Your Life My Death

Russia really knows how to spit out doom metal, often leaning towards funereal attributes, and most often with great result. Funeral Tears is a one-man band, starting out in 2007, but without releasing anything until 2010, which resulted in this debut album. It was actually recorded back in 2008, so I assume he’s taken his sweet time writing and carefully honing new material, trying to perfect it before unleashing it unto the scene.

The atmosphere is definitely there; the harsh, moody gloom you expect from masterfully performed funeral doom. And as I can’t help but find similarities to Worship, Evoken, Mournful Congregation and such, Your life my death is slightly more melodic than its masters. There’s a dose of the melancholic side of doom/death as well, coming through in the keyboard department, which delivers lines upon lines reminiscent of the earlier acts of the style. This gives it kind of a Pantheist-esque vibe, which is far from being a bad reference. Unfortunately the guitar and bass is too low in the mix, and the riffing’s not too decipherable, leaving it more of a foundation of heaviness for the drums, vocals and keys to take the forefront. A heavier and crunchier guitar sound would definitely give the music a greater punch, making it way more powerful and overwhelming in heaviness (which is how I most often want my funeral doom). Other than that the production’s actually very fitting for the task, since the drumming’s very audible, and where every beat has its purpose.

It’s slow and repetitive, much like you’d expect, but still not all that repetitive when compared to other bands of the style. The songs often change character a couple of times along the way, leading the progression of song structures a bit away from the somewhat typical repetition of riffs. Vocally I dig the harsh and rough growl, which has that particular funereal doom touch, oozing of death wishes and melancholy. And I actually really love the stark and minimalistic artwork, which is just a silvery grey foundation and some form of massacred crow’s head appearing in shadow form. It really fits the agenda.

Your life my death is nothing unique, you’ve heard it before, and probably from several other Russian constellations. But I honestly don’t care, ‘cause this is still delivered with a good and convincing atmosphere.

Originally written for My Last Chapter