Dead In The Water - Echoes... In The Ruins
80%
As I just reviewed a Finnish doom metal band that has been laid to rest (Minotauri), here’s one that’s just starting to get back in action. Dead In The Water is their name and Echoes… In The Ruins is their debut album. Let’s find out whether this is a worthy addition to the Finnish doom scene.
I had trouble really getting into this album, but (as usual) the more I listened to it the more it got to me. I found out why it was a bit hard to get to the core of their music, because the roots of this band are in the punk/hardcore scene, which is still a bit noticeable from time to time. The music of course is heavy as fuck depressing and raw funeral doom metal, but just the addition of that word raw makes this record a whole lot more appealing for me. Unpolished heaviness versus melancholic melodies, accompanied by a nasty, almost crust-like scream. Perhaps one of the first minor-chord doom metal bands that I’m really impressed by. And all that for a debut album!
Of course the heaviness sometimes subsides for some clean parts, which are just as depressing as the heavy ones I might say. So all in all there’s more than enough variation on the record as well, implicating that these guys know what they’re doing. I can only hope that they get a second record out as soon as possible, because I’m curious what this band will do in the next couple of years. Might be pretty big, might disappear into obscurity, time will tell us. A European tour by these guys would be nice as well, but that's just a bit too much wishful thinking I’d say.
