Splendidula have put out a lyric video for Donkerte, and the song has a history the band have not tried to keep quiet. The riffs were written by their bassist Peter Chromiak before he died in 2022, and the Dutch title, which means darkness, was his too. They finished the piece afterwards and left the name as he gave it.
The band put it simply: the song grew from riffs originally written by their former bassist, who passed away in 2022, and through Donkerte a part of Peter continues to live on in their music. The lyrics go where the title points, into an existence with the light and the hope taken out of it.
It sits on Absentia, the band's fourth album, which Argonauta Records released in April and which was written in the aftermath of several losses. The 2024 single Behind My Semblance was the first sign of where that would take them. Absentia was recorded by JDB at Kosmik Womb, mixed by Tim De Gieter at Much Luv Studio and mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music.
Splendidula have been going since 2008, out of Belgium.