San Diego, California’s Tumulation is a trio featuring three-quarters of Conjureth, all of whom have also played in Ghoulgotha and others, or, in the case of drummer WS, about two dozen others. Both Conjureth albums to date have secured solid reviews from our own Kenstrosity and indeed their most recent effort, The Parasitic Chambers, only came out in January. In their guise as Tumulation, however, the guys have all swapped roles, so WS, for example, handles drums here but is on vox, guitar and bass for Conjureth. Perhaps that explains the change in styles or maybe the change in styles necessitated the line-up swaps because Tumulation has largely abandoned the OSDM stable. What then have they conjured on their debut, Haunted Funeral Creations?
Tumulation’s offering is quite simple: they play down-tuned, sludgy death doom. There’s nothing overly complex or flashy about it. On the contrary, it’s filthy. Like, really nasty, murky filth. And that is very, very clear from the first rumbling notes of opener “Emergent Chaos Spirals.” Think early Paradise Lost, with a healthy dose of both Hooded Menace and Of Terror and the Supernatural-era Temple of Void. Saturated with hulking, swampy menace, Haunted Funeral Creations sounds like it’s actually crumbling under the weight of its owns crushing riffs, just about held together by occasional moments of melody in the guitar leads of FS (see the back third of “Shattered under the Eclipse,” for example). At other moments, it feels like the whole album is teetering faster toward its own implosion, as a more death metal edge enters the fray (“Rites of Forgotten Misery”).
This is the story of the first third of Haunted Funeral Creations but then, something weird happens. As fourth track “Rorschach” opens with delicately eerie synth sounds, a series of sampled vocals intoning “your blood will be ours,” and variations on that, is introduced. Curiously, there are then fairly lengthy samples from Hammer Films’ vampire series The Karnstein Trilogy across “Sterilizing Wounds” and “Bound to the Rakasha,” which subtly change the mood of the record. While FS’ bass continues to thunder away and IM’s deep, guttural roar blazes forth just as it did before, it feels like the Karnstein samples have pulled one of Tumulation’s fangs. I am not sure whether these were added in a light-hearted fashion or because the band thought they would up the horror element of the record but they detract from its core, which is solid, well written and well-executed death doom.
“Rites of Forgotten Misery” and the belting “Astral Sickness” lean slightly harder into the death side of the death-doom style and do so to great effect, with the opening duo of “Emergent Chaos Spirals” and “Shattered under the Eclipse” leaning the other way, and showing that Tumulation are talented songwriters, who also know how to self edit. The album clocks in at a tight 39 minutes, and only about 34 if you strip out the Karnstein samples (to which we will return) and the unnecessary, ambient synth-driven closer “Abject Maelstrom Specters,” which sees Haunted Funeral Creations die with a whimper, rather than the huge impact it should. Now, about those samples: I will admit, I have not seen the Karnstein films and, based on the samples here, I am not particularly inclined to but whatever their merits, it’s hard to get away from the conclusion that extracts from them don’t belong on this record. If Tumulation had written a traditional doom album in the mold of Candlemass or something, I could (just about) see it, but slotted in among the massive, cascading guitars, roaring, distended vocals and pounding drums, the samples completely neuter the beautifully claustrophobic and oppressive atmosphere that Tumulation crafts.
The production is pleasingly solid, with the guitars sounding huge, reverb dialed up as much as the strings are tuned down, and the drums have a really satisfying, thick edge to their sound. With all that said, you might think I could just ignore the samples, and perhaps I should but, for me, they act as a stark dividing line between the very good (and possibly even great) first half of the record, and the second half, which is just as good musically but is marred by these strange choices scattered across it. However, there is no doubt Tumulation have the chops (which is unsurprising given the members’ other projects) and I look forward to their next outing.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Hammerheart Records
Websites: tumulation.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/tumulation
Releases Worldwide: August 4th, 2023
