Band:	Various Artists
Album:	Four Burials
Style:	Funeral doom metal
Release date:	2008
A review by:	Lucas

01. Otesanek - Seven Are They
02. Loss - (To Pass Away) Death March Towards My Ruin
03. Orthodox - Heritage
04. Mournful Congregation - Left Unspoken

Four Burials is a four-way split release between Mournful Congregation, Orthodox, Loss and Otesanek. Four burials, four bands, four songs. Coincidence? I think not. Four times four times four is 64, which is as you all know exactly equal to the number of squares on a chessboard. Which has precisely nihil to do with this split release. Honestly, Four Burials is, save for the aforementioned unfortunate fact, completely unrelated to a chessboard or even a mere game of chess. Just sayin'.

Otesanek delivers "Seven Are They", a slow Sludge/Drone Doom dirge with loads of feedback, howled screams and growls and everything else putrid and vile. While it is far from unique or overly extreme in the contemporary music scene, it makes for an enjoyable de-constructedd song of sickness nonetheless. Otesanek also chooses a slightly more melodic route, especially in the middle part, which increases the listen-ability. Otesanek are a recommend band for anyone that needs something to 'get used to' the sludgey, drone Doom style 'n sound.

Loss offers "(To Pass Away) Death March Towards My Ruin", the track which is in my opinion the weakest. It's just suffers from the blandness that is almost inevitable if you play slow without being coherent. Or well, coherent, it's not that there are suddenly bouts of silence, but the whole thing just fails to captivate. It trudges on and on without going anywhere. Besides the midly interesting faster part somewhere in the middle, it is excellent music for playing hide and seek - as long as you're in the one hiding in the other room. Generic Doom with growls.

Orthodox brings "Heritage", the longest track clocking in at over eighteen minutes. "Heritage" opens slow but steady, gradually evolving from minimal guitar strumming and odd spoken word to, well, it basically stays like that for the full run. That's not to say that isn't an interesting song, you just shouldn't really expect much Doom. As long as we're clear on that, "Heritage" is a pretty cool song and a nice interlude among the crushing heaviness of the other three bands.

Mournful Congregation presents "Left Unspoken". Mournful Congregation is without doubt the biggest and most respected of these four bands, thanks to their The Monad Of Creation and The June Frost albums. I've never been a big fan of them though, as their style of doom fails to hold my attention for a full hour. One track is great for me, though, and "Left Unspoken" is a worthy closer of this split. It contains all the - as far as I can tell - typical Mournful Congregation elements: slow, dirge-like guitar leads with their typical bends and slides, deep growled vocals and an overall utterly minimalistic approach.

Four Burials is, unless you are a rabid fan of chess, a worthwhile and interesting release. For the experienced and seasoned collectors it contains new work from not-so-prolific bands. For the (Funeral) Doom newbie it is a possibility to check out some of the scene's underground upper middle class acts. And not to mention, it gives a good idea of the range of the Doom scene (although it is hardly the full view). Oh shit, now I mentioned it anyway.

Oh, and if you want to know who won in this four-way-match, search Chess-Results.com. You might find them there.