The Slow Death

The Slow Death is a little underground doom/death project that I've been following for quite some time now. Featuring members from various doom and death metal bands around Australia (and, most recently, Brett Campbell of Pallbearer on lead guitars!), it would be much more appropriate to consider them as a collaborative project as opposed to a regular band. Overall, the musical mastermind of the project would be multi-instrumentalist Stuart Prickett, whose brilliant work in Stone Wings is being continued through this project. Second in command would be Mandy Andresen, who contributes all clean vocals, keyboards, lyrics, and artwork. As a big fan of her solo projects (particularly Murkrat), I was initially interested in this upon knowing that she was involved. Lastly, we have Gregg Williamson, whose deep gurgling grunts reflect an appropriate talent for a death metal vocalist.

Overall, the work of The Slow Death is exactly what I had been hoping to hear around the time I discovered them. I was hoping to find some sort of revival of the primitive and gritty sounds of 90's doom/death metal. What's refreshing is that, while melodic elements like clean female vocals and pianos do have a big part in the music, the music is very far from the romanticism that can be associated with the likes of Anathema or My Dying Bride. If anything, this album leans more on the funereal side, with more of a terminal and desolate tone to its sorrowful compositions. Over the course of five epic tracks, this concept album unfolds an audial interpretation of The Bubonic Plague. Typically, I don't pay much attention to lyrics. However, something I find unique about The Slow Death is that their albums are both concept albums, which tell well-written stories of futile extinction. Reading the lyrics weighs in all the more on the listening experience for me, perhaps even enhances it. Through solemn soprano singing and low death growls, the horrid tale of sickness and famine is narrated over driving riffs, gloomy clean guitar breaks, and some very gorgeous lead sections.

'The Prodigal Son' makes for a simplistic, yet effective, build-up for the rest of the album. The first half of the track is very vocally driven, consisting of an interplay between the ethereal lines of Mandy and the monotonous grunts of Gregg. The ending leaves more room for guitar and some faint keyboards to harmonize before fading out. 'Sickness' feels more like a kickoff point in the album, where the mood truly begins to grow dark. A long clean guitar and keyboard intro provides a very sleepy and ambient atmosphere before a funeral-paced riff and Gregg's brutal voice come in, providing contrast to the more upbeat tone of the first track. Mostly pursuing a dirge-like speed, the song only picks up for when Mandy's part comes in, singing of the inevitable demise that is to follow in the next three tracks.

"...and all who live are soon to die
The Doctors of black shroud and beaked face
Soldiers and servants, the sinners and chaste
The miasma lingers, the evil air
Permeates every alley, every house, every room
He fled, never knowing he could not escape his doom."

Like the opener, title track 'The Slow Death' shows the bands more upbeat and melodic side, though this track is a bit more of a slow burner and takes longer to build up. Perhaps the most inoffensive and accessible track of them all, the song opens with keyboards and some more dramatic vocal lines from Mandy. While her voice is more monotonous and grim on the other tracks, she shines with emotional and angelic melodies that match the unusually hopeful sounding lead that carries throughout the song. Aside from a drudging interlude of grunts, droning riffs, and piano, the clean vocals and leads truly make the song in this case. 'Grave' (as you could imagine from the song title) is the most mournful and funeral doom-based track. In fact, I find the song particularly similar to 'When Nightfall Clasps' by Funeral on their Tragedies album. Both have the same sluggish congregation pace, and a similar song structure. Mandy's harmonizing chants line the beginning and end of the track, while most of the vocal parts are handled in Gregg's sinister narration. The guitar interlude is a standout point for the album; melodic leads are layered over bleak clean guitars, while gentle synthesizers add to the desolate atmosphere with a light and windy texture. Closing track 'Dark Days' is a 18 minute epic that effectively captures both the band's upbeat and utterly miserable sides. The first half of the song varies between grunts and a galloping melo-death metal riff, with depressed soprano crooning and crushing slowness. The second half of the song favors the latter, concluding the tragic story with a repetitive funereal riff and ethereal choral singing.

My only reason for doing this review track-for-track is because I view The Slow Death's works more as long story-line compositions, as opposed to songs within an album. For this reason, it's not an album that I listen to frequently, and I'm sure that will be the case for a lot of people. It's great, profound music, but the monstrous song lengths and outright bitter mood of the music can seem a bit overwhelming, whether you enjoy this kind of metal or not. Some other turn-offs for others may be the drums, which are programmed. While I typically despise programmed drums, they have a mechanical and resonant clash to them in this particular instance, as opposed to the weak and synthesizer-based drums that one may hear in a typical one-man funeral doom or black metal project.

Honestly, there is nothing about this album that I can't appreciate. In my opinion, The Slow Death have successfully brought back the sepulchral sounds of early-Funeral, Paramæcium, and Thergothon. Though my expectations aren't high, it'd be nice to think of a time when they'll be reminisced among as one of the more underrated doom/death metal groups of our time. In comparison to modern bands, their sound lies closest to Mourning Beloveth, Shape of Despair, and Doom:VS.