Another Russian funeral doom album from the ever-reliable Solitude Productions, Everlasting’s album cover and title had me expecting something in the vein of Skepticism/Thergothon. This proved to be largely true, with empyreal, church-organ-like synths enveloping each of the album’s four long tracks. The songs have a simplistic, minimalist feel, and whilst the arrangements can seem a little pedestrian at times they are saved by some powerfully sorrowful melodic leads, themselves fairly basic compositions made of gently wandering, sustained notes but burgeoning with such raw emotion that they really hit home.
The vocals are half-guttural, half-whispered spoken word, and the songs have an airy, neoclassical air to them that reminds of Shape of Despair. ‘The Great Contradiction’ starts with gentle, clean guitars before embarking upon a funeral march of crawling riffs, smothering synth and sparse, lamenting melodies that hang in the air, the leads finally spilling over into a sudden newfound urgency. ‘March of Time’ is both the strongest track and the most Skepticism-like, filled with a subdued warmth, a sense of the weight of aeons, and some achingly slow and beautiful tail-chasing melodic leads. A lengthy passage of somber piano and rainy ambience emerges, before being finally overtaken by vast, monolithic riffs and outpourings of sorrowful melody that are as unhurried as the arc of the Sun.
Opener ‘Remaining in Ground’ is a bit more middle-of-the-road, the keys a little too prominent and workmanlike, with a passage of solid but rather unexpected galloping-and-earthy black metal. The song does come right in the end with a nicely balanced passage of ethereal, lethargic riffs and searching leads, but it still feels rather disjointed as a whole. It’s not bad by any means, but it’s definitely the oddball track and I’m glad it’s on first as the remainder of the album flows exceptionally well. Closing track ‘Silence’ also tries something different, opening with a mournful riff and wounded, clean singing that both recall ‘…Swans’ era My Dying Bride before sinking back into the familiar swells of organ-like synth and glacial guitars.
‘March of Time’ might not be the most original or accomplished of albums, but at its heart it has a stark primeval atmosphere and raw emotive power that go a long way towards cancelling out its flaws. A moving hymn to the firmament.
(7.5/10 Erich Zann)
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