Band:	Worship
Album:	Last CD Before Doomsday
Style:	Funeral doom metal
Release date:	2004
Guest review by:	Sleep In Sorrow

01. Whispering Gloom
02. Solicide And The Dawning Of The Moonkult
03. Eclipse Of Sorrow
04. Worship
05. Keep On Selling Cocaine To Angels [CD re-release bonus]

Anyone who's into Funeral Doom should probably know the legend that is WORSHIP. Formed in 1999 (near "doomsday") by Max Varnier ("Fucked-Up Mad Max") and Daniel Varoß ("The Doomonger"), they made some of the rawest, dirtiest and most misanthropic funeral doom ever recorded on tape (ironically called Last Tape Before Doomsday), which was later re-released in vinyl... then, in 2001 Fucked-Up Mad Max killed himself by jumping off a bridge... and that alone should serve you as a warning about the sickness of the music within this accursed tape/vinyl. The band then "split-up", so to say, but reformed with new members in 2004, releasing (though not remaking) it on CD with the addition of the 5th track, "Keep On Selling Cocaine to Angels" (previously released on a Split with Agathocles).

As soon as you push the "play" button, you'll be assaulted by the claustrophobically suffocating atmosphere of "Whispering Gloom", showing that the band wastes no time getting started with the slow and dark journey into suicide that is this album, fueled by purest hatred against existence and mankind. This can be seen clearly through the lyrics (if you can understand all the 3 languages in which they were written: English, German and French). It's a hatred only made stronger thanks to the damage humanity has caused to nature (Max had a very strong bond with nature), for which we must pay with our lives! This is an idea not too different from what Winter apocalyptically envisioned with the classic "Into Darkness", except, of course, taken to a more misanthropic extreme.

The drums are sluggish and pound heavily (except in the last song "Keep On Selling Cocaine to Angels", where they don't sound as strong, probably because it's from a different release, recorded under different conditions), though they are in many moments absent. Nothing spectacular, I guess, but I really doubt anyone would listen to funeral doom for blastbeats, lightning-speed double bass and mind-blowing fills. The rhythm guitars are distorted, low, chugging, and weigh like a wall of bricks, providing a backbone (even without a bass guitar) for the lead, which comes in the form of an equally-distorted hypnotizing howl that tears away at your soul (if you doubt me, listen to the solo on the last minutes of "Whispering Gloom"). In the contrasting mellower moments, when the sound's not oppressive, but rather serene (don't be mistaken, though, this is still an extreme release!), there's the use of clean guitar melodies, as well as a very despondent piano (check out the intro of Eclipse of Sorrow), adding to the (sick) emotional journey that is this album. Meanwhile, Max's sick eerie growling vocal mournfully recites the lyrics... Sometimes, they'll be raspy and whispery, sometimes sounding like he's choking to death, sometimes more powerful, imposing and there are even some screams of agony. There aren't only growls in this album, though. Clean/spoken vocals are also used, including a creepy monk-like chanting. No matter what way he chooses to deliver his vocals, they always sound very dark and haunting.

Overall, "Last CD Before Doomsday" is a masterpiece of funeral doom that should in no way be overlooked by fans of slowness and heaviness taken to the extreme. I can't say there are any tracks that stand out because that'd imply one of the tracks is better than the others, so I'll just say you'd better listen to the whole thing from start to finish, preferably late at night.

"...and Doom shall reign supreme!"
Rest in peace, Fucked-Up Mad Max.