BACK IN TIME:
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#FOR FANS OF: Funeral Doom, Ahab |
This was Profetus’ debut, originally released on April 29th, 2009, back
then — and still now — is a masterpiece and a lesson in funeral doom
metal. This re-release and limited edition includes the band’s debut and
their first and only demo 'Saturnine'. Altogether make over 90 minutes
of decaying and devastating anthems. An astonishing colossus of a
record, where the album and the demo are two different entities that can
be listened separately.
'Coronation of the Black Sun'
is dark as the chasm, mystical music for a ritual of death, where there
is no room for hope or light, and the cover artwork epitomizes this
feeling superbly. As your eyes set in the artwork, you know this is
something obscure and serious.
Funeral doom metal is a complex
and difficult genre that challenges the listener and demands patience,
and sometimes, very skilled bands reward patience with towering riffs
and mythical passages. This is the case with Profetus debut.
Unpretentious but confident guitar riffs take the lead, powerful chords
make ambiance and the keyboard work creates a melody and an atmosphere
so dominant that evokes the feeling of a black cathedral lost in the
limbo.
A particular talent is needed to create gigantic
anthems in length and keep your listening interested and heedful to the
music, no easy task for sure, both to keep a pace and to be aware of
your tempo as a musician. This is why funeral doom metal is so respected
even though when is humbler than other genres and styles.
"Eye
of Phosphoros" is the supreme song of the album. From the very
beginning, the deep abyssal growls take you to the darkest of your
thoughts, almost as ritualistic music, as a desolated landscape of doom
and dark draws in the mind. It is monotonous and hypnotizing. Makinen’s
vocals are really fitting to the music; the keyboards emulate a pipe
organ adding a funerary aspect to the song. And the last 5 minutes… When
the pipe organ strikes at the end of the song, is like something
terrible, dismal and tragic has happened. The beauty of the last five
minutes of the song is outstanding and once it hits you, it will keep
inside you; female chants join as they were angels claiming for a lost
soul. In funeral doom metal standards, this ending is perfection.
“Coalescence
of Ashen Wings” is as gloomy as the previous one, but shorter. The
highlight of this song is the atmosphere the melancholic guitars create
as it is a more repetitive song, lacking an exceptional change of
rhythm, although it has this passage where the guitars take control and
deliver a sullen melody of doom, along with some heavy riffs and
percussion work.
The last and catchiest song is “Blood
of Saturn”, which is another masterpiece. This song, in particular, has a
faster rhythm than previous ones, and it proposes a mournful melody
from the very start, a melody that will take leadership throughout
several moments of the song. In the second third of the song, we get a
sudden change of pace that leaves the drums in the spotlight, reminding
me a little of the funeral doom metal band Ahab. After this passage, we
get back to the main musical theme, and we will have a moment of
reflection minutes after, just to sink in the deepest of our thoughts as
the song slowly dies.
'Coronation of
the Black Sun' is a rock solid magnum opus of the funeral doom metal
genre, but as this edition includes also the 'Saturnine' demo, I found
something annoying, even though is just a little thing but it bothered
me, and this is that in the demo the sound is stronger and heavier.
Don’t get me wrong, it is not better, the main album is fine mixed and
well mastered, but the demo sounds more aggressive and powerful, the
drums are so authoritative that it sounds more proper to the music.
'Saturnine' has this claustrophobic sound that reminded me again of
Ahab’s debut 'The Call of the Wretched Sea', and I think that this
strength in the drums would have been perfect for 'Coronation of the
Black Sun'. Musically, it is far from what they became and achieved,
though. In conclusion, this is an album for posterity that will be
revisited for years to come. (Alejandro "Morgoth" Valenzuela)