By: James Harris
Album Type: 7inch
Date Released: 03/08/2015
Label: Eerie Echoes| Throne Records
There are not a lot of bands that are easily comparable to FVNERALS, as they effortlessly draw together various elements of such sounds as if Swans and My Bloody Valentine had a sleek, crooning child in an underground speakeasy.
‘The Path’ DD//7inch track listing:
1.Solemn (05:53)
2.Ruin (04:57)
2.Ruin (04:57)
The Review:
I once compared this band to Chelsea Wolfe and Earth, but on this EP FVNERALS have further matured into a unique middle path between melodic gloom and bleak monochrome doom sensibilities. These two tracks elevate the darkness and sense of style and groove that made me love their last offering, last year's 'The Light' (review) so much while adding an added menace to their sound in the form of some extraordinary funereal riffing on the second track, ‘Ruin’, this new jagged edge makes a great counterpoint to their sparse, subtle lounge-drone tone, clashing in a crushing back-and-forth that is their most exceptional material to date.
The first song, ‘Solemn’ opens with melodic, harmonizing layers of vocals that seem to waver between optimistic tunefulness and an example of the drone to come. Still, expansive, but stark, this band has always made great use of empty space between the sounds and this record is no exception. A big emptiness exists between every instrument, a space they sometimes attempt to fill, sometimes seem to shrink from, but never ignore. A chiming guitar over smoky candle lit cabaret motif dragged through the tomb, organ drones under the spectral voice of singer Tiffany. The silence between songs is abruptly shattered, big, loud chords pounding sluggishly in the intro to ‘Ruin’ before abruptly stopping. The intervening moment heavy in its own fashion, with a dread-filled folk mesmerism. A plaintive and spooky clean guitar icily winds its way around the fog and darkness before the hook brings back the wickedly heavy riffs of the intro.
There are not a lot of bands that are easily comparable to FVNERALS, as they effortlessly draw together various elements of such sounds as if Swans and My Bloody Valentine had a sleek, crooning child in an underground speakeasy. They have drifted from the sometimes sneaky sleazy timbre of ‘The Light’ toward a more sincere, direct, path of abjection. A straight walk down a moonless road, barefoot on the rocks. The only complaint I have is that it should be much longer, as it is over before you realize it.
