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Despite having only three pretty lengthy tracks to their name, Australian death-doom band Banished Realm is already showing some pretty serious potential to make much bigger waves within the metal world.

Banished Realm debuted in 2023 with a two-song EP called Impious Rumination. It was a pretty solid release that clearly paid homage to the death-doom of yesteryear and it certainly had its moments, but it was nothing that screamed watch this band — they’re going to be something much bigger. It felt more like a respectful nod to the past than a band ushering forth their own take on the genre, but whatever — it was their first release and it was still pretty good.

Now fast forward to 2025, and Banished Realm has returned with a single-track, 11-minute EP called Utterances of an Ennead, and the growth between their debut and this is pretty shocking.

Utterances of an Ennead is a leap in identity and confidence in all its sprawling, atmospheric devastation. It feels unique unto itself without being too far from the cores of death doom and funeral doom — so it’s identifiable as those genres, but it’s definitely not bland. Again, this is a release that really should be putting Banished Realm on more people’s maps.

And before I dive into the music, I want to talk about the concept around Utterances of an Ennead, because it’s based around a fictionalized version of the 1959 Dyatlov Pass incident.

The real version of the incident is that in 1959, nine experienced Soviet hikers died mysteriously in the Ural Mountains at a location now known as the Dyatlov Pass. The group was led by Igor Dyatlov and had set out on a winter trekking expedition but never returned home. Their tent was later found torn open from the inside, and their bodies were scattered nearby — some with severe injuries such as skull fractures, chest trauma, and missing eyes and tongues. There were certainly signs of struggle and violence. Others died of hypothermia, some partially dressed, suggesting a hasty escape from the tent into sub-zero temperatures. It was brutal and remains unsolved to this day.

Banished Realm takes that horrible unsolved mystery and infuses it with supernatural elements from Egyptian mythology. In their version, the Ennead — a group of nine deities, or in this case, nine doomed hikers — falls victim to an ancient spiritual force tied to the mountain itself. Inspired by local folklore, the band imagines a malevolent presence that has long haunted the area, keeping souls eternally bound to what locals call the “Dead Mountain.”

So as if the original story that was actually true isn’t bad enough, this is somehow worse and more doomed — perfect for the genre.

Utterances of an Ennead opens like a retelling of a horrible memory — a slow, mournful crawl through the aftermath of something that is just too unspeakable, too terrible. And I do quite literally mean unspeakable, because there are barely any vocals in the first two minutes of this song. A spectral voice occasionally floats over top, but it’s mostly a brief instrumental passage in the intro, and then the band eventually shifts to a suffocating halftime groove — as if the terror itself is too heavy to put into words and the speed is simply too much to bear. Which is saying something, because this is death doom, and it’s not exactly known for its fast tempos.

Then, without warning, Banished Realm shatters the stillness with a storm of blast beats, double bass, and howled vocals that echo like spirits screaming across frozen peaks. The track begins to shift between these two worlds — the dread-laden doom and the frantic blackened death — until the entire structure buckles under a wash of dissonant, decaying chords.

Just when you think you’ve settled into the funeral doom territory for good, everything totally changes.

At about five and a half minutes, violinist Sara Beth Kapoor enters and deepens the dread to truly abyssal levels. Banished Realm also chooses to replace the vocals with Kapoor’s violin lines, giving the whole movement a cinematic feel — as if you should be seeing something alongside this.

And then there’s the final section, which shifts again — this time into more of a traditional death metal thing. The riffs tighten. The drums lock in. It’s as if the piece has moved from a recollection of a horrible memory to a revelation — a warning, sharp and pointed, aimed squarely at the listener.

And then, in one final act of structural brilliance, Banished Realm closes the song by returning to the original motif — but now laden with new meaning. What began as this kind of mournful elegy ends as an omen, a portent of doom, a truly horrible end to an already horrible story.

Clocking in at eleven minutes, Utterances of an Ennead unfolds like eyes adjusting to the darkness — each movement revealing new details hidden within the gloom. What sets it apart is the songwriting: motifs return with more emotional gravity, transitions are seamless, and repetition is used with purpose. Banished Realm sculpted a somber statue with this one, and it’s impressive as hell — especially for a second release.

So what’s next for Banished Realm? I reached out to the band on social media, and they confirmed they’re deep in the writing process for their debut full-length, with plans to enter the studio sometime in early 2026.

If Utterances of an Ennead is any indication, that record should be something pretty special. So now’s the time to get on board — because this is a band that’s not just thinking big, but is also aiming pretty high and clearly can achieve some pretty lofty goals.

As for Utterances of an Ennead itself, it’s a strong seven out of ten for me. It’s one very good song with a few movements that wraps up nicely and moves along with a pretty deliberate pace. Again, if this is the kind of writing Banished Realm can stretch out over a full album and do so really well, we’re in for something special. But for now, we’ve got a glimpse of something seemingly larger — and that’s good enough for me at the moment.