charged than anything they’ve done before. The cinematic grandeur is still there, but this time the band weaves in more breathing space, vulnerability, and dynamic contrast.

Long-time collaborator and producer Joost van den Broek—at the helm since `We’d Rather Burn’— gives the music room to expand without losing its core identity. The orchestrations are richer yet more delicately woven. Bart Winters and Robin Koezen’s guitars cut with a sharper edge, while the rhythm section of René Boxem and Siebe Sol Sijpkens injects greater tension and depth, making each track feel alive and urgent.

HIGHLIGHTS WORTH SAVORING

Picking standout moments here is no easy task. Every track could claim that title but a few deserve special mention.

,,Bluebeard’s Chamber’’ doesn’t explode out of the gate. Instead, it opens with a slow, deliberate build, luring you into its story. Zora Cock’s voice is fragile and almost whispered at first, before the song blossoms into a sweeping symphonic climax.

,,The Fossilized Widow’’, one of the album’s singles, plays like a Victorian ballad steeped in mystery. Guitar riffs wind around Zora’s delicate delivery as she tells the tale of a woman frozen in time and grief. It’s darkly romantic, narratively rich, and hypnotic in its pull.

,,Floriography’’ transforms the language of flowers into sound. Each instrument becomes a symbolic bloom—delicate and melodic, yet underpinned by an uneasy tension. It’s more refined than the band’s earlier EP work, with a deeper, more intricate layering.

,,A Last Sigh of Bliss’’ is sensual and cinematic, with Zora painting a dream of love that transcends death. Guitars and keys frame a chorus that feels like stepping into a moonlit field, lace brushing against your skin, bathed in tragic beauty and dreamlike melancholy.

Closing track ,,Harpy’’ is the album’s crowning moment—a mythological fracture point. Zora conjures a storm spirit that carries her away from a thousand small deaths. Epic, atmospheric, and thematically defining, it’s the track that gave the album its title: emotional liberation through death and transformation.

A STEP BEYOND

What sets `A Thousand Little Deaths’ apart from its predecessors is its perfect balance of power and vulnerability. `The Cause of Shipwreck’ leaned heavily on drama; `A Dark Euphony’ was steeped in tightly woven narratives. This time, the storytelling feels closer, more intimate— less like a fable told from a distance, more like sitting beside the storyteller as she shares her secrets in the dark.

The production is more open as well. Where earlier releases sometimes layered sound relentlessly from start to finish, Van den Broek allows moments of silence and restraint to breathe between the swells, making the big crescendos hit with greater force. The rhythm section feels more alive than ever, and the guitars bite with a newfound urgency.

BLACKBRIAR – THE FINAL VERDICT

With `A Thousand Little Deaths’, Blackbriar have delivered their most mature, layered, and emotionally resonant work to date. It’s an album that sweeps you into a world of melancholy and mystery, yet one that keeps drawing you back to uncover more with each listen. Blackbriar remains true to their dark, fairy-tale like signature, but they’re unafraid to push their own boundaries.

This autumn marks their first full European headlining tour, with Forever Still as special guests. If these songs carry the same emotional weight live as they do on record—and there’s every reason to believe they will—we’re in for a run of shows that will be remembered long after the final encore.

Release date: 22 August 2025