One Lonely Path

Funeral doom is a genre that's really hard to fuck up, but it's also really hard to perfect. Think of it as an "easy to learn, hard to master" kind of thing. Sure, the music takes little musicianship to create, as even I could pick up an instrument and play funeral doom pretty easily, but it's very, VERY difficult to get the atmosphere, pacing and mood all correct. You could easily become bloody boring if you don't hone your craft and perfect being slow and bleak while remaining dynamic and interesting. Enter Longing for Dawn's 2005 debut album, "One Lonely Path."

While this record isn't the greatest example of funeral doom out there, it certainly does a lot of things right to keep it atop my listening rotation when I'm in the mood for some slow, depressing music. The mood is incredibly sorrowful, thanks to the mournful, slow guitar riffs, that thankfully aren't too slow for their own good. The production is raw, but not as raw as something you might hear on some of the earlier funeral doom demos and albums from the early to mid 1990s. Think of it as a really good balance of organicity that isn't overly clean and ends up sounding overproduced and sterile.

This is a guitar driven record, with droning, almost black metal like riffs, just slowed down immensely. They aren't played on the lowest string, downtuned to fuck like most bands (which I like as well), this is played mostly on a higher register while the lower register notes take a backseat to the dissonant, depressing chords soaring above it all. There's a hefty dose of keyboards that sit in the background of this album that aid in the atmosphere, but don't really bring the music to new heights like I would have hoped. As stated above, the riffs, even without the help of the dreary keyboards, are sad. As someone who battled depression for years and only just recently escaped from it, this certainly feels like agony and hopelessness in music form, which is cliche for funeral doom, but hey… that's the point of genre after all, isn't it?

The vocals are definitely a necessary improvement from most funeral doom bands. Whereas a lot of bands just go with the lowest, most gritty vocals possible, these ones are filled with a good amount of emotion, sounding almost like a cry for help instead of just some low, brutal death metal-esque belch. Definitely not screeches like you would find from Bethlehem or Silencer, but abrasive wails nonetheless. The drums are a little forgettable, but serviceable. There's only so much you can do in this department after all.

This is pretty solid for this type of music… one of my personal go to's for sure, even if you need to be in a certain mood to really get the best out of it. Definitely worth checking out if you like funeral doom as a whole, it has merit and it's worthy of a listen at least once. It's dark, it's moody, it's, well… funeral-y. And doomy. Who would have guessed?

Yes, it is better to have some knowledge in a certain field, before attempting to start working in it; music is not an exception from this and some special significance seems to exist when it comes to ambient and drone influences these days. A lot of bands simply fail when it comes to webbing these kind of elements into their compositions; an excessively blandness instead of haunting atmosphere is being created and the quality of the art is diminished to a great deal. Longing for Dawn are different in this respect, due to the background of Frederic Arbour. He runs the label Cyclic Law -- a label focussed on drone and ambient -- as well as the ambient project Instincts; thusly can he rely on a good deal of experience in terms of creating ambient/drone textures and you can hear this on this release.

Funeral doom is minimalist and limited to a small amount of riffs, motives and structures at a certain period of time, hence it is necessary to fill any gap that might exist with something that might grasp the attention of the listener. In terms of Longing for Dawn two elements have to emphasized: the keyboards, which work as a contrast to the guitars and support the atmosphere, and the drone/ambient textures whose part is to give the music some additional depth and volume; Total Abscense of Light would be an example for the potential of this approach. Actually, the band needs them, because the minimalism in the concept of the band, excessive repetition in the motives and minimalism in the arrangements in long segments would otherwise sound too thin and lack of fascination as well as variation. As the compositions are separated into different parts, each with their own style but still with some ideas of the preceding one, the importance of keeping the tension up becomes some significance.

Drums can be a tricky thing and the overtly reliance by bands on drum-computers do make it easier for them to create a coherent framework. In case of Longing for Dawn a real drummer can be found, but he is unable to give the music much dynamic or positive impact. In fact, by listening to the first composition, Access to Deliverance, one has to admit that his performance is by no means good. The play is uninspiring, too monotonous and repetitive and makes it an endurance to listen to parts of this release. Worst of all, the production is by not optimal and had put a too large emphasis on the drums -- especially some cymbals --, which fosters the previously discussed impression unnecessarily. As the music is quite minimalist in the opening track, the outcome of this flaw should be obvious.

Final bits and bytes
This release is not bad for a first attempt and especially the drone/ambient textures work fine with the music; they appear in a way they do not suck and are actually able to support the instruments. Yet, when it comes to the overall quality, then it is still wanting and especially the drums with the excessively repetitive and monotonous play are not optimal. Further reaches the music occasionally the point of being too plain and also boring. The fascination Lethal and Total Abscense of Light are able to create does not remain until the end of the release. Nevertheless, this release has some nice moments and can be enjoyed, even though new heights are not reached here.

First off, you won't find anything here that hasn't been done elsewhere. Yes, this is a funeral doom album, slow, brooding, with the requisite depressive atmosphere, and, honestly, a rather generic one. But this is funeral doom done right.

The pace is slow throughout. The keyboards play an extremely important role in creating the atmosphere, with airy keyboard soundscapes constantly present in all the tracks. This forms a sonic background that gives the music plenty of space. From time to time the keyboards play little fills, which are much needed and as they prevent the songs become boring. At time they are the only instrument, e.g. in the middle of "Lethal". Overall, this in an example an excellent use of keyboards on a doom album.

Now, the guitars. Personally, I don't like their sound that much. Their sound is too trebly and more reverb and low end would make the music heavier, and give it more power. The riffs are rather basic and if you don't like simple music better stay away from this album. Occasionally, a clean guitar part appears (the beginning of "Ashes of Innocence", or "One Lonely Path") but it is nothing special. The poor guitar sound is in large part compensated by keyboards but still, the guitars could be much better. The same goes for the bass, which is audible and fills the task of providing the bottom frequencies in the mix, but it does hardly anything else.

The vocals are low growls reminding me of Evoken a bit and maybe even Thorr's Hammer. They are not very low, pretty standard in fact, nothing extremely guttural, but they fit the music nicely. The drums are your standard standard doom metal ones and their sound is just appropriate, not too heavy nor cardboard-like (Skepticism, anyone?).

The mix is very even which is not necessarily a good thing as the guitars could be much fleshier and the drums a bit heavier. But the prominent role of keyboards is a redeeming quality, making the music appropriately gloomy and despondent.

So, if you like slow and very atmospheric but not necessarily too heavy, or varied and original doom metal, you might want to check this album out.