Formed in 2003, the Ukrainian doom metal outfit Autumnia has just released their third studio album, entitled o’Funeralia. The band consists of just two people, so let’s see what they have come up with on this record.

The two guys have divided their tasks between instruments and vocals. Alexander Glavniy handles all the instruments while Vladislav Shahin does all the vocal work, which seems to have worked out great. The songs are all of a high quality, embracing the early sound of My Dying Bride and the likes, heavy depressing doom combined with melody and gentle passages. Vocally it seems that the band couldn’t have been much luckier, for this guy has a perfectly matching voice for the music. Both the grunts and his clean vocal work fits splendidly and is of a fine quality. Mixed in with the rest, it all sounds like a very natural whole. Depressing and melancholic as hell of course, yet very convincing.

 

Usually I can always find something with these funeral doom bands that makes me not like it, yet I must say that I can’t really find a single thing to bitch about on this Autumnia record. Good, dynamic songs with a heavy and depressing sound, yet with clean passages with piano and strings and stuff like that, accompanied by one of the finer vocalists this style of doom metal has seen. If you ask me of course. Quite nice. Check it out if you dig the style, you won’t be disappointed.