Sol / Blóðtrú: Old Europa Death Chants (4.5/5)

Joshua's Top Ten "Metal" Picks for 2010
#6 of 10



Year: 2010
Genre: Atmospheric Funeral Folk Doom
Label: Paradigms
TRT: 77:34

"Old Europa Death Chants". With a title like that, my attention was immediately piqued, and rightly so. This collaboration of two Danish bands who's body of work falls in the realm of "doom", you sort of think you might have an idea of what they might do together. But that idea is like a rough pencil sketch of the Sistine Chapel. This is a very unique beast.

The pacing is a little strange, and at 77 minutes, a full listen is a commitment, but by the end, you'll feel it was time well spent, and look forward to the next time you take the journey. It's mammoth, serpentine, and oceanic.

01 Alone
02 Crippled by Emotions We Die in Solitude
03 The Dusk of Man: The Dawn of the Beasts
04 Where Did We Fall
05 A Golden Horse
06 Death Chants for Old Europa

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Hjarnidaudi: Pain:Noise:March (4.5/5)

Year: 2006
Genre: Funeral Doom Metal
Label: Paradigm Recordings
TRT: 42:31


Excellent atmospheres complemented by epic devastation.

Simply put, one of the heaviest bands I've ever heard.

It's also interesting to note that this is the first funeral doom band I've ever come across that is entirely instrumental. Usually such bands rely heavily on vocal stylings to fully immerse the listener, but these Nords have managed to achieve even further heights (or depths) without a "front man".

This album is a desert wasteland ruled by a frozen sun.

01 Pain
02 Noise
03 March

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Shape of Despair: Shades Of... (4.5/5)

Year: 2000
Genre: Funeral Doom
Label: Spikefarm
TRT: 56:59


Funeral Doom is not supposed to be catchy.

It's not supposed to be beautiful either.

I guess no one bothered to mention that to these guys, because they've managed to make this monstrosity of an album, capturing those elements and molding them into songs as dark and heavy as an event horizon.

01 ...In the Mist
02 Woundheir
03 Down Into the Stream
04 Shadowed Dreams
05 Sylvan-Night

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Virgin Black: Requiem - Fortissimo (5/5)

Joshua's Top 10 Metal Albums of 2008
#1 out of 10


Year: 2008
Genre: Orchestral Funeral Death Doom
Label: The End
TRT: 43:59

Virgin Black continues down the dark spiral of despair with this album. Officially the third and final piece of the Requiem trilogy (though the second to be released), it is the ultimate realization of sorrow and slighted petitions regarding the nature of life and love. Revolving around morbid themes of suffering and death, the band forgoes many of the contrasting elements found in previous releases and opts for a somewhat straight-forward funeral doom metal sound mixed with bursts of death/doom, and vocalist Rowan London abandons his operatic range entirely in favor of death growls. This time around, the band contrasts the heavier side of their sound against the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s classical contributions and the operatic offerings of their resident soprano. This combination manages to open up new avenues of expression and serves to underline the grief and passion of everything else they’ve done.

Fortissimo still nods to previous works, but whereas the main hook for Mezzo Forte was Drink the Midnight Hymn and Opera de Trance, Fortissimo taps the vein of I Sleep With the Emporer. Flowing seamlessly from Mezzo Forte with despair, anger and longing, it's simultaneously devastating, euphoric and cathartic.

01 The Fragile Breath
02 In Winter's Ash
03 Silent
04 God in Dust
05 Lacrimosa (Gather Me)
06 Darkness
07 Forever

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Evoken: A Caress of the Void (4.5/5)

#10 out of 10
Metal Album of 2007

Year: 2007
Label: I Hate
Genre: Funeral Doom
TRT: 61:38

Funeral doom has never been a more applicable description. Seared of hope, bereft of light, this disc has nothing to offer but hopelessness. You feel it in your soul. If you don’t see the beauty in that, steer clear of this album. It holds nothing for you but despair.

01 A Caress of the Noid
02 Mare Erythraeum
03 Of Purest Absolution
04 Astray in Eternal Night
05 Descend the Lifeless Womb
06 Suffer a Martyrs Trial (Procession at Dusk)
07 Orogeny

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