This split album features two underground German funeral doom outfits, both of whom contribute two tracks. Anyone knowing the genre will not be surprised by the fact that each track here weighs in at over the ten-minute mark so there is plenty to get your teeth into. Neither group were previously on my radar before but that just makes them all the more interesting and I note both groups have previously released material on Russian doom stalwarts Solitude Productions which is generally a mark of quality.

Urza are probably the more obscure having just one previous album to their name 2019 release ‘The Omnipresence Of Loss’ which sounds a veritably cheerless proposition. The strangely entitled ‘Maunder Minimum’ is the longest number on display and starts of proceedings, immersing the listener into deepest sorrowful depths via weeping guitar melody and slow plodding hypnotic drums. It’s all too easy to think of being cast adrift on an ocean, floating aimlessly when listening to this sort of music. No doubt that is why the phrase Nautical Doom has been cast about lately since established by Ahab and furthered by artists such as Spectral Voice. We do seem to be all at sea here and cast into the swell like doomed mariners. The craggy vocals from frontman Thomas are as weathered as barnacles stuck on a boats hull and although not exactly going anywhere fast there is plenty of heft from bass tones and the odd diversification due to a sudden ghastly scream. Lyrics are actually down to earth rather than all at sea however and are alarmingly prophetic and with the times as these ‘Prophets Of Doom’ take in pandemic and earthly collapse and ruin. The churches will apparently offer no salvation, mankind will move to brutality and cannibalism and the end prospect is a funeral winter. Well this just leads nicely into ‘Through The Ages Of Colossal Embitterment’ and a drive into it via some brutality of its own in the form of some doom death gallops at both start and climax of the number. In between the pace is steadied but contains some strident guitar signatures of the early My Dying Bride variety along with some clean backing vocals from Christian Maack (NORKH). I found Urza’s numbers, compelling, bleak and pretty damn mesmerising but be warned it really is a case of abandon hope all who enter here.

Taking their name from a venomous coral snake apparently Calliophis have three previous albums prior to this, the last ‘Liquid Darkness’ in 2021. Striking as a perfect match here with Urza, I have found them a slightly lighter proposition and things not quite as bitter and nihilistic. Indeed, Trepak has a dreamy almost Gothic sounding intro that coils around the listener before everything else stretches around it. More sombre and poetic it takes verse from Modest Mussorgsky and Arseny Golenishchev and is a work based on fantasy and fairy-tale which is an unexpected approach. Vocals are craggy but with it quite accessible rather than at the harshest end of the scale. There’s shades of light and dark and the song has its heaviness about it but is not quite the “nutcracker” one may have expected. We stay in the romantic era for ‘Endure Your Depression’ with quotes attributed to painter Caspar David Friedrich and themes of shutting oneself off from the world and living in isolation. “In order to not hate people, I must avoid their company.” One has to wonder if this is a code lovers of this sort of music generally live by? To quite a large extent, this could well be the case I suspect. Strangely there are elements of this song which are quite uplifting. It doesn’t exactly soar but it comes close and is nowhere near as miserable experience as one may have anticipated.

With two bands that I would “happily” spend company with again, this split is lovingly presented by Aesthetic Death with fold-out sleeve and very necessary lyrics providing you with everything you need to fully immerse yourself in both the music and narrative behind it.

(7.5/10 Pete Woods)

https://www.facebook.com/UrzaDoom

https://www.facebook.com/Calliophis

https://urza-doom.bandcamp.com/album/dawn-of-a-lifeless-age-split-with-calliophis

https://calliophis.bandcamp.com/album/dawn-of-a-lifeless-age-split-w-urza

https://www.aestheticdeath.com/releases.php?mode=singleitem&albumid=6302