Comatose Vigil – Fuimus, non Sumus (review)
Band: Comatose Vigil
Country: Moscow, Russia
Style: Funeral Doom Metal
Label: Solitude Productions
Comatose Vigil is a band that is active for over 8 years in the music branch. You might think that after 8 years they should be well known in the metal scene, well due to their musical approach and what music style they play, the band is more known in the underground metal scene.
Over the years the band has released three demos (2003 – 2004), an EP (2006) and two full length albums. “Fuimus, non Sumus”, the second full length album of the band and the album we’re going to talk about is release 6 years after the first release, “Not a Gleam of Hope”, back in 2005.
If we say that the break between albums was long, then we can say as easily that the songs on the album are equally long. There is a saying, “You know it’s funeral doom, if the intro is longer than 5 minutes” … well, “Fuimus, non Sumus” has only 3 songs, but all three songs are with a playing time longer than 20 minutes and the entire album has a total length of 1 hour and 15 minutes. Three songs and one hour of crushing, slow, droning, funeral doom.
The album is not reinventing the genre, there are no experimental passages, the approach is very rigid and classic. If you’re not into funeral doom and slow, oppressing music, then “Fuimus non Sumus …” is not the album that will make you fond and interested into funeral doom, it has classic funeral doom trademarks.
Unlike “Not a Gleam of Hope” and the other releases, the album seems to put a stronger emphasis, but not exaggerated, on the keyboards / synthesizer and it has a better feeling for fine details. The sound created by them is more evolved, there is a more professional approach to it, all of this giving the album a very cathedral background sound, it creates the mystical, dark and mournful atmosphere.
Apart from this, the rest of the album continues the cold, dark and gloomy journey that Comatose Vigil used us with. Distorted guitars, heavy and very slow paced riffs, insanely slow drum rhythm and heavily growled vocals. It is a doom album that follows the line of the previous releases but in a more balanced, mature and rich way.
“Fuimus non Sumus …” is a cold, oppressive and very atmospheric funeral march, a quick pass from existence to non existence, a easy way to say “We are, we are not” and I must say that this album is and it’s going to be a “classic” among funeral doom albums.
Rating : 8
Tracklist:
01. Fuimus, Non Sumus…
02. Autophobia
03. The Day Heaven Wept
Links:
Buy cd : Solitude Store
Label: Solitude Productions
The Morningside – TreeLogia (The Album As It Is Not)
The Morningside – TreeLogia (The Album As It Is Not) [EP]
Country: Russia
Genre: Melodic Doom
Label: BadMoodMan Music
Many may have already heard of them since their first disc, “The Wind, the Trees and the Shadows of the Past” but for those who are not familiar, The Morningside is a melodic doom band from Russia with two full length albums out so far and this EP – “Treelogia”.
Their playing style is influenced and sounds very familiar to Agalloch, maybe because of the lyrical theme based on “nature” and also on the vocals part. The similarities with other bands don’t end here, on the doom metal part, “Brave Murder Days” by Katatonia seem to be their main focus.
Some words about the EP; as a structure, TreeLogia is more of a single track with a duration of 47 minutes, but divided into three parts: The Trees – Part One, The Trees – Part Two, The Threes – Part Three TreeLogia. These “parts” are very well thought out,there are many passages that merge easily with each other giving the EP that sense of continuity from the start until the end.
As a concept, TreeLogia (The Album As It Is Not) has a little secret, it is not entirely new. The EP was formed developing the idea behind the track called “The Trees”, from their first album “The Wind, The Trees And The Shadows Of The Past “.
The EP has many passages that abound in sorrowful melodic guitars, sometimes accompanied by gentle keyboard support. There are also parts of clean guitars that create a melancholic, thoughtful moment. The harsh voice used throughout the album, as I said at the beginning, are very similar to the ones in Agalloch.
As in previous albums, the “nature” plays an important role. Elements like the sound of rain or wind are very often used in the songs, they create an ethereal atmosphere, the image of a empty, cold and forgotten landscape … a place of meditation.
TreeLogia (As It Is Not The Album) is an EP that doesn’t require your maximum attention, there is no need to examine each track piece by piece, it is an album easy to listen to. Its main strong point is the atmosphere that it creates, that certain state of tranquility in which we can escape, it draws you in it.
So, if you like melancholic and melodic moments, sorrowful guitars, bands like Agalloch, you’re inspired by nature and you need an easy listen, then there is no reason why you wouldn’t like this one.
Rating : 7.5
Tracks:
The Trees Part One
The Trees Part Two
The Trees Part Three
Links
Echo – Devoid of Illusions (review)
Echo – Devoid of Illusions
Country: Italy
Genre: Melodic death / doom metal
Label: BadMoodMan Music
The music industry is a hard one, especially if the label promotes metal genres that are not so “mainstream”. As a record label it’s normal to search for that kind of band that can make the difference from the very beginning. A band that has the desire for affirmation, vision and of course a really good album to release.
Bad Mood Man Music have found all this good aspects in (Echo), a melodic doom / death metal band from Italy. Until now (Echo) have self-produced a demo entitled “Omnivoid”, containing five tracks, and later, in 2010, a promo, again, self-produced. This promo was released as a preview of the first album “Devoid of Illusions”, album recorded at the Priory Recording Studios in Birmingham (UK).
“Devoid of Illusions” is an album that has no border in what gender is concerning. It’s really hard to categorize them as being X or Y. The diversity of influences found on the album range from post rock elements, atmospheric to doom / death metal. It is a creation that has managed to attract my attention from the very start by its diversity and complexity.
A combination of all these elements can be found starting with the first song, “Crimson Summoning the Soul”. The song begins with a simple “play” of notes on the guitar, but quickly loses its simplicity once these notes are backed by heavy, low tuned riffs and haunting keyboard passages, passages that sound more like a “choir”, a choir that gives substance to the song and a mystique feeling, even alluring. This track is a mix of atmospheric doom metal and some post metal elements, clean and harsh vocals, brutal metal riffs and melancholic piano lines.
The second song, “Unforgiven March” keeps largely to the line of the first song. “The Coldest Land” brings us a moment of piece and tranquillity, still it’s an apparent calm. Behind this apparent calm actually there’s a cold, desolate and sorrowful atmosphere, it’s a classic doom metal track with soaring guitar lines.
One interesting part for the doom metal fans, especially those who are into funeral doom, is the last song, “Sounds from Out of Space” (Feat. Greg Chandler) and yes, if you say Greg Chandler you can expect a very heavy Esoteric influence in the song. In fact it is a blend between the extremes, chaotic and esoteric dark atmosphere and a serene, dreamy and nostalgic Echo atmosphere.
Some quick info about the other tracks: “Omnivoid” – a very experimental track, “Once was a Man” – a track with very strong post rock influences.
“Devoid of Illusions” is really a journey, an experience somewhat unique, an original way to explore every corner of what doom metal means and all the influences which it may include. No borders between songs, experimental influence (Omnivoid), post rock (Once Was a Man), funeral (Sounds from Out of Space), doom-death metal (The Coldest Land) and all of these wrapped in one material named “Devoid of Illusions” and played by a really good band Echo.
RATING : 8.5
Tracklist:
1. Intro
2. Summoning the Crimson Soul
3. March
4 Unforgiven. The Coldest Land
5. Internal Morphosis
6. Omnivoid
7. My Disclaiming Faults
8. Once Was a Man
9. Sounds from Out of Space (Feat. Greg Chandler)
Links:
Reido – Minus Eleven
Reido – Minus Eleven ( -11 )
Country: Belarus
Genre: Sludge Doom / Math Metal
Label: Slow Burn Records
From the beginning until this year Reido have succeeded to put together two albums, “F:\all” in 2006, and the album in question, “Minus 11″ was released on the 11/11/11 by Slow Burn Records.
Unlike the first album “F:\all”, “Minus Eleven” brings major changes in the style of the band. A strong transition was made from the very sludgy and minimalist funeral doom to an aggressive sludge doom, but at the same time quite complex, technical and sometimes even some elements of math metal being present. The atmosphere of the entire album is really, how should I put it, hateful and aggressive, and it is hard to be anything else when among the titles on the cover we find: “Violence & Destruction”, “The Six Day War”, etc.
“- 11” brings us songs that are very well made and quite technical, but this at a time can be quite tedious and one might loose interest, especially if the melodic line sounds almost the same. Well this thing could have happened because there are little rhythm breaks; some exceptions can be heard on “Violence & Destruction” and “Flows & Eruptions”. The riffs on this album are very agressive, heavy and distorted, not as distorted as one could meet in Electric Wizard, but just as heavy, one can hear them from one end to another of the album.
As to what vocal concerns, grunting vocals, somewhat in a hardcore way, very similar to what one can hear in “Cult of Luna”. Overall, not bad vocals but I was not quite impressed, maybe because I prefer a more doomish touch to it.
So “- 11”, aggressive – yes, technically complex – yes, powerful harsh vocals – yes, heavy sludge doom riffs – yes, but for me the “minus” part of the album: too linear for my taste.
All in all, it is not about me here, but if you’re okay with all the “yes-es” above, you can take “Minus Eleven” into consideration.
Songs that attracted my attention: “Violence & Destruction”, “The Six-Day War”, “Arhat” – a slow sludge / funeral doom song.
Rating: 6.5
Tracks:
- Violence & Destruction
- Degeneration Cycle
- Arhat
- I saw his mask fall
- The six-day war
- Human Dysfunction
- Flows and Eruptions
WDISS – Вitterness Of The Years That Are Lost (review)
Who Dies In Siberian Slush – Вitterness Of The Years That Are Lost
Country: Russia
Genre: Funeral Death Doom
Label: Solitude – Prod
Who Dies in Siberian Slush caught my attention from the very first demo that I managed to listen to . “Rehearsal Tape“, this being its name, contains 3 songs that are also on the actual album, Bitterness of the years that are lost, reregistered, of course, but tracks that keep the same hard tone specific to doom metal.
Who Dies in Siberian Slush belongs to the new wave of Russian doom, a band that in the first place decided to take its life in its own hands at first, some demos appeared and, gradually, once their first album, “Bitterness of the years that are lost” was released, they earned their place under the “protection” of Solitude Productions label.
“Bitterness of the years that are lost” is an album that takes the atmosphere of the first demos further. The album is pretty much standard funeral doom, with some fragments of death/doom. Even if they don’t bring something new, innovative in the genre of funeral doom, the album catches the dark, pestering atmosphere and cold emotions that are spread over the entire album.
The tracks are specific to funeral doom, a slow tempo, growled vocals, low, slow, distorted riffs. Apart from the solos of the WDISS guitar, they also use a lot of piano / keyboards , that completes some passages very well, outlining the tragical and full of melancholy state of mind, still it isn’t used excessively, it appears when or where it needs to appear. The piano becomes the main actor in the track called Interlude.
The album features guest appearances of vocalists of Comatose Vigil, Amber Tears, Elnordia, and Abstract Spirit and this thing only adds a plus to this chapter, a chapter at which Who dies in Siberian Slush managed to do very okay, nonetheless.
I can honestly say that I don’t need every album to bring something new to a certain genre, this way I could run into many loads of crap that don’t even deserve to be listened to, and I don’t miss this. Sometimes, it’s good to stay inside the box and to do your job the way it has to be done. This thing was also achieved by WDISS, an album of classical, funeral doom, not many new things brought to the genre, but an album that can be savoured from one corner to the other, very well made and very touching, exactly how an album of funeral doom should be.
Rating 8/10
Tracklist:
01. Leave Me (feat. Stellarghost) 06:35
02. The Woman We Are Looking For (feat. A.K.Lezor) 06:53
03. Möbius Ring 07:20
04. Interlude 04:26
05. Завещание Гумилёва (feat. Thorinson) 08:46
06. An Old Road Through The Snow 02:31
07. Вitterness Of The Years That Are Lost (feat. Crystalflame) 09:10
Odporovat 1968 – Elend
To clear some things out, Odpörovät means “to resist/resistance” in czech (The person behind o.68 was born in Prague) and the 1968 part is a hint to the actions that happened during the Prague Spring that year. The name is not really meant in a political way. It’s more of a synonym for being true to your views/attitude in resisting the manipulations that try to influence you from the outside (religions, media, society … ).
o.68 is a one man funeral doom band, and “Elend” is the first full length album of the band. From the very start, through the intro of the track called “Mornau”.. “Memories long faded return to me from out of the darkness. Even now, I disintegrate in their presence. It turns my stomach into broken glass. In the end, I’ll find myself where I began. And I shall start again.” … We realize that we will listen to a veritable album of funeral doom, a very dark and dense album, though, an album that won’t let you bury yourself in its darkness.
All throughout the album, we encounter a slow, honorable rhythm for every doom metal band, tortured low growls and sometimes, complicated riffs, that, though, don’t permit you to lose your attention. The interesting part of the things is that 0.68 doesn’t use an electric guitar, all the riffs being produced by an entire collection of bass guitars, heavily distorted.
Another distinction from many funeral doom bands is that o.68 doesn’t keep the same rhythm from one track to another, you can sometimes encounter a very slow, sad song, typical to doom metal (for example, in Mornau, Kremation, Mortal) and in the following moment to run into a track with some sort of groove in it or with some influences of stoner metal ( Mother of Negation and Zeitgeist Nokturne).
The album offers you a dose of variety concerning everything that means funeral doom, from influences of death doom metal to some drone and stoner.
“Elend” is also a very hard and intelligently crafted album, from depressive, dark sequences to hypnotising ones and to those different influences that we can see in this album. I also have to underline the way in which a bass guitar can replace any intervention of electric guitar so well.. This fact makes this album even more valuable.
A promising album, maybe somewhat hard to digest for those that aren’t used to such heavy, low tones, but maybe it isn’t coincidental that their name is Odpörovät (to resist / resistance ), and this album will challenge you from the first moments.. It’s about you, whether you’re capable of resisting or not.
As a presentation for “Elend”: Crisp silver print on a double pocket digi pack with an eight-page booklet .Released on January 7th, it’s limited to 250 copies. You can listen to some samples or buy your copy here: http://www.ominous-silence.webs.com/cd.html .
Rating : 7.5/10
Imber Luminis – Life as Burden
Imber Luminis were officially born in 2009, but mostly, they started their activity in 2006. Deha’s idea, the person who is behind this project, was to create a personal world, mixing slow, melodic metal with harsh and clean vocals.
Deha is also the person who is behind more projects, such as YHDARL (suicidal/funeral black/doom), MERDA MUNDI (black metal), SLOW (atmospheric “space” slow doom), etc. Eventually, Imber Luminis was also inspired from influences that were used in the other projects mentioned above.
The concept of Imber Luminis is simply a catharsis of feelings about life, death, sorrow, pain, suffering and true melancholy. A prime demonstration, named “Fletus“, was a concept of 39 minutes, released in autoproduction and for free in 2010. “Fletus” is a concept that can be classified easily in the sphere of atmospheric doom metal, an entirely atmospheric track, many passages of keys that amplify this state of mind, completed by rough, slow riffs, typical in doom metal.
The new release, “Life as Burden“, contains 4 long tracks, including a cover song of the too well known song “Sick of it all” by the band FINGER ELEVEN, completely done with IL’s touch.
The album doesn’t fully follow the idea of the concept entitled “Fletus” (an atmospheric album), the keys aren’t just as pronounced anymore, they appear periodically and only to create or to outline a harder atmosphere. Sometimes the keys are just short passages of classical piano, a thing that turns it into a trace of melancholy. ( this kind of passages can be found in the track “Life as Burden“).
The rhythm of the drums isn’t technical, it follows a line and they don’t really stand out through ruptures of rhythm. For a doom metal album, it’s supposed to be this way, a slow, steady rhythm without too much of a change; the best things are sometimes the simplest ones. Explosive passages would not fit into an album that should be regarded as melancholic, contemplative and depressive.
The riffs, hard, repetitive and slow are very similar to the ones used in “Fletus”. The thing that gives this album its authenticity are the vocal parts that were introduced. A combination of clean vocals ( In “Sick of it all“, for example ) and screams, very specific to depressive black metal. It’s a thing that you don’t encounter nearly as often, depressive black metal vocals and funeral doom, mixed.
All in all “Life as Burden” is a combination of low tones, rough riffs, authentic parts of funeral doom and melancholic sequences, lashed into a gloomy ambiance. This thing is mostly standing out in the last track of the album, “Suicidal Crisis” (great track) . It’s an album that takes your blackest thoughts out, an album that gives you suffering, pain and desperation, so that they’d reach the most obscure cells of one’s brain, it’s actually everything that couldn’t be said through “Fletus” : the dark part of our own feelings.
This is going to be one great release for sure.
Rating: 9 / 10
Tracklist :
1. Perfect Death
2. I am not
3. Sick of it all
4. Life as Burden
5. Suicidal Crisis
Links:
Nicht – Catalepsy sinks
Nicht was born in october, 2009.
The project was initiated by Eudes and Laetitia, bringing together a mixture of various influences and creating a personal and vibrant world.
Many tracks were quickly written and Iggy Sharpe Blake joined the band on vocals in February 2010. The year 2010 was dedicated to the development of the first ep, an EP that’s the precursor to a full length album that will follow in 2011.
Nicht is a blend of different styles, a little bit to many if you ask me, from gothic to black and doom influences – and even some postrock. Well yeah, the first thing that hit me when I saw the cover of “Catalepsy sinks” was “looks great, it has a postrock touch”.
You’ll be able to hear this touch right from the start in “Paralysis” and some seconds from “Out of reach”, after this the postrock influences stop.
The guitars, throughout the album are quite aggressive, in “Out of reach” a little bit too aggressive from the start, but this are often doubled by keyboards . The vocals alternate between clean vocals and almost guttural growls ( the male vocals are a little disappointing, not a big fan ) .We also have a female singer, Sombr I Yahn, which gives the tracks a distinct flavor.
From my point of view the back spine of the EP is the track called “Hope”, it has a gothic-doom touch, with slow beats, some typical gothic metal instruments like “piano, violin”, crushing riffs and some nice and subtle female voice in the background. Throughout the track it has passages that are purely exploding in tempo.
All in all the EP is quite decent, but as I said above a little bit too many influences ( I would prefer that they stuck to the gothic-doom style ) and maybe another approach on the vocals. However it appears that Blake has since parted ways with the band, so they are now on the lookout for a new vocalist. It will be interesting to see what effect it will have on their forthcoming album.
Ratting : 7 / 10
Track Listing
1) Paralysis
2) Out Of Reach
3) Last Breath
4) Hope
5) Room 19
6) Head Trip
7) Dark Blight
CD Available from Lugga Music Mail order Distributors
Official MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/nichtmusic
Cebren-Khal – A Mass of Despair
Cebren-Khal – “A Mass of Despair”
Genre: black/doom metal
Country: France
Label: BadMoonMan
Before describing the album in several short words, I’d say it would be accurate to mention several words about the band as well, even if they have a past of quite a few years.
Cebren-Khal were born in Rennes, France, at the beginning of 2004.
During summer 2005, Cebren-Khal recorded their first demo, entitled “Charon’s Path” Including 4 tracks, this demo was released at the beginning of November 2005. The “Charon’s Path” demo got a warm and even enthusiastic reception by underground press. Some gigs, including in May 2006 French final of the “Metal Battle – Wacken Open Air”, proved also good audience reactions.
During February 2007, Cebren-Khal begin with the recording of their new album, entitled A Mass of Despair.In 2010, “A Mass of Despair” is finally released under the russian doom metal label Solitude Productions.
Cebren-Khal belongs to the sphere of doom/death metal bands, but with a very strong influence of melodic black metal. Through the album entitled “A mass of Despair”, there is a track with 3 parts in which we notice this transition from death/doom to influences of melodic black metal in the most accurate manner; I’m refering to the three parts that belong to the song named “the Lunar Tragedy”. When you listen to these parts, you have the sensation that you’re passing through an initiation in these genres, a switch between a track with a stronger doomish accent.. And then another, with a more defined mold towards melodic black metal.. Or even both of them, combined. Of course, we also encounter transitions from melancholic passages to furiously fast black metal guitar ridds, which could confuse you at a certain point if you’re not familiar with these transitions. The lyrical work is filled with philosophic knowledge and ideals and the vocals range from gloomy, spoken words to guttural expulsions. The vocals mingle very well with the emotional impact of the song ( for example in: “Where All Hope Is Lost”, „The Lunar Tragedy – Act 2. Mouroir, Mouroir, Suis-Je Le Plus Mort” ). These two songs are also the ones that caught my ear the most, maybe because they keep a straighter line of doom/death metal.
Eventually, I can say that “A mass of Despair” was a bit too avant-garde for my tastes. The passage from harsher tracks to more doomish ones, to fast tracks with aggressive black metal riffs was too fast, too sudden. It was a bit hard for me to let myself sink into the atmosphere created by the slower tracks when I could be prodded towards reality right afterwards, anytime. However, these things don’t steal any merit of the album, which is very well composed.
You can check them out on myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/cebrenkhal
Rating: 7/10.
Decemberance – Inside
Decemberance – Inside
Genre: Death/doom metal
Country: Greece
Label: I for an I
As long as Greek metal bands are concerned, the first names that pop into my mind would be Rotting Christ, Septic Flesh, Nightfall, Ravencult or Suicidal Angels.. It was quite hard to associate Greece with a death/doom metal band. I was proved wrong.
Decemberance was formed in September 1997. With some changes from the original line-up, the first demo “Decemberance” came out in January 1998, obtaining good reviews from the relevant Greek press. Their first full-length, “Inside”, was released during the end of 2009. In July 2010 the album was re-released, world wide this time ( Germany, Austria, Belgium,Bulgaria, Canada, Estonia, France, Italy, Japan, Luxemburg, Mexico, Holland, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Slovakia, Switzerland and U.S.A) through Twilight Vertrieb.
“Inside” isn’t an ordinary death/doom album and surely, you can’t just say “Oh, right.. I’ve heard this way too many times already”. Of course, like any band, Decembrance as well let themselves influenced by other bands or genres, but, for sure, this fact contributed to the unique in their tracks.. It offered them originality.
“Time” is the track that prepares you for the whole album; A track that makes you understand the upcoming content in subtle manners. “Inside” is an album in which we encounter classical doom metal passages, with low riffs and heavy growls, special effects accompanied by a subtle organ, and all these elements confer a cryptic and gloomy sensation. If we only look at these aspects, we can say that it’s a typical death/doom album, but at this point, those influence i mentioned above interfere. Transitions between that classical death/doom, to rough death metal passages, even several psychedelic and progressive moments. Surprising are, as well, the moments in which violin, semi acoustic guitar, or piano passages appear. Even though there are so many different moments that you have to pay attention to, the album is well composed, it seems knotted and goes on with its concept until the very end.
Maybe the only bad side of these influences, dipped in so many genres would be that it splits the doom metal listeners in two, somewhat, it depends on you, whether you accept a trace of new in a doom metal album or not.
It may fulfill the likes of the people that accept a more complex approach of the tracks, that don’t really look for a stereotypical sort of doom metal and are waiting for something new and surprising with every single song or it may make the classical death/doom metal followers have impose several objection (such as.. the tracks should be a bit shorter and the death metal areas a bit less frequent.. or maybe it should focus more on a single genre).
Nonetheless, as an ending, the album deserves to be listened to by every single fan of the genre, you will certainly encounter moments in which you will be pleasantly surprised and will tell yourself.. ” I didn’t expect that “. Also, only this way you will be able to form an objective personal approach over the album named ” Inside “.
Tracks that went to my heart: Time, Rain, Sunset.
Until then, you can find something about them on their myspace page as well:
http://www.myspace.com/decembrance
Rating:
7.5/10
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