Now this is an interesting slice of dungeonic, despair-laden atmospheric doom and no mistake. Ignoring the shoddy pun of the title, this Danish duo have forged a lengthy record that oozes conviction, bleakness and throat-rending misery from the very off. Fusing the relentless and churning bowel-deep bleakness of Esoteric with Anathema’s more crestfallen (pun intended!) moments – and even a smattering of Abruptum’s pitch-black madness – Woebegone Obscured present a satisfyingly involving experience on this debut.
Originally self-released in 2007, if the promotional spiel from I, Voidhanger is to be believed, mainman D Woe conceptualised this record whilst incarcerated in a home for those with severe mental illnesses. Whether this is just a bit of over-exaggerated puff to generate a bit more interest in the record from the label or a genuine account of the artist’s tribulations is hard to say but nevertheless, the emotion that pours from this disc certainly lends weight to the latter. Lengthy, sprawling songs carve hymns to sorrow and self-destruction. The opening bars of ‘Coils of Inane Comatose’ with their see-sawing catchiness suggest a vague chink of light which is swiftly extinguished by the despondent tides that crash against these very first chords.
Woebegone Obscured have pitched their craft well here – the songs are long but not unnecessarily so, switching pace and dynamics organically and without any of the forced diversions and songwriting cul-de-sacs that bands within this genre can sometimes travel. There’s an almost elemental ebb and flow to the music, demonstrated perfectly by the chiming, twilit clean guitar chords that underpin the bleak instrumental ‘Stalactites’ before night closes in with the hopelessness of finale ‘Deathscape’. Cavernous clean vocals occasionally reverberate in the gloom, adding a monastic element to proceedings. The production too helps here, the band sensibly eschewing the polish of a pristine modern sound for something mistier, more distant sounding. Far from robbing ‘Deathstination’ of power, it only further adds to the recording’s raw desperation.
Thoughtfully composed, authentic and dripping with conviction, this is clearly not an album for everyday listening but for those moments for when the world seems to be painted black, it’s the perfect soundtrack – in the process helping you realise you’re not alone.
http://www.myspace.com/woebegoneobscuredband
