It’s the weekend! What better way to get it started than with the latest installment of “Funeral Doom Fridays”. This weekly column looks to shed some light onto some of the darkest, most depressing, and discordant metal out there. Funeral Doom stems from the deepest depths of death-doom and dirge music. Each week, my goal is to highlight some of the newest music or rediscover classic works from some of the earliest bands and originators such as Australia’s Mournful Congregation, United States’s Evoken, UK’s Esoteric and the Finnish Thergothon. Feel free to share your opinions and suggestions in the comments!
Seattle has always been a haven for doom metal. It started way back with Earth, grew to include YOB and Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, and now includes recent newcomers such as He Whose Ox Is Gored, Bell Witch, and this four-piece who made their full-length debut last week.
They go by Un, and they demand to be heard. The Tomb of All Things is a five-track colossus that menacingly stomps on and claws away all hope of happiness. The opening track, "Epigraph", is a gentle introduction that eases you into the crushing weight of the other four tracks. A sedative to take the edge out of the crippling malaise the rest of the album invokes. Each song throughout the remainder of the album runs at least ten minutes and culminates in the mighty title track as the final song.
Vocalist/guitarist Monte McCleery's voice rumbles over his and David Wright's guitars while bassist Clayton Wolff adds texture to the rhythm section and drummer Andrew Jamieson caps it all off with his persistent drum tempo and patterns. With the utilization of multiple guitars, Un is able to create multi-layered riffs that really add some meat to the record. These riffs are on display on the album's fourth track, "Through the Luminous Dark" as well as the monstrous title track finale. To put their music into perspective: If you take the soaring riffs of Samothrace, 40 Watt Sun or Pallbearer and combine it with the desolate and distraught nature of Bell Witch, Usnea, or Lycus; I believe you end up with the sound Un achieves.
The Tomb of All Things is a worthy debut for a promising young band located in quite possibly the best city on the planet for a doom metal band. Un has all the makings to be a staple in the doom genre for years to come. They have a keen understanding of the different elements required to make quality, sustaining doom metal that doesn't bore the listener, but instead keeps them enthralled. Do your self the favor and keep these gentlemen on your radar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1lZMFJzjMg&list=PLFy61FxyMD6Iz9mk0aHRdb_Z6QlsVjV9e
