COMATOSE VIGIL „“Not a Gleam of Hope””

Music: Funeral Doom
Country: Russia
Web site: www.comatosevigil.com
Cool Songs: Mirrors of Despair

Here we have another solid doom band from Russia bearing the mark of Stygian Crypt. “Not a Gleam of Hope” is a most-fitting album title for the type of funeral doom this group creates. The term “down tempo” is an under estimation. If CV’s music were any slower it would belong to the droning doom category. As characterized by a true funeral doom band, CV’s music moves at an extremely low rate of beats per measure (find someone who can count, and they’ll tell you exactly how many).

The lethargic rhythm of the album supports its suicidal theme. Through repetitive, trodden tempos, the group carefully buries any feelings of hope or joy. Their rhythms are the most basic sort, each chord or key rising or falling. The pace is akin to a mortally wounded man crawling on his hand and knees, trying to make it to his feet. Once he makes it to a knee, he falls flat on his face only to start again, until death ends the cycle. Each note lingers like a stain on your conscious. Sharply rising keys, sluggish high end guitar work, grotesque growling, torturous screams, and earthquake-inducing reverberating guitar when repeated for massive time periods surround the listener with a whirlwind of negative sound waves—spreading the stain until mental breakdown occurs.

“Not a Gleam of Hope” more than achieves what the band most likely set out to do: create a frightening album of bleak, minimal soundscapes. The pace is the antithesis of modern extreme metal. Where most bands of today featuring black screams and deathly growls try to out do each other in speed, CV heads the opposite direction. As stated before, the only brand of music that idles longer than CV is the drone form of doom.

Die hard fans of the funeral doom scene are most likely to embrace the traits others will find inaccessible. Some may find the abysmal deep vocals, often electronically distorted, are mostly unintelligible, while; others may appreciate the extra layer of atmosphere this vocal style provides. Probably the major complaint of this style comes due to the exhaustive, crawling, repetitive rhythms that play on for double-digit minutes on each track without much variation (four songs at a duration of over an hour). The supporters may embrace this aspect for its spell-inducing characteristics. Basically, if the idea of a band drawing influences from SHAPE OF DESPAIR, SKEPTICISM, and DISEMBOLWMENT appeals to you, then purchase a copy of “Not a Gleam of Hope”.

note: 6.5/10

Tracklist

1. Suicide Grotesque
2. Cataracts
3. Mirrors Of Despair
4. Galleries Of Coma
Total playing time 69:25

Line-up

Keyboard Depressant – Keys, Bass
Vragomor – Vocals, Drums
Alexander – Guitar