Funeral Doom used to be so far underground that only the corpse worms were aware of it but even now, as more of it appears aboveground, it is still a curious form. All the more curious as tracing its origins back to one band is a little difficult. Winter, of course, might have given it a nudge as they did to so many other sub-genres but as a form in its own right it seemed to be something that happened in 1990, 1991 out there in the Finnish darkness. And three bands seemed to be the pallbearers.
Skepticism, of course. Still going strong and to their own majestic pace. Then short lived Thergothon with their early demo leading into their classic 'Stream From The Heavens'.
And with them, right there and right then, were Finland's Unholy.
'From The Shadows' was their 1993 debut and is the kind of album that requires the above kind of context these days. The production is of that painful lo-fi late 80s, early 90s type; all biscuit tin drums and isolated vocals and the only depth to the sound being added by the distant sound of the sporadic guitar leads. Primitive, is a good word.
But there again so is the sound of the band itself, but in a far better way. With the painfully slow, often terminally chugged riffs dragging the drums across a cave floor like the clatter of pans on string and the barked vocals coughed up by the darkness this is like some primordial ooze ancestor of Khanate in places.
I say in places because flow and fade don't often happen here. Change happens suddenly and unheralded until the songs feel broken apart into entirely separate ideas. One moment there's that eerie lead, all off key and off kilter that takes me back to the very first Paradise Lost album, and the next there's a lonely melodic keyboard refrain performed in its own empty space or some semi-acoustic guitar accompanying clean vocals. Ideas, you see. Enthusiasm. This album is absolutely bristling with them both and the urge to try things, to explore. Some work: Listen to the keyboard passage in opener 'Alone' and you can lift it wholesale and recycle it in dozens of bands that came after. Some ideas don't always work though: There are two many empty spaces which accentuate the suddenness of change here, splintering the tracks, the first clean sung passage in 'Gray Blow' is a bizarre passage that still leaves me scratching my head, the keyboards often seem to be sneaking back into the studio when the rest of the band have left and so on. But they try.
Thankfully the overall idea gradually seeps past your defences as passages work so well and add layers to the experience. Check out the end sections of 'Stench Of Ishtah' or the bug-fuck weirdness of 'The Trip Was Infra Green' for perfect examples. And when the ideas do meld together like on the last track 'Passe Tiermes' you get a slow motion crawl through some dark, often internal horror that really did point the way for those who followed.
Primitive, yes, and disjointed, but also fascinating music,and fascinating for its historical context too.
Skip fowards six years and three albums and we come to their 'Gracefallen' opus.
From the first keyboard and guitar riff on 'Of Tragedy' and this is a band who had been on a serious journey. Armed with a far better production that first few moments is almost pure Skepticism before it descends into an eerie, ethereal melody and the soft female vocals come in and lead it into its own Unholy world.
The chug has been banished from the riff and replaced with a more familiar black metal style of slowly buzzing chords crawling, and the keyboards work with the guitars and bass rather than wait for them to leave. Melody is here, too.
The second song 'Immaculate' re-introduces us to the male vocals and a little of the chug returns but even this lives in a far richer sound and can draw on depths that were previously not there.
It's when we reach 'Daybreak' that the maturity of Unholy wholly steps from the shadows. Female vocals without being goth, weird key changes in the riff and a slow black velvet pressing a real melody against you that slides its mournful way through you like frostbite.
Maturity and progression as you'd hope, but even with the almost delicate melodies at times they can still lay on the harsh, crushing sounds of their proto-death metal roots. 'When The Truth Turns It's Head' and 'Seeker' bite deeply. But even the incredibly gentle hypnosis of 'Reek Of The Night' is far from likely to be blow away by the wind; it is haunting and lonely and anchored by a beautiful and ponderous riff lurking beneath.
There are still surprises, too. The instrumental 'Haoma' is a mesmeric tune that is swirled with a North African/Arabaic colour and a tempo that really conjures up a dark, occult dance rolling round and around.
Closing with the achingly slow and addictive crawl of the gorgeous 'Athene Noctua' and the more gentle but still bleak 'Gone', Gracefallen is a fine dark album of Funeral Doom for those of a melodic inclination. There really is little to criticise here: Songs flow through their passages or move on their unrelenting, determined route and it may be a niche genre but it just shows that it really does have its dark blood gems even in its past.
Despite the re-issues there is no sign of any fresh activity from the band but in the mean time if slow, melodic and melancholy is your mood then Gracefallen is a worthy addition, and if older, more primitive leanings appeal then From The Shadows is a vital part of the history lesson of this most solitary of sub-genres of metal.
http://www.myspace.com/originalunholy
http://unholy.fi
Gizmo
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