EP Review: Funelore - The Dissolution of Consciousness
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Canadian doom death duo, Funelore, release their debut EP, The Dissolution of Consciousness, on vinyl via Me Saco un Ojo Records, after it having been available in digital formats since mid-January.
Comprised of bassist/ vocalist, and former KickxAssxViolence, Décryptal, Névrose and WhiteNails member, AE, with all Guitars, Synthesizers, Drum programming being handled by MB, The Dissolution of Consciousness is twenty-minutes of soul-suffocating devastation.
With just two tracks to shatter any hope you may have, the journey begins with Tides in Agony’s morose keys and ghostly voices, AE’s prominent basslines give musical form to the titular tides, as MB’s cymbal washes create the effect of waves breaking against the bases of cliffs. While not as slow as some of the other genre exponents, Funelore have an icier vibe, with huge drops seeming to shake the foundations of the world. At the mid-point we’re met with a moment of respite, a sole piano evoking an altogether Gothic feel. From here to the song’s climax, it’s a blend of bleak breaks and morbidly hypnotic guitars.
Tides in Agony feels like the upbeat warm-up for the ten-minute title track, which wastes no time dropping weighty slabs of musical misery. Fuzzy, doom-laden riffs lay a platform for stark, dreary guitars as every beat tolls like a death knell. It’s gloriously widescreen in its presentation, all-encompassing crushing anguish, taking us back the fall of man with some sibilant vocal pronouncements.
The second half of Dissolution… has the feel of tectonic plates moving against each other, and howls emitting from the comic void, all with a bowel-loosening low end and guitars stripped bare of any emotion other than submissive solitude. The track concludes with the possibility of light at the end of the tunnel, faint though the glimmer is, there is still hope.
It’s great to hear new voices in the genre, pushing their own spin on the material and not being afraid to experiment with styles. Crushingly heavy riffs and funereal atmospherics make this an interesting listen and, as someone who prefers his Doom with a big ol’ dose of Death, I’m imagining The Dissolution of Consciousness and I will be getting to know each other over the next few months.
