Funeral - To Mourn Is A Virtue - review
Funeral - To Mourn Is A Virtue - review
Tracklist
01. Hunger02. God?
03. Your Pain Is Mine
04. The Poison
05. Dancing In A Liquid Veil
06. How Death May Linger
07. Father
08. Blood From The Soil
09. Wrapped All In Woe
A review by
BitterCOld June 07, 2011
Funeral's approach, at least on these tapes, was a bit refreshing. The vocals are almost equally spoken and sung to masterful effect, capturing a melancholic, tragic mood.
Crushing power chord riffs are all over the album, as one might expect in a doom metal album. However that approach shares equal time with the guitarists playing mournful melodies behind vocals, rather than the standard power chord strummed and sustained. This approach really caught my ear and pulled me in, as the two meld and enhance the mood.
As a result of the guitar work, at times this has a bit of a loose feel to it, held together by the bass and the drumming. Especially the drumming. While doom is traditionally a slow tempo genre, and drumming is often quite sparse, there are lots of little rolls and fills to be found in To Mourn Is A Virtue that spice up the tracks.
The result thus far is really enjoyable, and a bit different than either the extreme funeral/death or standard doom I listen to. It had its own distinct character that set it apart from the other doom acts I have in heavy rotation.
Not to be content with that, Funeral seem to enjoy breaking up their tracks with piano or keyboard interludes? While songs have keyboard wash accompaniment, the first couple tracks all take a break with about two minutes to go, and let the sadness of the keys wash over the listener.
They also toss some beautifully sung female vocals in on various tracks like "Wrapped All In Woe", often in the immediate background to function in a similar capacity as the keyboards? adding another element to help capture the mood.
I'm not entirely sure what took so long to get these songs out and into the light of day and I've not listened to Funeral before this. I can say I am glad they finally got released, am happy for the experience and this will definitely not be the last of their albums I check out.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written on 07.06.2011 by
Written on 07.06.2011 by
BitterCOld has been officially reviewing albums for MetalStorm since 2009. Comments
Comments:
6
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Posts: 889
Funeral is definitely a great band with their unique approach towards doom metal. My favourite is "From These Wounds" so I suggest you check out that album. As for this compilation, there is not much to mention beside it is a satisfying experience for the ears. 
---- "And we are not who we think we are We are who we're afraid to be" - Lux Occulta "The Opening of Eleventh Sephirah"
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Posts: 21306 Written by NocturnalStalker on 07.06.2011 at 11:00 Just to clarify, it's not a compilation. These songs are based on material that was never released.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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 Posts: 5068 |
Posts: 5068
Well done on the review, i like this band very much and the fact they lost two members throughout the years makes them even more doom  And i'm glad they released these ideas now that they have a more spot on direction.
---- Dec. 30, 1334. ...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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Posts: 889 Written by Troy Killjoy on 07.06.2011 at 13:48 Does it matter? I mean they've taken the songs that never got released before and put them together. Isn't it a compilation too?
---- "And we are not who we think we are We are who we're afraid to be" - Lux Occulta "The Opening of Eleventh Sephirah"
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Posts: 889 Written by Deinonychus on 07.06.2011 at 18:37 I'd say no but that's just my personal impression. In any case, it's a good album and totally worth spending some time on it.
---- "And we are not who we think we are We are who we're afraid to be" - Lux Occulta "The Opening of Eleventh Sephirah"
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Posts: 2466  |
Posts: 2466
Cool beans. I'm always skeptical about "unreleased material" albums and such (it's mostly just cash crab... if those tracks never got released, there's probably good reason for it) but Bitter convinced me. Will be checking it out ASAP.
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