Band:	Funeral
Album:	To Mourn Is A Virtue
Style:	Doom metal
Release date:	May 24, 2011
A review by:	BitterCOld

01. Hunger
02. 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

Funeral are, per Solitude Productions, a cult doom metal band hailing from Norway. They were around way back in the day when My Dying Paradise Anathema were doing their thing. To Mourn Is a Virtue is a limited run release of demos and recordings made by the band between 1996 and 2004. The recordings were lost/disappeared/shelved for as long as 15 years before they were remastered in 2010 and, finally, released this year.

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.