Oh, you thought since I hung up Funeral Doom Friday I wouldn't still bring that gloomy heat? Well, you thought wrong. Tbilisi, Georgia's Ennui returns for their fourth full-length album, End of the Circle. The duo channels a sorrowful tone in a vein similar to Esoteric or Evoken and, for a number of years now, continue to make excellent records. In true funerary form, their new album tracks three songs at almost 73 minutes long.
Rife with towering riffs and deep, earth-shaking bellows, Ennui taps into a well of existential madness and dread. It's a glacially-paced endeavor into the circle of life and it's inevitable end: death. The opening title track—which encompasses over 30 minutes—is a slow build, much like life itself. As the song pushes towards its midway point, it unfurls into a display of death doom with a morose melody between dueling guitars.
The final two tracks, "The Withering Part 1 – Of Hollow Us" and "The Withering Part 2 – Of Long-Dead Stars" both run roughly 20 minutes. Additionally, they're thematically linked, as you might have guessed. Still, sonically speaking, these two songs are unnerving. David Unsaved's deep growl over the echoing strings of his and Serj Shengelia's guitars is as ominous as the looming death itself. These are simply brief instances of brilliance on End of the Circle. However, there is so much to uncover with each play.
End of the Circle is out today across the globe. Pick up a copy from Non Serviam Records and Ennui now.
