Rebecca Vernon (SubRosa), the driving creative force behind THE KEENING, returns with her second album, Devotion, out today on Relapse Records!

Devotion sees Vernon and company releasing one of the year’s most evocative works: a truly compelling mix of slow-burning, ethereal post-rock, folk, goth, and soaring doom.

Stream THE KEENING’s Devotion HERE.

Watch the band’s previously released video for “A Little Bit Of Blood,” directed, edited, and colored by Ken Whiting and written by Andrew Bonazelli, HERE and the visualizer for “Devotion III – The King” HERE.

Order Devotion at Relapse.com.

For Vernon, the writing process for Devotion took place in two starkly different environments. It ranged from the contemplative solitude of a friend’s cabin in a deserted Idaho ski resort to the hectic reality of a 55+ senior living community in Spokane, Washington, where she was staying with her father. The result is an explosive album underscored by a subtle duality that resonates throughout its most poignant moments, both lyrically and musically.

“The album is dedicated to my dad, who passed away a little over a year ago (May 11th, 2025),” says Vernon. “He was one of my greatest champions and supporters of my music. My sister and I see dragonflies as a symbol of him, so I asked our cover artist, Marald van Haasteren, if he could put a dragonfly in the art. The dragonfly is coming out of the stem of a poppy, so again, to me, it depicts that dichotomy or tension between the dark meaning of devotion (addiction) and its lighter meaning (love).”

Take the single “A Little Bit Of Blood,” for example. Quiet, acoustic guitar strums give way for Vernon’s haunting vocals, before the backing instrumentation explodes into a soaring chorus reminding the listener that sometimes the best paths taken are the most difficult.

In a 2024 interview with Decibel Magazine, Vernon discussed the drastic shift in heavy music’s themes in recent years, highlighting a willingness to convey raw emotion, “Metal is beginning to share more vulnerable things, more confessional things. Metal has almost become a safe place to talk about those things. People are being open with their struggles. Twenty years ago, they wouldn’t have.” Devotion lays these emotional confessions bare and showcases a truly bright burn.

Devotion was recorded in April 2022, again at Hallowed Halls in Portland, with Billy Anderson and Nathan Carson featured in their same roles as heard on Little Bird. Once again, Vernon showcases her writing prowess, having a heavy hand on all the instrumentation for Devotion; Vernon played drums, guitar, piano, organ, and hammered dulcimer, and provided most of the vocals on both albums, with a few guest vocalists added to the mix.

Devotion Track Listing:
1. Devotion I – Golden Thread
2. Devotion II – Fitful Sleep
3. Devotion III – The King
4. Devotion IV – O Mother
5. A Little Bit Of Blood
6. Time Travel
7. The Murder Of Anna Brown

“Vernon’s luminous voice remains a lighthouse guiding listeners through troubled waters. With a master’s degree in creative writing, her evocative lyrics are rich with hurt and hope… Devotion is gothic chamber music as dusky and haunted as anything in the doom genre.” –Decibel Magazine

” THE KEENING is far more than just music; it is grief, sadness, love and sorrow. Vernon makes herself known in her sound and doesn’t rely solely on lyrics to convey what she means.” – Slug

“…swirling, sweeping, somber, and spectral dark folk peppered with a very specific form …‘chamber doom’ (sludgy heaviness swaddled in low-pitched bowed string instruments) that, while not unique to the West Coast, certainly stands as one of the region’s more recognizable modern metal traits… an overall slower-paced affair that swings back and forth between a fairly witchy form of folk (think 1973’s The Wicker Man) and… Well, SubRosa.” – Last Rites

“With Devotion, you sit down, put it on, and venture into Vernon’s world of beautiful struggle. The cover art actually sums it up quite well. It shows a robin, looking proud and noble despite sitting in a nest of thorns that are piercing its breast and drawing blood. There is dignity and even peace to be found by accepting our pain.” – Both Kinds Of Heavy

“On her new album, Rebecca Vernon – joined by numerous fellow musicians – creates something that sits between the heaviness of grief and the optimism of renewal. It is entirely consistent that she prioritizes atmosphere over maximum catchiness. Consequently, Devotion is hardly an album of earworms, and crushing doom riffs appear – if at all – only as subtle nuances across the seven new tracks. Instead, THE KEENING’s second release is a work of music for introspection, reflection, and realization. In other words: the perfect album for autumn.” – Metal1

“…an even fuller version of THE KEENING as it musically inches a little closer in sound to the reunited SubRosa. But make no mistake, this is a Vernon creation, and her final homage to her father and other dark stories that surround us make that evidently clear. This is a very personal record, and Vernon’s sharing it with us is a testament to her humanity and that our own struggles can help others at their most vulnerable.” – Meat Mead Metal

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The post THE KEENING: Devotion Full-Length Out Now And Streaming On Relapse Records first appeared on Earsplit Compound.