Sacrimony - ... And Abyss He Created
When one thinks of Funeral Doom Metal, the usually come to think of groups like Evoken or Esoteric, with highly epic songs that clock past fifteen minutes with long, droning chords heavy with distortion and deep, guttural vocals over eerie keyboards that just tends to go on and on forever, yet it is so hypnotic that one cannot turn away. For Sacrimony, sole instrumentalist Marcin tends to take things a bit farther than that. For one thing, the music is epic here, yes, but rather than offer the sheer 'background noise' effect like other Funeral Doom Metal bands, Marcin structures the album around a symphonic edge. '... And Abyss He Created' is more like something that would have sprung from the instrumental mind of Cradle Of Filth or even perhaps Nightwish rather than something like Evoken. Right from the opening track "Shades In Grey" listeners can tell that keyboards play a very important part in the music with their clean, funeral organ based sound. If anyone has heard My Dying Bride's "Fallen Angel" from 'Like Gods Of The Sun,' then they know how beautiful this can sound. The guitars do eventually come in with the drums, but they are faded into the background letting the keyboards still take preference. These other instruments almost sound like whispers in comparison; a huge reversal for the usual Funeral Doom listener. "Stay Under the Snow" continues the strong use of keyboards, this time offering a piano based sound that is even cleaner and more organic without any guitars or drums involved, touching on influences from bands like How Like A Winter.
The other tracks unfortunately do not offer as much variation as the first two, but are still intriguing. "Her Freezing Beauty" opens with the keyboards again and then later on focuses more on the guitars, which still sound pretty cleanly produced without as much crackling distortion as before (the drums in fact are the only ones that feel distorted at all as they have an echo with each beat). The My Dying Bride influence is still strongly there with hints of Draconian or even Paradise Lost and other Gothic Metal influences. "Angels..." tends to meld the guitars, drums, and keyboards altogether, and there even might be some cello involved too which adds up to be possibly the highlight track on the album despite the heavy dose of melancholy it serves. The final track is a bit of an anomaly because it is the only one to involve and vocals, but they just don't suit the music. Faded, nasally spoken words break the spell that the other tracks held with such audacity, like someone talking down the length of a pipe. Growls might have suited the music much better at least, or even whispers, so the instrumental parts still took precedence over everything.
For a Funeral Doom album, this is pretty decent. While more than half the tracks require a bit of attention, there is an even flow that carries on from track to track, making it easy to just relax to the entire album and not feel disturbed at all. Of course, new listeners to Funeral Doom may have some trouble adjusting to eerie calm of this type of sound whereas they may be more used to shorter, louder, more energetic tracks; there's certainly no inclination to headbang here. While some might consider this more classical music rather than any sort of Doom, the music is certainly sorrowful and depressing enough to bring forth the same feeling that it could if it involved any lyrics at all. Marcin certainly demonstrates his skill as a versatile instrumentalist on this project and hopefully his other works will be more diverse an equally beautiful.
The other tracks unfortunately do not offer as much variation as the first two, but are still intriguing. "Her Freezing Beauty" opens with the keyboards again and then later on focuses more on the guitars, which still sound pretty cleanly produced without as much crackling distortion as before (the drums in fact are the only ones that feel distorted at all as they have an echo with each beat). The My Dying Bride influence is still strongly there with hints of Draconian or even Paradise Lost and other Gothic Metal influences. "Angels..." tends to meld the guitars, drums, and keyboards altogether, and there even might be some cello involved too which adds up to be possibly the highlight track on the album despite the heavy dose of melancholy it serves. The final track is a bit of an anomaly because it is the only one to involve and vocals, but they just don't suit the music. Faded, nasally spoken words break the spell that the other tracks held with such audacity, like someone talking down the length of a pipe. Growls might have suited the music much better at least, or even whispers, so the instrumental parts still took precedence over everything.
For a Funeral Doom album, this is pretty decent. While more than half the tracks require a bit of attention, there is an even flow that carries on from track to track, making it easy to just relax to the entire album and not feel disturbed at all. Of course, new listeners to Funeral Doom may have some trouble adjusting to eerie calm of this type of sound whereas they may be more used to shorter, louder, more energetic tracks; there's certainly no inclination to headbang here. While some might consider this more classical music rather than any sort of Doom, the music is certainly sorrowful and depressing enough to bring forth the same feeling that it could if it involved any lyrics at all. Marcin certainly demonstrates his skill as a versatile instrumentalist on this project and hopefully his other works will be more diverse an equally beautiful.
- Shades In Grey
- Stay Under The Snow
- Her Freezing Beauty
- Angels Autumnal Shimmer
- ... And Abyss He Created
