Pain Palace

Two years on from their debut, the project formerly known as Weltschmerzen returns as Pain Palace. The new name avoids confusion with the label of the same name, but the intent stays firmly intact: emotionally clear, genre-blurring music shaped by a deep awareness of the world’s remorseful weight.

This is continuity in spirit, not sound. Recorded during an intensive week in rural Slovakia, the trio steps away from their first album, using occasional drums and striking tempos to frame seven pieces that move from brutalist chaos to real tenderness, always with compassion at the centre.

That range comes into focus on On the Height of Despair, a near ten-minute climax that edges toward collage before unfolding into a severe, engulfing suite. It stands apart from the work Tomáš Pristiak, Matus Mordavsky and Dominik Suchy make in Tante Elze, Tittingur or solo. This is the 13th release on Weltschmerzen.