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.
Before we get too far along, I wanted to say with a heavy heart this will be the final installation of Funeral Doom Friday. I have greatly enjoyed bringing this column's readers new music and coverage of classic laments over the last two and a half years. It's kind of crazy to think I've managed to keep you all entertained for so long! I want to extend a large "thank you" to everyone who reads, follows, or contributes music to this column. I'm not going away though. I have some cool stuff in the works that will replace this column in the not-too-distant future so stay tuned. I'm excited for what is to come.
It seemed fitting to me to feature the newest album from one of my favorite recurrent projects in this column, Germany's Imperceptum. The one man quasar of blackened funeral doom released his second full-length album in a 12-month span. The four-song Heart of Darkness is yet another sensational offering of contemplative and often ethereal music. The entity behind the music, Void as he's known, persists in his vice grip on this blend of black metal and funeral doom. Tracks like "Sentient Essence of Chaos" really showcase this. Void continues to show the parallels between these two genres with looping tremolo picking and somber, sustained guitar notes that really strike a meditative and morose tone.
Of course, each track on Heart of Darkness captures this union splendidly. The momentous closing title track fleshes this idea out even more of its nearly 20 minutes of length. With nearly double the amount of time compared to "Sentient Essence of Chaos," it's easy to slip into the (outer) space between the notes and ambient passages.
Check out this great new album from Imperceptum now. Pick up your copy of Heart of Darkness from Bandcamp and a cassette from Grey Matter Productions.
