With the first track setting the tone for the whole album, the music rises up from silence to melodic swell of sorrow. Taking a few queues from Skepticism as far as approach, they send the listener through places as unknown and forgotten as the dead texts they sing about. The production is great and certainly better than 'Ea Taesse'. The guitars are open chorded and full of slow riffs evoking a variety of feelings, predominantly melancholy. They are behind a determined lead guitar that seems to cut its own path through the dense sadness both alone and periodically in tandem; harmonized and bitter.
The drums are sparse and of the programmed variety. Not bad by any stretch but very out of place in more than one place. The keyboards throw questioning off key shades before subtly dropping into deep piano passages.The vocals are all growled and there are some chorial passages most likely done with the keyboard.
This is somewhat mournful but very epic and very exploratory; in the same vein as their other works but upbeat and almost happy, or perhaps understandingly jubilantly reverent. Is this really funeral doom? The answer is mostly. This is doom but it's almost more than doom. The good time vibe isn't the reason for the question but the general speed is, not to mention the programmed "machine gun" double bass work that pops up from time to time.
The songs are long and require a lot of endurance from the listener. Given their length they're far from repetitive or tedious; rather the songs follow a natural progression that doesn't come across as forced or pretentious. The mainly distorted guitars are complemented by some effects driven clean(er) parts. The pseudo-classical meanderings, musings if you will, bring a picture of solemn woe both terrible and unquestioningly radiant to mind. The droning keyboard ambient rich passages lurk from place to place with the rest forcing the listener to wait in anticipation for what's to come.This isn't their best work but it's still damn good. This gets a 7/10
Words: Grimm Doom
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