The debut full-length from Greek band Automaton is weighty, sludgy, coffin-lid-slamming Doom perfection.
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A side project of The Slow Death, Illimitable Dolor take on a style similar to that of their brother band. Emotional and atmospheric Death Doom bo...
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Abysmal Growls Of Despair : Worst Putrid Tongue
Abysmal Growls Of Despair's name once again precisely describes their effective Funeral Doom misery. |
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| Ordinarily, a band's name tends to simply be just that - a name. Sometimes it's designed to look clever. Sometimes it's designed to capture attention. I swear that sometimes that the idea is simply to annoy people with it too! When it comes to Abysmal Growls Of Despair though, it's actually a very good description of what you're going to get. Now, I'm generally rather skeptical when it comes to bands that prolifically release albums. I don't make music personally but I do write poetry on a regular basis and if I were to try and churn poems out as regularly as some acts release albums, I would be unhappy with what I wrote. The natural flow of creativity and the time it takes to produce, weave, and step outside of the box tends to ensure that regularity is challenging to say the least. Despite factoring in the afore-mentioned skepticism, it's safe to say that I have been won over by Abysmal Growls Of Despair on this release. A contributory factor is that I do enjoy a good Funeral Doom release but I'd like to think that there's more to it than that. I'm always seduced by a strong atmosphere and Abysmal Growls Of Despair certainly manage to generate one on 'Worst Putrid Tongue'. I'm also a fan of the juxtaposition between acoustic guitar and a crushing wall of down-tuned guitars accompanied by soul-destroying vocals. The vocals of Hangsvart are instrumental in such, which is often the case in Funeral Doom. Frankly, they're so guttural that I would be intrigued to see them in an old Death/Doom approach. They suit this release well too though, lending it a certain power. Occasionally you do question whether the vocals are too throaty or whether Hangsvart is performing some kind of bodily function but they're not frequent enough occurrences so I'm not too concerned by such. Ultimately, the vocals coax the listener into a despairing void from which there is no return, which is precisely what Funeral Doom should do to a person in my view. Suffice to say that the atmosphere and vocals appeal to me! Musically, there isn't much to comment on. Sometimes I find that the production is a touch raw for my liking. I've never been a fan of drum machines although it's a far less prevalent issue in Doom Metal than it is in a genre like Black Metal, for example. I do think that the vocals drown out the instruments a little too much on occasion but again, it's a minor crib - nothing to write home about. No release is perfect, after all. One aspect I do want to touch upon is the somewhat unique lyrical content of 'Worst Putrid Tongue'. Grammatically speaking, a title of this nature leaves me cringing a little, which also makes me not want to investigate the lyrical concepts on a release. Fortunately, I've been around long enough to not judge a book by its cover and I found out that this particular release is centred upon Mesopotamian mythology. I've always been a fan of mythology in general but know little of the Mesopotamian pantheon so to discover elements of it via the lyrics on 'Worst Putrid Tongue' was a lovely perk that I really wasn't expecting, even if Hangsvart's English is only marginally better than my French! Considering that Abysmal Growls Of Despair are a one-man band, I think that this release is decidedly good. I doubt you'll find much on this release that you haven't heard before but then again, we're talking about Funeral Doom, which is hardly the most innovative of sub-genres for obvious reasons. I believe that any fan of Funeral Doom in general will find plenty of merit in this release and I look forward to seeing what the band produce in the future because, for the most part, I like what I've heard. Click HERE to discuss this review on the doom-metal forum. |
| Tracklist : 1. Arioch 2. Enlil 3. Enki 4. Ereshkigal Duration : Approx. 49 minutes Visit the Abysmal Growls Of Despair bandpage. |
