Chapter 1: Delirium

Colosseum is a band that I always felt was underrated and overlooked. Finland is a nexus for funeral doom artists, good and bad, so lesser known bands like Colosseum get tossed around in the sea of obscurity a bit. A shame really, since Chapter 1: Delirium is one of the strongest and hard hitting debut albums I have ever heard come from any band.

The album has a very distinct tone and sound to it, something also carried on in the band's latter two albums; the sound of Colosseum to put it. The funeral doom formula usually goes like this: a slower, deeper, and gloomier sound to it, with low growls and/or a melancholic clean voice for vocals. Colosseum has all of that, but their usage of keyboards gives the music an ethereal and cosmic feel to it, and a breath of fresh air to those digging around for more unique sounding funeral doom. The keyboard has a distant cold sound to it, like a frigid veil of fog in a dark underground, or the depths of dark space. Juhani Palomaki's Lovecraftian influence on the lyrics give a surreal sense of dread to the already dismal and depressing music that they accompany.

I would also like to point out the general atmosphere of the music. To me, that is the strongest point of all. There's the slow pace of the drums and the drawn out cries of guitars, but the keyboards take the cake for the driving lead in the sound. The music's atmosphere rolls great with the growled vocals, but then there are parts in some of the songs ( Saturnine Vastness in particular) where the music just trails off with the listener into a deep venture of atmosphere. The instruments reign supreme in their otherworldly sound as they intertwine with each other, creating a great isolated and soul-piercing feeling. It's those moments that music has the listener in its icy firm grasp and you are swallowed up in the layers of its excellent sound and quality.

In short, this album is one of my favorite funeral doom albums of all time. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys emphasis on atmosphere in their funeral doom.

I can say without any doubt that this is one of the best funeral doom records I have ever heard. The atmosphere attained by the keyboards and lead guitar is always interesting, while the growled vocals, crushing drums and heavily distorted rhythm guitar makes sure that this album suffers no shortage of heaviness. This band, hailing from the bleak winters of Finland, flawlessly blend the beauty of ambient and the bleak rawness of metal.

On the band's website they say that their goal is to combine ambient, classical and metal. They have no problem succeeding. The classical shines through on the beautifully executed intro to Aesthetics of the Grotesque. The band places many interesting ambient passages throughout their songs. The band also shows their penchant for experimentation by having a very old world sounding chant in the middle of Corridors of Desolation. While many other funeral doom bands have keyboards in the background to add texture, Colosseum uses keyboards just as much as, if not more, than the guitars. This makes for a very unique sound. Much of the time it feels very calming and heavy at the same time. The atmosphere on this album is amazing. It draws you into another world and keeps you there until the album runs its course.

The vocals on this album are so deep they almost sound like they are from some beast instead of a human. They are much lower in the mix than is normal in metal. The words are nearly impossible to distinguish and the vocals become like another instrument. While the instruments do an amazing job on their own, the vocals add a bleak element of darkness to the album. The rhythm guitar on this album is sparse, heavily distorted and crawls at a very slow pace. While slow, the rhythm guitar is ruthlessly heavy. It does a lot to add a feeling of impending doom to the album. The lead guitars on this album are very melodic and remind me of the German funeral doom group Ahab. The lead guitar melody at the end of Weathered is faster than much of the album and draws me into a trance that I do not want to let go of. The drums are very well produced. Like the rhythm guitar they are very slow, with the exception of the double bass drum parts. They feature a lot of crashing cymbals, which works really well with this type of music. It makes it even more heavy.

This album is a perfect example of both slow heaviness and inspiring ambient. It is much more accessible than some of the other funeral doom bands, so people that are a fan of less obscure forms of metal will still appreciate it. This album is very interesting and pleasurable to listen to and also very original.

This is a fine doom album in it's own right. I am a huge fan of Disembowelment and to a lesser extent November's Doom and Winter. And now I am big fan of this group. All the tracks are excellent, but my favorite is "Aesthetics of the Grotesque". The first minutes of this track really capture my imagination(although all the tracks more or less succeed in spurring the imagination). This album is not overly produced and the production is very clean. The musicianship is also very sharp with all the elements blending seamlessly. You really notice a lot of fine detail throughout, especially after the 3rd and 4th listening. The vocals are difficult to discern at times(even for a long time purveyor of fine death metal), although this is typical for this genre. That being said, the vocals are quite good, fitting in perfectly.

The six tracks average out around 11 minuets a piece and nowhere does it drag out or become monotonous. Rather you become lost into it. At first impression this album appears to have a simplistic structure. An impression that quickly melts away, giving way to a progressively constructing bleak and dreary atmosphere that gradually envelops you. As you further become subconsciously abandoned into this very thick and palpable atmosphere, you start to perceive an unsettling sensation of being dragged down into the depths of some parallel netherworld. Or perhaps after second glance, might actually be a grim & ugly social reality in the present day, obscured by the relentless march of time and the primordial instinct to survive.

To me this album is a musical work of art, deserving high marks all around. Also noteworthy are the demos to this album available on their website.