(c) Anja Bergman
The depressive, isolating dimension of all existence drives fvnerals always aimed at gloomy, avant-garde top performances. In fact, their last album “Wounds” is already six and a half years old. In the meantime, the duo moved their creative center of life to Belgium, toured diligently and accompanied Emma Ruth Rundle, among others, before moving to Germany. Circumstances over the past few years have depressed the mood even further, and this is how the new work presents itself „Let The Earth Be Silent“ worlds more harsh and nihilistic.
Raw, avant-garde intensity is still offered in the dark, doom and drone environment. Brooding walls of sound are raised when “For Horror Eats The Light” disturbs the undergrowth with cutting leisurelyness following a small intro. The sustained tempo, the thundering drums, the ethereal vocals along with distorted guitars – the simplest means let hearing and seeing pass before the eye of the storm poaches in experimental, quite ambient-like realms. And the next crash follows, even harder and even more desolate, a memorial to endless suffering.
Reduced destructiveness paired with channeled world pain runs like a deep black thread through the entire record. In “Yearning” it feels like endless loops that slowly fight their way to the surface and die there in agony. Triptykon say hello when self-abandonment shimmers through in ethereal garb. The opening “Ashen Era” is also fascinating. The track fights its own demons for a long time before the band kicks in and conjures up the drone doom catastrophe. The clear, almost heavenly vocals as a stark contrast fit perfectly into the picture.
Everything has an end, including the world. “Let The Earth Be Silent” is the soundtrack to mankind’s downfall, born from a sea of self-knowledge, the realization of the inevitable. Fvernals felt like they were always predestined for this and thunder through the timbers of final finitude in slow motion. Their drone doom turns out to be a bit more complex and disturbing, gaining even more intensity through the ethereal inserts. Mission succeeded, unable to save patient.
Rating: 8/10
Available from: 03.02.2023
Available through: Prophecy Productions (Soulfood Music)
Website: www.fvnerals.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/FVNERALS
Category: Magazin, Reviews
