Veil of Death

Fernando Opazo has been carrying this classic doom initiative along since 2010, though just in 2022 did a debut album turn up, with the European release following a year later. Veil of Death sees the band rounded out to a quartet with members of Mourners Lament and Mortajas also involved, so this is very much a product of the Chilean traditional doom scene. Traditional it sounds too, quaking wails and shuffling beats referring to Saint Vitus and Pentagram, though with some of the larger scope of Candlemass, and even hints of progression and nocturnal atmosphere from the Italian dark scene. Though the songs churn on long and slow, the album contains just 5 of them, and so remains accessible at around 40 minutes.

The lead guitar work marks out Marchafunebre as different to other doom acts, not least because ‘Journey to Barzaj’ commences with a very clinical solo akin to occult-influenced death metal like Drawn And Quartered. Interesting to note, the same song evolves into a grooving death metal beat later on and is accompanied by another flashy lead, while ‘Rise from the Crypt’ also opts for higher pace and a looser feel, sometimes coming across like early Type O Negative in the vocals. Thus, despite the initial impression that Marchafunebre would play it straight in the manner of Reverend Bizarre, Veil of Death contains hints that the Chileans wish to do more than revisit and revise the old masters of doom. Some miserable old puritans may feel cheated because of that, but for the rest of us this provides a fresh feel to a well-developed and well-produced set of songs.


Originally written for Metalegion #14 - www.metalegion.com