Vhernen - Vhernen

Year: 2007
Genre: Black/Funeral Doom Metal

Following the roots of the previous work but improving the style and the sound towards something more personal and intimate, more atmospheric with a mature songwriting that in this opus has put in prominence a massive use of his classic electric cello and orchestral harp, to create austere and mystic ambiances. A noble and eclectic piece of extreme art, a concept album based upon the deadly passage from Autumn to Winter. No need to say that one more time Vhernen will enchant who is looking for a personal concept of black metal and for a music that live in a proper dimension.

Worship - Last Tape Before Doomsday

Year: 1999
Genre: Funeral Doom Metal

It's the sign of a truly great band when they can convey exactly their intentions without relying on lyrics. Being able to transcend language barriers and express an emotion or atmosphere through music alone, and Worship do it effortlessly. The album opens to one of the best tracks "Whispering Gloom". It's an amazingly atmospheric piece, maybe even the most atmospheric on the album. It opens almost immediately immersing the listener in the style that's to be most frequent throughout the album. Soon it slows to almost a halt, becoming almost ambient, with wonderful and sorrowful spoken vocals. It's ridiculously depressing, and quite evident that this has no intention of trying to uplift you, but rather to wallow with you in the depths of sorrow. Despite being slow to the point of absurdity at times, the music is amazingly well written. The guitars above all else stand out to me, incomparably crushing and heavy at times, stunningly beautiful and sorrowful at others. Such as the part around the five minute mark in "Whispering Gloom", a gorgeous slow riff, instantly crushed by a ferocious, heavy funeral doom riff. The contrast between the lighter and heavier parts is masterful. It also serves as one of the many strong points of the album. It's used again on the closing, and my personal favorite track, "Worship". The song builds throughout, drops into a slow sparse ambient like passage, before building once more to a stunning and heavy climax. It then meanders into a drawn out noisy close.

The Ruins of Beverast - Unlock the Shrine

Year: 2004
Genre: Ambient/Black Metal

Imagine a black operetta staged upon barren shores, or an island; the set is either an old, crumbling castle or a dungeon where they lock up the criminally insane. Hooks and metal chains dangle off the ceiling, and the stench of lunacy (that's even worst than the stench of death) hangs in the air. The insane, wretched, cloaked figures locked in this dreaded place pass their time in philosophizing, mad as they are, debating over the morbid philosophy of non-existence and the ancient methods of producing nocturnal, perpetual anti-light. The soundtrack, you ask? How about long passages of distorted speech that drag the listener towards the edge of a cliff, where a free fall awaits him followed by the gaping abyss of blacker-than-black insane and fast industrialized monotonic guitar riffing, razor-sharp and menacing, slowing down, picking up speed again, feeding the flames of psychosis with incessant, distorted sampling loops from hell, torturous and sinister vocals, tolling bells, whispers and martial, fascist-like spoken verses? At times the music is extremely emotional, at times cold (but at all times bleak), some of the time is it minimal and simplistic to the bone, and at other times, well, it is confusion and chaos made flesh. If music has got still a meaning, if individuality and evolution and experimentation are all still valuable terms in the realms of the art of making sounds, then anybody who still holds dear these values should embrace this gem of psychological darkness, of many illusions and nerve wrecking mysteries…

Uaral - Sounds of Pain...

Year: 2005
Genre: Doom/Folk Metal

Sounds of Pain, the first full length from the Chilean duo, Uaral breaks the mold of what doom used to be known for. The album keeps a ceremonial, ritual-like atmosphere that at times reaches the edge of brilliancy. The use of simple, slow and melodic bases of piano and acoustic guitars, some flutes and a lot of different vocal elements going from subterranean grunts to nostalgic clean vocals give magic feelings and an everlasting presence of nature. Sounds of Pain tries to capture the essence of beauty, loss and despair and does so in a great way, making the listener a true accomplice of its dark and hidden emotions.

Öröm - 8

Year: 2006
Genre: Ambient/Doom Metal