Origin: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Formed: 2024
Location: Tuzla
Genre: Depressive Black Metal
Status: Active
Label: Independent
Themes: Sadness, Despair, Love, Sorrow
Umbris is a depressive black metal project founded in 2024 in Tuzla, emerging quickly as one of the most emotionally charged and melodically driven new acts in the Bosnian underground. The project is centered entirely around its sole creator, Einsiedler, who handles all instruments and vocals. True to the DSBM tradition, Umbris focuses on themes of heartbreak, longing, psychological collapse, and the fragile boundary between love and despair. The project’s sound blends raw black metal foundations with melancholic melodies, atmospheric layering, and a confessional vocal approach that shifts between tortured screams and softer, introspective passages.
The debut EP Spøkelse (2024) introduced Umbris with a cold, sorrow‑laden sound built around minimalistic riffs and a strong Scandinavian influence. Its title—Norwegian for “ghost”—reflects the project’s fixation on absence, emotional haunting, and the lingering presence of lost affection. Later the same year, Does She Hate Me...? expanded the project’s emotional palette, leaning further into depressive black metal’s confessional style. The EP explores themes of unrequited love, self‑doubt, and emotional erosion, delivered through raw production and deeply personal lyricism.
In 2025, Umbris released a self‑titled EP that marked a noticeable step forward in songwriting and atmosphere. The compositions became more layered, with stronger melodic lines and a more cohesive emotional arc. The project also ventured into harsher territory with the single Involuntary Skull Removal (2025), a track that contrasts the project’s usual melancholy with a more violent, abrasive edge—suggesting an expansion of the project’s sonic identity beyond purely depressive themes.
Despite its young age, Umbris has already begun to carve out a distinct place within the Bosnian DSBM scene, characterized by emotional vulnerability, melodic sensitivity, and a willingness to explore both the soft and violent extremes of depressive black metal. Operating independently and without public promotion, the project maintains a solitary, introspective aura consistent with its themes and musical direction.
Einsiedler — All instruments, Vocals
Spøkelse — EP (2024)
Does She Hate Me...? — EP (2024)
Umbris — EP (2025)
Involuntary Skull Removal — Single (2025)