Silvertomb turn personal turmoil into towering doom on The Interpretation Of Nightmares, an album shaped by Kenny Hickey’s struggle with alcohol addiction and the difficult work of recovery. Seven years after their debut, Edge Of Existence, the band return with songs that connect heavy riffs, psychedelic atmosphere, and unsettling memories.

Hickey, known for his work with Type O Negative, handles vocals and guitar alongside drummer Johnny Kelly, whose résumé includes Type O Negative and Danzig. Guitarist Joe James, formerly of Agnostic Front, bassist Hank Hell of Sheer Terror, and guitarist and keyboardist Aaron Joos complete the lineup. Together, they draw from Black Sabbath’s foundational heaviness, the psychological drama of Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and the psychedelic colors of T. Rex.

The long gap between albums wasn’t planned. Following the release of their 2019 debut, Silvertomb were preparing to tour with Monster Magnet when the pandemic brought those plans to a halt. The disruption stretched into years, while Hickey faced a drinking problem that demanded his attention. Those experiences supply much of the new album’s emotional weight.

“No Way To Live” brings a quicker pace to the proceedings, with Hickey addressing rejection by his father later in life. “Graves In The Sky” begins with a melodic piano figure and draws inspiration from John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Roger Waters. Its subject is deeply personal: the point during Hickey’s addiction when he recognized that his survival depended on making a change.

“Brain Matter/No God,” the first song written for the album, reaches into an especially disturbing memory. Inspired by a vivid nightmare during detox, it channels that experience into a raw doom anthem. Across these songs, Hickey gives the album’s title a concrete meaning, tracing fears that followed him from sleep into waking life.

The imagery extends to the cover, with Chad Hammett’s artwork taking inspiration from Henry Fuseli’s 1781 painting The Nightmare. It’s a fitting visual companion to music built around dread, vulnerability, and the determination to keep going. And with ideas for another album already taking shape, Silvertomb have plenty left to say.