William Wordsworth in a particularly tragic mood penned the words “Oh misery! oh misery! Oh woe is me! oh misery!” Of course there was no such thing as death doom back in 1789 but fast forward to the present age and not many would dispute that it is the Finns who have exceled at crafting songs bereft of all joy. At least with the title here there’s no accidental stumbling over graveyard buried tree roots and falling into a freshly dug tomb whilst surprised at the overwrought anguish put to musical form here by God Disease.

Since first literally Crawling Out The Coffin back in 2013 the not so happy go lucky band have release various EP’s along with debut album ‘Drifting Towards Inevitable Death’ in 2019 via F.D.A. Records. At the time an album that was described on this site as one that “encases the listener with asphyxiating noxiousness.” No doubt those wallowing in such wretched shackles will be quick to welcome this trio back with open arms.

Despite all three members being long suffering musicians since early in the band formation, there has been no shortage of others briefly joining and one gets the impression that perhaps these 10 past players (according to Metal Archives) quickly departed for less bleak shores. Cut to the burial shroud and the soul destroying bereft melody of ‘Ashes’ is quick to have you reaching for the hankies. Vocalist Ilkka Johannes Laaksonen also of Ashen Tomb has a suitably weathered gruff roar about him and at first this has the essence of funeral doom about it. Emphasis is put on both slow ponderous drums, guitar and bass notes as well as elongated growls. Melody is both rich as it soaks into the pores as well as dismal. Yep they seem to have got this down to a fine art; uncomfortable as that might be for the outsider looking in. Poeticism is all over this from the dead romance of the slow velvet crushing music to the words of songs like ‘Built By Dead Hands’ which decrees “Stone by stone we laid our tomb, But what now, we are gone, but no one to lay us down.” There is a sublime delicacy too tempered by subtle increases in tempo and heaviness. So too is there death found gambolling among the barren crawl of ‘Remembrance’ which suddenly ups the pace and actually momentarily sounds very slightly upbeat!

As we approach the second half of this six track 38-minute misery serenade one probably should not look for too many surprises. There is however a bit of a buzz-saw guitar approach and thudding heft to shortest track ‘Leper By The Grace Of God.’ No jokes about the drummer’s arm falling off but the sudden impact is clear before things stumble back into a slower shuffle. Perhaps the described ‘asphyxiating noxiousness’ spurred the band towards ‘Futile Effort To Breathe.’ Although bass tones are deep with the guitars fluttering airily away it isn’t actually as claustrophobic a number as one might expect at first. However, a sudden chaotic burst seems designed to stifle you. By the time this is done with the biblical ‘Serenity Abandoned’ you may feel like your bones have withered and rotted. This not an album that needs anything extra and you will feel like a wreath has just been laid on your tomb. At least that is exactly what we had been prepared for.

(7/10 Pete Woods)

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https://goddiseasofficial.bandcamp.com/album/apocalyptic-doom