Ennui – Qroba (Mise en scène Funeral Doom)
It’s a mistake listening to this album, at any time of the day. It will darken the brightest light, turn into void the blackest of nights. But how fulfilling it feels to listen through Qroba by Georgia’s (the country) Ennui to let the funereality flow over me. I could pull out a number of analogies, like watching hope die slowly before you, perhaps the weight of a cemetery resting on your chest, perhaps even the lull as you experience geological epochs moving before your eyes. You know what the genre brings, but the real question is what does Ennui do differently? Certainly not their moniker, because “ennui” has been used by tons of bands in varying genres, in spite of its useful application here. Are they already at a loss? Never.
Qroba removes years from one’s life, but this is what funeral doom does. The vocals are, of course, low roars that verge on subsonic moans, and to be frank the primary refrains and choruses are extremely well-written, better than most. Where Ennui differs from their peers, however, is their amazing, and rather surprising, usage of effects. You’ll definitely be hollowed out and your soul fully excavated after this one, but the real killer detail is that Ennui are professionals with the mise en scène of their music through effects. I swore to all that was unholy that they were using synth throughout, but nope, it’s really only the outro parts of the final track. The rest of it is, seriously, entirely done through traditional instruments of metal. And holy shit is it amazing! Taking the usual genre weapon of existential dread through a slow plague build of riffs, Ennui move beyond the horizon of the crypts into the dismal afterlife they craft. Truly an amazing work that makes funeral doom perhaps more viable than it’s been in a long time.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Ennui – Qroba
Meuse Music Records
Cover Art: BenJ (Winterkeep)
4.8 / 5
