This Danish duo consist of Sjaelepest (guitars) and Danny Woe (everything else). They are both in Pagan black group Above Ravens and Danny has played, past and present with such artists as Woebegone Obscured, Altar Of Oblivion and Rimfrost. This is the debut album from Funeral Chasm following up from a couple singles and an EP last year. That’s the background and they play Funeral Doom but with a highly noticeable difference.

Anybody who listens to that particular genre knows fully well that it is pretty rigid in both its scope and construct. There is not a massive differentiation between bands who adopt the style which is slow, cumbersome and rooted by growling vocals. It is the vocals that are the defining factor here and although they are indeed at times, as they would be expected, at others they are at a completely different end of the spectrum. It is said that Funeral Chasm are somewhat influenced by the 80’s Gothic scene and this instrumentally comes into play via some sparkling keyboard motifs that give quite a bit of life to the music. The biggest surprise however comes when Danny Woe moves from his weathered low vocals to a much more operatic crooning. It’s partly what one would expect from a more traditional doom group but when he first hits the high notes at a near optic shattering crescendo it will certainly take the listener aback. Not only does he do this well but he also sustains the high parts admirably and this seriously takes the funeral sounding dourness into a completely different place. The problem is as he does so on opener ‘Embellishment of Inception’ this may leave the traditionalists behind and have them switching off. I have to admit to being close to doing so at first as the vocal clamour is bordering on the piercing and has one looking to see if the singer was ever involved in a traditional heavy metal or even power metal band.

Funeral Chasm take the listener out of the comfort zone and this is where they will either win or lose with their forward-thinking approach. In many ways this is as likely to appeal to lovers of such varied artists as Green Carnation, mid era In The Woods and even latter stage Monumentum as well as those versed in the arcane early Italian doom scene and artists such as Tony Tears, Abysmal Grief et al. At times there are long periods where the music is wreathed in its slow plodding shroud and all is normal, so you think, before you are suddenly jolted back to life by the hymnal vocal gymnastics. Songs are generally given plenty of time to evolve and the emotions of sombreness change with them as darkness shifts into light. Personally, I found this a tough listen and put it down after a first spin coming back in a couple of days to see if it had grown on me. It has done over a fair-few listens but I can assure you it was far from immediate and this is still an album that has me firmly sitting on the fence. Of course, it should not surprise that a label like Aesthetic Death have gone and taken a risk on it as it truly does sit outside the box being both at times familiar and at others far from it.

Very much an album that is down to personal interpretation and taste Omniversal Existence may well confound but is certainly an album that is different and has a very interesting approach.

(6/10 Pete Woods)

https://www.facebook.com/Funeralchasm

https://funeralchasm.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.aestheticdeath.com/releases.php?mode=singleitem&albumid=5102