Butterfly Decadence

“Butterfly Decadence” is something of an open ended title in itself, perhaps denoting a protest towards the suppression of beauty by arbitrary governing powers, or some other abstract critique on the general concept of beauty. But the intended meaning becomes easier to ascertain when hearing the dreary, ambient tones that make up the bulk of the album, and what emerges is a very broad mixture of themes, held together by a strand of unquenchable longing and unfulfilled desire. Lyrically it comes off as somewhat ambiguous, almost like an impressionist painting that has been so distorted by the nebulous brushes and foggy exterior that it nearly loses its base form. And yet it is anchored quite effectively within the droning confines of its style, providing a harmonically simple and grave funeral-march character that lends itself to strict contemplation rather than unfettered and chaotic dreams.

This album is unique next to more prominent representations of atmospheric death/doom in that, much like the last offering “Portrait Of A Dream”; it barely manages to embody the basic tenants of metal music. Guitars, bass and drums are employed in a very limited and sporadic fashion, serving as something of a climactic device to separate out the elongated keyboard passages and entire instrumental compositions. This is music that establishes depth through layering of sounds, and the majority of it manifests in piano, string and wind instrument sounds. The introductory song “Sutured Lips” offers a mere two primary chords from the guitars and a stripped down, punishingly slow straight beat from the drums, but it is teaming with improvised melodic material in the keyboard department, almost akin to a virtuosic vocal performance being heard off in the distance in the wake of a storm.

As the album progresses, the more auspicious moments tend to come at the height of the actual funeral doom works, which number a mere 2 out of 6 total songs. “Vast Infinite Beauty” is the more easily digestible of the two given that it spends more time in the grave, muddy depths of exaggeratedly slow death/doom that most regular consumers of this genre will be familiar with. The slightly longer and more keyboard-heavy “Of Love And Deceit” is still loaded with familiar elements in the same respect as its shorter counterpart, but the instrumental interludes linger a bit more and definitely lean towards the dreamy, ambient character that typifies much of the rest of this album. Indeed, the overall breakdown of actual heavy, metallic doom influences versus straight keyboard music is just barely a 40/60 split.

This largely plays to a very small niche audience, and is all but a perfect stylistic repeat of this band’s previous studio endeavor. Perhaps the biggest departure to be found on here is the “Night’s Dew” cover, which is slightly more upbeat and pastoral in feel than the rest of this album, which could all but be likened to the woeful echoes of mourning attendees at a cemetery shrouded in autumn mist. But in itself, this is a pleasing and well realized album, and unfortunately appears to be the last out of 1000 Funerals, a band that had the rare distinction of releasing extreme music while living in Iran, one of the least welcoming places of it.

It is a curious title. Even more curious is that another band from Iran 'Frequency of Butterfly Wings' did release an album in the same year 'The Butterfly Effect'; to be precise, two months prior to the one of '1000 Funerals'. Coincidence? Or is there a small nudge in the direction of the former band?

Whatever … those familiar with the preceding release 'Portrait of a Dream' might recognize the evolution the band has taken since. Even though the keyboards are still quite dominant, even though the atmosphere has still this touch of incomplete melancholia and even though there is a certain predictability surrounding the compositions, it is easy to appreciate this latest instalment over the debut. Why? More facets, variation, some play with the arrangements and also the complexity has increased.

First of all, the cheapness – especially when it comes to the keyboards – is gone in some respect and the sound is less cheesy as well as thin. Maybe this is also due to the way other elements were woven together. Guitars and vocals play a larger role, while additional facets or sounds create some kind of counterbalance. What came over as slightly strange on the debut had been the focus on minimalist structures that were supposed to create a dark atmosphere; but generally failed at doing so. Have '1000 Funerals' overcome this issue? No. With a slightly starker emphasis on death metal, the music has become heavier, while the ambient parts work rather as a transition than as something that could build up some kind of dark ambience; 'Of Love and Deceit'.
Similar to the preceding release the emphasis is rather on the non-metal elements, which is in some respect a disappointment. Again the listener is dragged through a variety of calm and even slightly dull compositions – 'Nothing has ever been' 'Butterfly Decadence'. It would be rather safe to state that this is some kind of borderline output that moves around the edges of what can be described as being metal. It is not fully on either sides …

Cover version: Shade of Despair – Night's Dew
The last track would be the best and the worst track of the entire album. Best, because it is a sweet interpretation and not a pure uninspired cover version; worst, because it clearly exposes the gap between the capabilities of the Finnish band, when it comes to song-writing, and the Iranian one. A stark contrast of surprisingly extreme proportions is revealed by this composition and it would have been nice to experience something similar early on and not when the album is basically over.

Unlike on 'Portrait of a Dream' the reference towards 'Until Death Overtakes Me' is no longer valid. Other ones would now be: Shape of Despair, a bit of Pantheist and Nortt and maybe even Anlipnes. Add to these selected suggestions at least fifty percent of (dark) ambient in order to set the music into its proper place.

The follow-up to the debut is by no means a bad release, it is just too tame and unconvincing. Someone whose main focus would be on the metal genre, could even be disappointed by the low amount of guitars and heaviness on this album. Odd filler material, strange vocals parts and a closing composition that seem to mock everything the band had created themselves, leave by no means a convincing impression. Without the status of an exotic band from a small scene, 'Butterfly Decadence' would have easily been forgotten already … like so many other outputs from so many bands from so many countries, music that is impossible to keep track of and impossible to endure because it lacks too many things.

Note:
Limited to 1000 copies.

Based on a review originally written for ‘A dead spot of light (Number 19)’:
http://www.archive.org/details/ADeadSpotOfLight...Number19

After a 6 year break between albums, Iran's 1000 Funerals have returned with 'Butterfly Decadence,' another installment of their brand of funeral meets gothic, death-doom. This album comes with a new line-up and is released through a Russian label, Satanarsa Records. Their début album 'Portrait Of A Dream' showed potential but failed to raise too much attention from the worldwide doom metal community but this album should do a lot better. This album is really a mixture of doom styles from funeral to gothic to death to the very atmospheric and ambient and they do each style with a fair amount of flair and finesse. If you like doom metal that paints a little picture in your head with each passage of music, then 1000 Funerals should be your cup of tea. I have a few issues with this album but they are all minor gripes as overall, this is a decent doom release.

I am guessing the main element they are going for here is atmosphere and in that regard, this is a big win. The instrumentation on the other hand is nothing to write home about, not that it is bad, it just isn't anything too mind-blowing. You would think after more than five years between albums, they would have found their sound but they still sound largely like Shape Of Despair but that is not too much of a bad thing. They take that influence one step further with a cover of the Shape of Despair's 'Night's Dew' so I guess I will start there even though it is the last track on 'Butterfly Decadence.' They don't really add anything new to the song but it is easily the most assessable tune the album offers. The rest of the album follows the Shape of Despair musical blueprint but with a few atmospheric twists and turns along the way.

The opening instrumental track 'Sutured Lips' gets the album off to a very atmospheric start with big melodic keyboards parts, flute, and violin. The tune is a spacey one, but not with a typical space-rock kind of vibe but it is very psychedelic in its own way. This leads into the 10 minute 'Of Love Then Deceit' and the atmosphere turns very ambient apart from the usual death-doom chugging riffing that comes and goes throughout the track. Some black-metalish growls are used in conjunction with chants and spoken word as vocals giving the track some funeralized moments. 'Nothing Has Ever Been' and the title track come next and they take the album into a more mellow direction while keeping the atmosphere firmly entrenched in the darkness.

The last track to talk about is 'Vast Infinite Beauty' and it is another powerfully atmospheric funeral doom track. This album which is short by funeral doom standards at under 40 minutes has its mesmerizing moments but also has its fair share of repetitive riffs and ideas that don't add much to the album. Some of the riffing is great but they tend to over-do things at times. Its main feature is the overwhelming, cinematic atmosphere which is quite captivating but musically, it is a little dull in parts. The sound while still heavy is lacking in some much-needed bottom-end and that does take away some of the magic this album could have had. However the production is very good as it usually is with any doom band that puts something out on a Russian label these days. The packaging is a bit of a let-down with average art and a lack of info but like I said in the first paragraph, these are all minor flaws. 'Butterfly Decadence' is unlikely to set the doom underground on fire but it is still a solid doom release....

Since Iran is in the news, I thought it would be a good time to talk about 1000 Funerals. It takes a lot of balls to play metal in Iran, a country that's not exactly noted for tolerating freedom or Western ways. You can get in trouble just for having a haircut that's too Western, so I'm not sure what playing funeral doom will get you.

But 1000 Funerals dare it anyway. They play a style of funeral doom with a full wall of sound, complementing the slow crush of drums and guitars with a range of synthesizer sounds (including strings and piano). The vocals are extended, deep growls in the two actual funeral doom tracks, whispers on a synth-based track, and a female monologue on another synth track. Two other tracks are instrumental (including the highly memorable Shape of Despair cover that closes out the album).

The atmosphere is morose. I felt compelled to look at the lyrics to try to figure out their religious stance (I still can't make one out for certain), and found material that seems in line with the longing-for-a-lost-love of My Dying Bride. That seems suitable for the mood and sounds.

This is very high-quality funeral doom, which can be tough to find sometimes in a genre where many try to fake it. My only complaint is that there are really only two original funeral doom cuts on the album.

The Verdict: If for no other reason than to support metal from a country where it's hard, you should pick this one up.

originally written for http://fullmetalattorney.blogspot.com/