“Esogenesi is an elemental doom machine that grinds along like heavy earth mover equipment, alternating between standard death doom and a more funerary style. The band is a classic four piece of vocals, guitar, bass and drums with each member sticking to their role. When I say they are no-frills, I don’t mean they lack creativity, rather they let each instrument stand on its own as an irreducible component.” Weights of the world.
“Back in the early days of my tenure at AMG, I found myself reviewing a fair amount of black metal. As it was only AMG and myself writing reviews back then, it was all hands on deck regardless of genre, and that was how I came to cover a relatively obscure one-man Ukrainian black metal act named Raventale. The project of a mystery man named Astaroth (Balfor, Chapter V: F10, et al), Raventale’s awfully titled 2011 opus Bringer of Heartsore had me enjoying of deep atmosphere on long, meandering compositions that somehow held my attention and transported me to melancholy worlds at discount prices.” Dead gardens, newborn sound.
“Grief can seemingly last forever. Whether you’re actively working through it or just passively experiencing its various stages, grief is a marathon, not a sprint. Excitement, on the other hand, is always fleeting. Moments of joy, fright or rage flare up and burn out quickly. Excitement is not a state that can be sustained for long. Grief, sorrow, despondency, these can last indefinitely. There’s a reason grindcore albums never break 30 minutes while funeral doom albums stretch well past an hour. If it takes time to experience, it will take time to express. But listening to the genre at its best isn’t about being patient, as if there’s some reward at the end. It’s more about allowing yourself to be borne along by the slow process. Minneapolis, Minnesota’s Chalice of Suffering—612, represent—is here to take you on a long journey through the deepest despair.” Playing the long winter game.
“Metal, as a rule, is an exercise in excess. Of the ‘popular’ musical styles, it’s the loudest, the heaviest, the angriest, the most extreme. Thematically, topics of death and darkness are presented with superlative hyperbole. For non-fans, it’s all about as subtle as a volcanic explosion. We, of course, know better. Within each metal sub-genre, bands fall on a relative spectrum ranging from ‘tastefully restrained’ to ‘over-indulgent like, whoa.’ But what does the latter look like when the sub-genre is already known for being the -est? Say, funeral doom? It looks something like Norway-based Abyssic’s second full-length, High the Memory.” The duck confit of doom.
“Funeral doom is the cilantro of the metal world. Those who like it tend to love it. Others wonder why anyone would want to eat a little leaf that tastes like soap listen to a twenty-minute song with four beats per minute. On the occasions it’s reviewed here, there are usually a few predictable cries from the peanut gallery of “Only listened to 30 seconds! Why this boring? Me want fast!” That’s right. I made you sound like Cookie Monster.” C is for Cookie and it’s better than you deserve.
“Okay, stop me if you’ve heard this one before: lofty, esoteric song titles and album names, a promo picture of a single dude who looks like one of the choir guys from Batushka and goes by just his initials, and very little-to-no-internet presence at all, so looking for much information on the “band” in question, other than the fact that Adversvm is a German one-man act, is an exercise in futility… all these things would have you screaming, “Fuck, not another one-man black metal band.” And I would sympathize with you completely if it was accurate. You see, though, Adversvm is a one-man funeral doom band hoping to make a name for himself in a steadily-growing genre.” One slow man.
“Let’s get the rotting pink elephant carcass out of the way right now; funeral doom is not for the faint of heart nor the shortest of attention spans. That last part needs to be addressed by yours truly, as there has been both some healthy debate and misconception about my dislike of long songs. That couldn’t be further from the truth, as it’s not the length of the tune that drives me into a fit of boredom, but whether or not the song truly goes somewhere of note, or if the journey to that destination is worth it in the end. Australia’s Mournful Congregation are the litmus test by which I judge that criteria by, with songs teeming with morose melodies, densely-layered guitar harmonies, and Yngwie-esque sweep arpeggios, the band… whoa up, sweep arpeggios? IN FUNERAL DOOM?!” How can more be mournful??
“Hamferð plays a style of doom that is thankfully impervious to serious trendiness. Truly excellent funeral doom is pretty rare, and I have developed a bit of an aversion to the doom genre because my promo inbox is populated by a glut of stoned, raw-water-drinking hipsters trying to play Black Sabbath riffs as though they were interesting and/or novel nearly 50 years after they were first written. But when done well, doom metal can be an intense, beautiful, and crushing genre. And Hamferð does it well.” Welcome the end.
![Slow – V – Oceans [Things You Might Have Missed 2017]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Slow-Oceans-001-1-768x768.jpg)
“I’m no stranger to emptiness, I have used music as an outlet for my own struggles with depression for almost thirty years and my music library is positively littered with negativity. The sounds of being depressed have haunted my ears in varying shades of grey for as long as I can remember, but never before have I heard an album embody depression itself with the same level of unnerving perfection as Slow’s V – Oceans does.” I see a slow darkness.
If sitting alone in a darkened room, lighting a few candles, uncorking a good claret, and settling in for an uninterrupted hour of beauteous funeral doom sounds like your idea of a fun night in, you’re probably already a fan of Shape of Despair. Discovering that they were finally releasing a new LP after eleven years of waiting left me pert with anticipation.” Slow and low, that is the tempo.
