Church of the Flagellation

Church of the Flagellation is quite the collaboration, as it brings together 3 of today’s best Doom Metal bands, and one musical abortion.

We start things off with an untitled Stabat Mater track. SM is easily one of my favourite [doom] bands of all time, as Mikko (of Clandestine Blaze & Deathspell Omega fame) unleashes some of the sickest, most deranged Funeral Doom ever. The track contributed to this split isn’t as heavy-sounding as his earlier tracks “Give Them Pain” or “Chambers of Torture” (possibly just because of the mix it was given), but it is still exceptional, and is very short in length when compared to the rest of the tracks.

Bunkur are a band I’m not too fond of. They pride themselves on playing “extreme” Doom Metal, but their 31 minute contribution is only extreme because of its pointless length. There’s no reason for this track to be as long as it is, and whatever was accomplished with the recording of “Devolve” (if anything) could have been done in less than 5 minutes. If played back at a faster speed, it might sound like a real song. Whenever I listen to this release, I skip this track. Thus, this load of crap drops the split’s rating.

The Malasangre track is quite impressive. Spanning almost 17 minutes, this Italian band plays a nice mix of Funeral Doom and sludgy metal. There’s an organ/keyboard, samples, and multiple layers of sick vocals. Very malevolent and brooding. Definitely a band I’d like to hear more from.

The Sad Sun end off the tape with a 20 minute track. Some might consider this to be a super group, but I can’t say I’m too fond of the material I’ve heard from the other projects of this band’s members (though I have yet to hear any Wraith of the Ropes). This is another long, sick song, with grinding distortion, piercing “solos” and hair-raising growls. Very reminiscent of Esoteric, this is a perfect way to end this split, as it is quite a good track.

So you can see just how good this split is, and I do recommend you try to find a copy to buy, dub or download. Other than the useless Bunkur track, the 3 other bands present deliver almost 90 minutes of vile, brutal, hateful, depressive music. And that, in my opinion, is what Doom Metal should be all about.