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By RYAN MAVITY
Talk about putting the doom in doom metal. From These Wounds by longtime Norwegian doom metal band Funeral might be the gloomiest album I’ve heard in a long time. Funeral touts on its official web site that they are the “most depressing band in the world,” and that may be an understatement. From These Wounds makes Disintegration by The Cure look like a Disney soundtrack.
That setup may lead you to think I didn’t like the album, but I did. It’s clear that these guys do doom and gloom with panache. And there are moments when Funeral gets away from the sadness and get off some truly pulverizing riffs, such as on the title track and “Red Moon.” One thing that keeps the album from being boring is that Funeral mixes headbanging metal into the sadness.
And what sadness. In their defense, Funeral is not just a bunch of Goth-rock poseurs dressing in black clothes and makeup. No, they’ve lived the gimmick, as they have had two band members die in the past five years. With this history, no wonder Funeral has elevated the death march to a complete musical strategy.
The opener, “This Barren Skin,” sets the tone. At eight minutes, it offers a mid-tempo riff with thunderous bass and drums, along with vocals that are more in line with a funeral incantation than singing. Most of the songs on the album are in the seven-to-eight-minute range. The band does a good job of creating its atmosphere of dreary melancholia. Funeral isn’t here to blow you away with musicianship. The band is trying to create a mood and they sure do it. You can almost see the black clouds, rain and graveyards in the music. “Saturn” is a good example; with its violin sections, slowly crawling drum beat and blistering guitar solo, it plays like a heavy metal eulogy.
Not everybody will dig this kind of music. It is dark and depressing and will leave you wanting to put Dr. Kevorkian on your speed dial. Funeral is the sort of band that makes you wonder if anyone in Norway ever smiles. But the thing about From These Wounds is that it is so good at creating a mood. This album is almost visual in nature. And, hell, who’s to say that because something is bleak and depressing its also not skillfully done and intriguing to listen to? I just know that when Funeral says they are the most depressing band on earth, they’re not just whistling Dixie.
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