Finally, the weekend is upon us. What better way to kick it off than with the latest installment of "Funeral Doom Friday". For those who are new to this column; each week features a new or classic album from the realm of extreme doom. Much of funeral/death doom's might comes from an oppressive emotional weight and the use of death or black metal motifs (played at a trudging pace, of course.) Pioneers like Mournful Congregation, Evoken, and Esoteric have mastered this blend of dirge and destruction. For 25 years, they have methodically built compositions that stretch for dozens of minutes all while keeping fans enthralled. Time has elapsed since the days of Thergothon and much like the world around us, the genre has evolved. Today's modern bands contort the very construct of the genre, breeding darkly refreshing new work. Their work thankfully gives this column plenty of material to share.
Enjoy this week's post and check out prior features here. Please feel free to also share thoughts or suggestions for future installments in the comments section below or to me directly on Twitter.
This is honestly the most wonderful time year. That special month or so where millions of Americans completely neglect their responsibilities to pour all of their energy into filling out a piece of paper. College basketball's March Madness consumes people, myself included. I don't care to reveal how much time I dumped into reading advanced statistical measures and hypothesizing possible scenarios for 63 different basketball games. I have my beloved Duke Blue Devils winning it all this year, in case anyone cared to know.
Nevertheless, I thought this would be the perfect time to come up with a new funeral doom playlist to share with the world. This one's a little trickier than past ones. Every song included on this playlist has the word "March" in it. Get it? "Funeral March Madness" sounded like fun and who doesn't like a good nod to Chopin? In fact, this playlist features a cover of Frédéric Chopin's "Marche Funèbre." Check out the songs below!
Frédéric Chopin – "Marche Funèbre"
Mournful Congregation – "A Slow March to the Burial"
Skepticism – "The March and the Stream"
Skepticism – "March October"
Skepticism – "March Incomplete"
Everlasting – "March in Time" (Track 3)
Frowning – "Marche Funèbre"
The Slow Death – "The Slow March
