Funelore – The Dissolution of Consciousness (Abandoned Cemetery Funeral Doom)
I chose this one this week not because it was all I had left that was good (actually it was), but technically because it deserved it, and that’s rare with bands of this type. I’ve always been a fan of the funeral subgenre within the greater expanse of doom, primarily because it’s enjoyable to find that one act, here and there, that realizes what the genre requires to flourish. Most bands willing to try to slow to the point of death rely on crushing the listener’s soul with repetitious immensity, such that the riffs, well, simply sound like an excuse to hold a chord for awhile whilst grabbing a drink.
But I don’t want a drink listening to this stuff. I want it to take so long I get dehydrated. But I want to have a reason to forego all nutriment and water, not for the sake of it. Crushing riffs are overused, true artistry is rare. And this is what Funelore brings. The Dissolution of Consciousness is triumphantly bleak, for certain, and the soul-collapsing weight it brings is not without compare. However, what we find different here, and what raises this two-track tombstone above the soil in which it sank, is the careful utilization of other elements. I’m talking acoustics covered in ghostly effects, and synth that resounds in the fading limelight instead of sinking behind the proscenium arch. At times, its miniscule melodies are too simplistic, but at others this exact approach creates palpable suffering, which this genre so desperately needs. This is merely their first release, so we shall see what comes from their tomb in the coming years, but the future looks dark, and foreboding.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Funelore – The Dissolution of Consciousness
Me Saco un Ojo Records
Cover Art: Band
4.3 / 5
