Black Metal Chronicles: The Choir of Agony

Wine in the Glass, Doom in the Air: Flogero & The Choir of Agony

Amid the ocean’s aggressive waves, a current emerges and brings a crystalline touch to the atmosphere. Melancholy rising from the water dissolves into the veins, for it advances with silent steps through the most destructive depths, carrying you toward a song. Its name: Forsaken Lament by The Choir of Agony.

Forsaken Lament Lyric Video

I first discovered İzmir-based The Choir of Agony at one of my favorite rock bars, Tato, where they performed Draconian covers. The covers were executed flawlessly, but it was the smoothness of the brutal vocals that especially stood out. What’s more, these powerful, dark growls came from a woman—delivered with a talent so sharp it could make even male vocalists envious. Breaking the cycle of the doom-gothic style with this vocal approach and bringing something new to the genre is worth underlining.

In September 2025, The Choir of Agony released their debut single, Forsaken Lament. With steady yet relentless steps, they struck their first blow with a piece that slowly but surely seizes your heart with its blackened hands. The elements of gothic doom are meticulously placed, the melodies left to drift in their most natural flow across a darkened sky. Guitars prepare the way for the shift from brutal to clean, the production is polished, the bass resonates with depth, and the drums slow the pulse into rhythms that pierce the heart of melancholy.

Especially striking are the climactic moments where the clean and brutal vocals overlap, close in on each other, and then part ways—the most dramatic peaks of the song. This dual-layered vocal design drags the listener deep into darkness while simultaneously opening a door toward the light. The band is ready to construct their pitch-black musical fortress.

As a bonus, the track features Aeonian Sorrow’s Gogo Melone with her enchanting clean vocals (her experimental black metal work with Elysia is also worth exploring).

Here is a band arriving with the inspiration to resurrect doom-gothic from its grave. Even more intriguing are the surprising collaborations they have planned. Metal needs to breathe with ideas like these, reaching out to the souls who have devoted themselves to this culture. Among the projects I most eagerly anticipate is their cover of The Forever People with Aaron Stainthorpe of My Dying Bride and Eduardo Habinger of Doom. And I am already eagerly awaiting their upcoming EP, where all this darkness will converge.

So then—dim the lights, and start sipping from Forsaken Lament while you have a glass of Flogero 2022 made of Merlot by Greek wine producer Katogi Averoff.

Katogi Averoff – Merlot, Flogero 2022

From the mountainous slopes of Metsovo in Epirus, northwest of Greece, where vineyards climb between 950 and 1,050 meters on weathered schist soils, this Merlot takes on a profile far darker and smokier than its international kin. The mountain air preserves acidity, while the vineyards’ inaccessibility to mechanized cultivation contributes to a Merlot of remarkable firmness and depth.

Oak-driven aromas of tobacco, wet leaves, and clove unfold first, followed by sour cherry, blackberry, cranberry, and red plum. On the palate, it is medium-bodied with gripping tannins, smoky and slightly sharp, clinging to the gums like a song that refuses to end. As it opens, fruit vibrancy emerges, yet its smoky, brooding voice remains. The finish is long, heavy, and dramatic—perfectly aligned with doom-gothic styles, and precisely what inspired this wine–music pairing.

The producer attributes the wine’s bold structure to the coexistence of stems and skins in the must. Maturation further grounds it in its darkest roots: twelve months in new French oak barrels, followed by at least six months in bottle. I opened it immediately last night, as if the wine itself were straining to escape the glass—perhaps in harmony with the release of Forsaken Lament, a track born of Turkish–Greek resonance. My gratitude goes to my dear friend Nejva İnceler, who brought me this beautifully dark piece from Greece.

For pairings, oily cheeses or smoked red meats help balance its firm tannins. Smoked lamb chops or braised beef stews echo and complete the wine’s smoky soul.

Flogero—true to the passion, flame, and fire of its Greek name—captures that sensation of “clarity shining through darkness” felt in both wine and music. In one sip, the shadowed growl of Senem Semiz; in another, the pure timbre of Gogo Melone. This is a wine that speaks not only to the palate, but to the ear and the spirit.