It might seem the height of pretension to use the word “cosmic” to describe your music. However, when Sweden’s ISON chose to call their blend of metal, goth, shoegaze, and ambient “cosmic metal,” it’s more than appropriate. On their debut full-length, Daniel Änghede and Heike Langhans create music that’s as heavy as any neutron star but also awash in solemn, graceful beauty.

Although blackgaze icon Neige (of Alcest fame) contributes some screams on “Radiance,” most of Inner-Space eschews the trappings you might expect given Änghede and Langhans’ metal pedigrees. You won’t hear any blast beats or furious riffage in the album’s eight songs. Instead, you’ll hear vast waves of guitar and synths that ripple out to the very edges of the Milky Way before giving way to delicate, pensive melodies that are perfect for contemplating your insignificance amidst the cosmos.

That existential bent is further aided by Langhans’ lyrics and sad, angelic voice. On “Radiance,” she implores the listener to “Look up at the sky/And tell me you don’t feel a thing/I won’t believe/You’d take this all for granted” while “Everything’s About To Change Forever” finds her breathily declaring “Everything you are fades/Everyone you know will die.” Langhans’ contemplation reaches its sorrowful heights on “ISAE” as she sings “I don’t know where I came from/I see it when I’m dreaming/I’m somewhere far from home” as the arpeggiating synths and shimmering guitar notes only add to the longing in her voice.

Sadly, Langhans left ISON shortly after Inner-Space’s release to focus on her own projects, including LOR3L3I and Remina. Änghede has continued recording music as ISON with a variety of other female vocalists, including Aeonian Sorrow’s Gogo Melone, Lycia’s Tara Vanflower, and Lisa Cuthbert. Although I’ve certainly enjoyed ISON’s post-Langhans albums, I can’t deny that she and Änghede created something truly compelling on Inner-Space that towers over those other albums.