I must admit to really enjoying this slow and doomy album by the Aphonic Threnody duo comprising of Riccardo Veronese on guitars and Juan Escobar C. on vocals, bass, guitar and keyboards, with Riccardo working out of the UK and Juan based in Chile. All the songs are rather lengthy, which suits the style perfectly and is to be expected when the pace never really registers above a plodding crawl.

Opener “Locura” is the shortest song on the album and starts with an immediate roar followed by low buzzing guitars and very slow drumming with death vocals drawn out over them, but then about halfway through it mellows out even more with the keyboards and a clean vocal melody taking us back into the growls and some slightly fast paced kick drums allowing the guitars to up their tempo while the pace remains unchanged.

Next up we have “Interrogation” where extremely slow keyboards are joined by an even slower picking of the guitar with long lasting notes on the bass filling out the sound. The vocals couldn’t get any slower or sustained either, as they add an element of anguish to the already sombre sounding song. Once again, they end the song by upping the tempo and having the drums get heavier.

“The Great Hatred” immediately reminds me of My Dying Bride, where the whispered vocals usher in the guitars before stepping up to become mighty roars as the drumming builds in appreciation, while slowing things down and feeling far more oppressive is “Drowning” where the slow clean vocals add to the feeling of tiredness and disillusion before a beautiful guitar melody takes the song in a completely different direction while the lyrics remain just as dark the tone receives a levity bordering on hopeful.

Very bass heavy “The Rise of the Phoenix” has a great feel to it, with the guitar riffs fading in and out allowing the vocals and keyboards to become focal points behind the big bass notes as they flip been clean and death to match their intensity.

They end the album with “The Fall”, where the sounds of keyboards and violins add to the overall sound, while the vocals have a little touch of a black metal rasp to them before they become slowly spoken death growls, followed by melancholic whispers.

and since the whole album is up on the link below, you might as well go give it a listen as the autumnal nights draw in.

(7/10  Marco Gaminara)

https://www.facebook.com/AphonicThrenody

https://aphonicthrenody.bandcamp.com/album/the-great-hatred