Spirit Tomb is the solo music project of musician Leon Kristoffer who’s based in Norway. Since forming in 2020, he’s now released his debut EP titled The Lotus of Dahlia, which constitutes part one of his Aandegrav trilogy focusing on themes of grief, loss and catharsis. The tracks in this opening chapter are laced with gothic sentiments and dark ambient undertones.

The album, which is centered on grief, consists of two elegantly sorrowful songs that are quite poetic and soft on the ears. “In Her Heart of Hearts” and “A Desire for Beauty” pine for a lost love that appears to have transcended the earthly plane. The female entity in the first composition is a blazing beacon of divine affection and passion. In the following piece, the singer tells of a state of being only the heart can comprehend and truly grasp. Both tracks express anguish and solace, and Kristoffer’s delicate and hushed vocals further capture these distraught emotions.

All the more impressive is the artist plays the piano and cello and composes the music himself. The melodies of both instruments exquisitely match the album’s melancholic mood, and while listening to the EP, I couldn’t help but imagine a gothic mansion perched on a dark hilltop amid a rainstorm. The strings really shine in all their glory in the song “In Her Heart of Hearts,” communicating a deep-seated aching in the soul.