From the dim, industrial fog of Hanoi’s underbelly emerges Dodssanger, a project soaked in despair and born of self-collapse. Carving their path within the depressive black metal niche, the band draws not just from traditional sonic roots but from deeply personal affliction, turning inner turmoil into unrelenting soundscapes of sorrow and rage.

At its core stands Kyle Newman, also known as Downfall, who channels years of musical extremity and emotional disintegration into Dodssanger’s skeletal frame. Once part of Hanoi-based project Gottbrecher, Newman shifted direction following that band’s demise, redirecting all weight of existential detachment into his solo vision. Recruiting a loose ensemble of collaborators along the way, Dodssanger is less a conventional band and more a manifestation of fractured identity and spiritual decay.

Their 2023 debut, “Reflection of a Wretched Soul,” was released via House of Ygra and serves as a scathing chronicle of psychological erosion. Across its runtime, the album dwells in the liminal space between melancholia and madness, where crushing tremolo guitars and washed-out shrieks mirror the internal spiral of grief.

While many depressive black metal projects lean into minimalism, Dodssanger teeters between introspective despair and cathartic explosion. The music captures a specific urban bleakness, like the quiet existential crisis of a Hanoi alley at dusk, heavy with unspoken regrets and fading neon. Lyrically and thematically, the band leans into concepts of self-destruction, moral rot, and the quiet terror of being awake in a world too broken to mend.

What sets Dodssanger apart within Southeast Asia’s metal community is not just their sonic ferocity but their ability to evoke emotional exhaustion. Live performances are rare. Aesthetically, the band leans heavily into stark, black-and-white visuals, cracked glass, hollowed figures, and anonymous architecture. All tools used to create a sense of dislocation.

With Downfall continuing to shape its trajectory and new material likely on the horizon, Dodssanger stands not as a promise of growth but a reminder of spiritual attrition—a monument to stillness in the face of collapse.