In the sphere of Funeral Doom, few bands have the same quality or longevity as Pantheïst. Formed in 2000, the band have provided compelling music with their sound slowly and organically evolving. Their seventh album, Uncanny Times, may just top the lot.
Pantheïst – Uncanny Times
Release Date: 30 October 2026
Words: Paul Hutchings
It may be five years since Closer To God, but since that time, we have had the Kings Must Die EP, although at 49 minutes it was longer than most full-length releases. Compilation 25 Years of Pantheïsm proved that the band have enough material to warrant such a move, but now, as ever, masterminded by the legend that is Kostas Pangiotou, Pantheïst provide an album of intoxication.
Having professional soprano Linda Dumitru on board gives Uncanny Times a completely unique dimension. It is a strange combination, with huge slabs of riffs, demonically deployed organ and keyboard and crashing percussion melding with the high voice of Dumitru and the rougher delivery of Pangiotou. It should not work, but it does. Quite incredibly well.
The lumbering sprawl of Ithaca Out of Sight is perhaps the pinnacle of the album. Set at glacial pace, the foundation is set by the organ, allowing Dimutru to let loose. There is sublime guitar work from Thrakian frontman Atanas Kyurkchiev, but it is the overall suffocating approach that is so compelling.
The tempo switches, with some faster passages providing a refreshing approach, which is welcomed in parts. It even throws the switch to fast at one point, a raging, chaotic part that is filled with rage and fury. The sound is massive. Far bigger than one might expect.
I do not pretend to be absorbed in some of the bands that Pantheïst have shared the stage with over the years, but I bet a few are looking anxiously over their shoulders, for this is destined to be as seminal and revered as 2003’s O Solitude.
Opener The Final Journey provides the thread that runs throughout the record. It is immersive, a compelling 13 minutes which eases you into the album.
Once inside, Uncanny Times soon has you in its grip.
The music flows in organic fashion, via the bruising Laughing Falcon with its Paradise Lost feel, the almost jovial Entropy, through to the massive soundscapes of Requiem For Your World, which crushes any final breath in a majestic, monstrous yet spacious and flowing manner. It is huge in every sense.
An ability to transcend genres whilst all the while remaining on point is something few can do. In Uncanny Times, Pantheïst have produced one of the Doom scene’s new epics. This is something to behold.
If melodies woven through melancholic reflection are your thing, then Uncanny Times seriously needs to be on your new music list.
Pantheïst release Uncanny Times on 30 October 2026 via Argonauta Records. For more details, visit linktr.ee/pantheist.
