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Monolithic Death |
Nicklas "Terror" Rudolfsson - Vocals, Guitars Emma Karlsson - Bass Daniel Moilanen - Drums
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| RUNEMAGICK: "On Funeral Wings" runemagick Aftermath Music | ||
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review by dalia "gryphon_spirit" di giacomo____ A masterpiece. An extremely dark , heavy, sacral Doom in cinemascope, that offers all what an obscure soul needs, thanks to a suffocating slowliness; lively, catchy and hyper heavy riffings; mega bass vibes and modern atmosphere. I was presuming that Runemagick would have proposed an excellent album in its genre, but my best expectations have been exceeded by reality: this is not only an excellent album, On funeral Wings is simply ACE. First of all, i find many connections with the attitude of that cult supreme work that is Gothic from Paradise Lost: same haunting doom atmosphere, and of course the same touch of dark aura , though here everything celebrates a triumph of sacral suffocating Doom. Secondly, through On Funeral Wings, you can fully understand what a monument to obscure Darkness is . Thirdly, this is a vision in cinemascope and in sensurround, of large and deep breath, a journey into another dimension and time, an union between old Doom / Doom Death -school and modern hypnotic, surreal and sometimes even metropolitan atmospheres. This is a Doom varying between Heavy and Death, but also with many inclinations to Black. . Though presenting a massive impressive music, On Funeral wings delivers all the characteristics that allow this album to be anyway catchy, hypnotic, irresistible. You end up in a world of mystic Darkness. So , finally, least but not last, another typical feature of this work is clear: the Ritual attitude. Inferno and Heaven have many faces , like our cosmos has, and Runemagick's dark side is not made of an aggressive uptempo fire, but of an infinite, mysterious abyss of sidereal aura. And the rituality in slow -motion of this album makes the tracks mysterious , impending, gloomy, almost supernatural and sacral. It's a kind of ritual expression of grave, solemn heaviness. All tracks show this attitude with rock solid coherence, showing an homogeneous logical path, with agreeable but merciless growling vocals. I have the feeling that these songs are steps of a musical adventure. I also think that this adventure may appeal to a wide audience : from Death fans till Black and Gothic ones; important is to be really used to Darkness . But though faithful to the style, every song shows anyway its own connotations, that make them peculiar. We start off with 2 tracks, Monolithic Death and Rise of the 2nd Moon, which are haunting , obsessive and menacing with slow, serious, gloomy tensions to Black , and we go on through the Doom/Melodic Death of the title track On Funeral Wings: Doom with much nostalgia towards the 90's . Almost unintentionally we realize that the background, with sly distorted effects and reverberations, gets more and more strength. Through track 4 , Dragon of Doom, we proceed one a way done of reverbering strings, mighty bass resonances , pounding drumming and modern hypnotic, slightly psycho, nuances. Dragon of Doom is catchy and begins to present insertions of guitars heavy like a steamroller, but not only: you can also perceive more varied string- sonorities and pounding vibrations. Anyway the demonstration that this album should be seen like a progression into the doom-y reign of Darkness comes from tracks 5 and 6 (Hyperion - Ocean Demon), where the best characteristics of this album become fully recognizable, in particular concerning the use of reverberating , percussive guitars , weeping short moment of lead , and more lively tempo changings underlined by a rhythmic section that delivers a simply impressive heaviness. From track 6 the catchiness is also improved , the atmosphere is more and more magnetic and sacral , so that we can consider the very first tracks just as a big intro for the brilliant manifestation that opens out, revealing itself. The bass tones makes vibrate your chest , but the lively Emperor of the Underworld welcomes us letting us understand that Doom is not only infinite slowliness, but nice midtempo too. Vocals become more evil and full of facettes, while the loops are melodic, catchy, aggressive. Emperor of the Underworld is one of the best tracks among the best, with some Gothic touch too. Trifid Nebula begins with bass grave chords : more doom is hardly possible. And track 9, The Doomsday Scythe, varied , long, with a very good outro, is another doom and atmospheric bridge that, using also tremolo- similar sonorities and Black tensions, leads us towards something that attracts us, and we can see that this pilgrimage is well worth, cause we are approaching tracks which are absolutely exceptional. Particularity of track 9 is that it delivers a morphing scheme: starting doom, slow, obsessive , it develops indeed a propelling rhythm that, towards the end becomes simply a merciless "tank". So, never think that the longer tracks of this On Funeral Wings remain like they begin! Track 10, Riders of Endtime, is percussive catchy, mighty, compressing with much of Death and many early- PL sonorities, in one word: superb and addictive, but if you think that the peak has come is just only because you have still not heard the masterpiece track 11: IN A DARKENED TOMB , this track includes all the features of this album in the best way you can think: its ingredients are a formidable catchiness; a lively, even hyperheavy rhythm; plus atmospheric, hypnotic, sacred and metropolitan soundscapes,; the typical reverberating and percussive pushing strings; obsessing but melodic slow passages that launch mid/uptempo galoppings. Merciless vocals that seem to come from another dimension complete the picture: everything expressed basically through winning fascinating loops. In a darkened Tomb, imo, is the core of the album and of our journey . It is the altar that you were looking for. Majestic is also its outro with its bass vibes. Black Star Abyss is the ideal soundtrack for a world made of ancient civilizations and exotic fantasy. A menacing, impending bass echo supports mysterious flute and triangle- like sounds, strengthened finally by a mighty piano. All this is making a contrast in itself well mixed together: a tribute to all what is lost with long psycho sidereal outro. The album closes with a track, Wizard with the Magick Runes, that has many similarities with the fantastic In a darkened Tomb , but with the first tracks as well, The ring of Doom is complete. Our journey too. Nicklas "Terror" Rudolfsson, in around 14 years of activity under the sign of Runemagick and after having passed, under this sign, through 14 releases, has reached with this 15th work and this line up a perfect balance of instrumentation and vocals. Great the bass sounds (with big joy i see that their bass player is a woman) and in general the whole soundscape . The production is very good, and even more admirable, considering the fact that Runemagick have worked also in their own Magick Sound Studio. So one can only come to the conclusion that so called "little" studios owned by bands pay well back all the efforts and care put into them. Moreover good music and good teams don't need bombastic "packages" and make -up's. The sound is round, enjoyable, well-nourished without exaggerations. And with well calibrating effects. This music is the Force, and Force knows nothing but Force. Rating: 10/10
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