Album Review: The Medea Project – Kharon (Self Released)

Experimental gothic doom band, The Medea Project, will release their new collection of hymns, stories and incantations, ‘Kharon’, on June 20th, 2025.

Very weird, quite wonderful, and dangerously addictive, this new album from The Medea Project is an eccentric, but absorbing beast of a record. Not one thing or another, but also recognisable in many ways, it can best be summed up as the sound of a band exploring and expanding their musical horizons.

Don’t believe me? Drink in the haunting atmosphere, disconcerting melodies, and crushing doom intensity of Absence, In Loss. Feel the air being squeezed out of your lungs, feel the weight pressing down upon your limbs, and feel your body been crushed into pulp as the track slowly, and strangely, evolves. You can learn a lot about The Medea Project with this opening track, but the more you dig, the more is uncovered.

This is a band with fathomless depths and a track like The Cave Song has the listener’s mind sinking into murkiness. The structure is messy, but in a fascinating way, as The Medea Project aren’t doing anything in a conventional way. It’s what grabs and holds the attention. Especially as the vocal interplay is staggeringly good (and so unique).

Keeping the tone dark, Purgatory Trapped, Upon Your Bones, and Dance of the Void make up the middle part of the album and offer exciting variations on doom, black, and gothic metal. There’s dramatic melody, hellacious blackened intensity, thick and gloomy touches of accessibility (this will make more sense once you hear the middle of these three tracks), and a smorgasbord of weirdness. All wrapped up in a tight knot of raw and primal feeling.

It’s The Medea Project and Kharon is one hell of an experience.

The End? Not quite, although it is a track that comes with the heft of a finale. The darkness is suffocating and presses on the mind with doomy power. Though this track’s commanding vocals are what stands out the most. Then, and finally, it’s Reborn and an ending that is as special as everything that came before, and then some. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but it’s very cool.

Listen, I enjoyed the hell out of this, but I do like gothic doom and I do like eccentric gothic doom that demands an open-mind and patience. This isn’t an album for everyone, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth exploring at least once. The Medea Project have created something unusual, but it’s also clever, and it’s also interesting. Give it a try, you might end up buried in the gloom too.

The Medea Project – Kharon Track Listing:

1. Absence, In Loss
2. The Cave Song
3. Purgatory Trapped
4. Upon Your Bones
5. Dance of the Void
6. The End
7. Reborn

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