Latter Day Exploits blends ambient black metal, industrial, and doom into a heavy, emotional journey through struggles of life covering everything from sleep paralysis to partisan politics.
Aaron Wilmot in Rosebud, Oregon is the alchemist behind the sound of Latter Day Exploits, expertly combining elements of doom, ambient black, and industrial metal into a powerful, coherent mixture that hits with a heavy impact on every song. LDE has six releases since 2023, releasing single songs until the 3 song ep Grief in 2023, that was born out of personal tragedy. Through it all, Justin Murray appears to be the one responsible for the mixing.
The 39 minute long ep (ha!) opens up with “Through Sleep” where Aaron puts his struggles with sleep paralysis to music and words, providing a deeply unsettling experience for the listener, describing what it is like to be fully conscious, yet unable to move and then relating that feeling to spiritual battles where one has to hold on to faith through the darkness. The slow, plodding heaviness of the song provides the feeling of crushing weight and the transitions to faster tempo driven largely by the drums add to the feeling of being hit by waves of oppression.
“Anvil of Humanity” similarly opens up with an eerie clean guitar layered on sound effects and when the raspy, blackened death vocals come in, that feeling is not abated. Aaron works throughout the song to describe his distrust of the political system and how real change will be through ground up approaches. “Rather, change must start within you stemming from your relationship with Christ. From there, if conversion is sincere, roots will take hold and reform will undoubtedly flow into your relationships both with family and friends, then into your local city, county, and state governments, and then finally into the national arena.”
“Going Home” is the last original track on the ep and covers Aaron’s personal struggles with faith, centering on the parable of the Prodigal Son. Musically, it begins similar to previous songs on the albums with near whispered death/black vocals, clean guitars chiming ominous sounds, and layered ambient sounds to provide a suitably dark atmosphere. Of the original songs on the ep, this is the longest one, clocking in at over 10 minutes with the slow, plodding pace making the journey seem even longer and more difficult, until the latter parts of the song when the pace picks up, the riffs get heavier, and a sense of hope and restoration shines through.
The final track on the ep is a cover of “Autumnal Fires” by Irish doom metal veterans Mourning Beloveth, who Aaron cites as a formative influence in the sound of LDE. In a change from previous tracks, Patrick (Cloud of Witnesses) contributing clean vocals. The song hits heavy as doom metal, plodding along the 12 minute run time with heavy, slow riffs and thunderous, pounding drums and bass lines.
While usually opposed to anything remotely close to doom metal, there is a lot in Going Home that draws me in. From the construction of the songs to the solid performances and production and the raw emotional heaviness that inescapable, LDE have released not only the longest ep of the year but also one of the most interesting and challenging listening experiences.
Written by John Jackson
Rating: 7.5/10
Tracklist
- Through Sleep
- Anvil of Humanity
- Going Home
- Autumnal Fires (Cover)
Band Members
Aaron Wilmot
Justin Murray-Mixing
Patrick Bruin-Clean vocals on Autumnal Fires (cover)
Release Date: 14 August 2026
Record Label: The Charon Collective Collective
Video for ‘Anvil of Humanity’
Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/latterdayexploits
Bandcamp: https://latterdayexploits.bandcamp.com/album/going-home
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latterdayexploits/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@latterdayexploits