(written by Islander)

Funeral doom is a venerable but narrow musical niche, now old enough to be well-established and highly regarded by its adherents, but many caverns below anything that would pass as “popular”, even among most fans of extreme metal.

The signature tropes of the sub-genre are by now well-known: long song-lengths, glacial pacing, abyssal atmospheres of sprawling scale, often titanic heaviness, often monstrous vocals equally abyssal in depth. Of course there are variations: trappings of spectral elegance and haunting beauty; singing instead of growling; the occasional roaring upheavals instead of the slow, quaking pace of massed mourners or wounded giants. Sometimes you might even hear whispers of hope, like tiny moths drawn to a candle that will be found dead by morning.

Where does the Polish funeral doom band Postmortal fit within this old and deep but narrow musical crevasse? Early signs appeared in their Soil EP in 2018, but the lineup has changed since then, diminishing to the duo of lyricist/vocalist Dawid Dunikowski and musician Michał Skupień. Current signs are available in the debut album made by these two, Profundis Omnis, which re-states some of the band’s early compositions and is now set for release on May 9th by the UK label Aesthetic Death. Continue reading »