Boston-based avant-garde metal group Ehnahre are back with Douve, their first new album since 2012’s Old Earth (reviewed here). They’ve undergone substantial lineup shifts in the interval, and now include founding members Ryan McGuire on bass and vocals and Ricardo Donoso on drums, percussion, and electronics, alongside new guitarist Richard Chowenhill, pianist Jared Redmond, and vocalist Ken Ueno.

Douve is based on poet Yves Bonnefoy‘s “Theatre,” from his 1953 book Du Mouvement et de l’Immobilité de Douve (On the Motion and Immobility of Douve). It’s an 18-part song cycle, intended to put the listener inside the mind of a man slowly going insane as he observes the death and decay of a woman he loves (who may be more of a metaphor than an actual person). Musically, it covers a lot of ground, from desolate, piano-driven interludes to howling post-metal anguish. It’s always as unsettling and powerful as Ehnahre’s prior work, proving that despite the membership changes, the group’s aesthetic objectives and strategies remain focused and

We’re exclusively premiering the track “Black Gestures” today. It features Redmond and Ueno quite prominently, and if it doesn’t sound particularly metal to you, well, that offers a good indication of what’s in store on the rest of Douve. Check it out:

Douve will be out January 22 on the Kathexis label; pre-order it now.