They call it the Inter Arma Curse: For nearly two decades, as the boundless Richmond crew has emerged as one of the most inspired and fearless acts in or around American metal, they have endured an endless parade of complications, hurdles, and slights: visa problems in Russia, stolen passports in Europe, unexpected member turmoil in their ranks, and a pervasive paradoxical sense that they have either been too metal or not metal enough. It’s been forever Sisyphean, except they have sporadically crested the hill to make a series of visionary albums.

The Keening—the solo music project of Rebecca Vernon—weaves a web of lush orchestration, American Gothic sensibilities and wintry murder ballads set against a backdrop of dark, shimmering folk. Vernon’s previous band SubRosa echoes in The Keening’s chamber doom, flowing with flute, strings, harp, French horn, piano, organ and hammered dulcimer. Ultra-melodic forays into haunted bogs, endless wells, secret crimes, jeweled cages and the unenviable curse of being a murder witness abound. Dark as this sounds, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.