Funeral Tears - Beyond The Horizon (2017) - Review

Band: Funeral Tears

Album title: Beyond The Horizon

Release date: 13 April 2017

Label: Satanath Records (Rus)/Cimmerian Shade Recordings (USA)

Tracklist:

01. Close My Eyes

02. Breathe

03. Dehiscing Emptiness

04. I Suffocate

05. Beyond The Horizon

06. Eternal Tranquility

Funeral Tears started in Tomsk, Russia during December 2007 and is probably best known as a solo funeral doom metal project by Nikolay Seredov (founder of bands like Стахановцы (Stakhanovite) and Taiga). Melancholic melodic music and lyrics seems to define what this man is all about and represent Nikolay at different periods of life, his struggle for spiritual balance, and already with two mighty full lengths behind their back Funeral Tears has made a name inside the underground funeral doom scene.

Now we have the pleasure of enjoying and hearing the latest work of Funeral Tears, the new album Beyond Horizion is more than just beautiful slow drone riffs. Many people find funeral doom or doom metal in general to be very tedious and boring, but they miss the whole point of the slow ambient feeling, the means of provoking someones feelings, and we have been very lucky this past year with great gems from many doom bands, and its great to see that Funeral Tears are among them.

The album is clocking in at near an hour, creates the aura of getting buried into the grave of intense depression and is filled with enchanting and mesmerizing tracks with insanely breathtaking melodies. While the sound is described as funeral doom one may argue over the tempo because it's a bit to high for the songs to pass through as just a typical funeral doom. In my opinion it falls more in the doom metal scene yet mixed with some dsbm vibe over it, there's kind of a Forgotten Tomb vibe present to the whole album. I think that it's nice to have a bit of a mixture thrown into the game.

While the tracks move on, the more we get into the album the more you start to really see the whole world of Nikolay reveal itself, the misery, the darkness and the melancholic thoughts that pass through ones mind. People may say that despair is the last thing that leaves us, however in some cases that might be true. As for this it's litterely burying you underneath a rock of concrete as the songs are presented in a beautiful yet morbid way. 

With many insertions of melancholic classic guitar interludes the songs take a step into even darker paths of life. Funeral Tears may not be the most typical funeral doom band, but the music is full of agony and remorse. Like I said, many can argue over the real funeral doom part of the album, it's still there but the songs are very versatile that it does kinda leave you wondering if its more of dsbm band that draws doom influences while some songs are more directly pure funeral doom, and others tend to be more towards the more standard doom tempo, the album after all for sure doesn't leave you disappointed.

7//10