Review Summary: 1000 Funerals trade a bit of atmosphere for a bit more doominess, and it works out in their favor
1000 Funerals are an atmospheric funeral doom metal band from Iran. Within the first minute of their second album, Butterfly Decandance, you will see what I mean when I say “atmospheric”. It paints a little picture in your head; you hear rain drops hitting the ground, birds chirping, a serene scene of nature fills your mind. As soft sounds of a choir start buliding in the background, the scene moves to a clearing in the forest on an early spring morning. It gets a bit tense and uneasy as the sounds become lounder and more prominent. You then hear two hits to the drum as if to warn you that buisness is about to pick up.
The first song, Sutured Lips, comes crashing in with a massive presence. The scene in your head doesn’t stop, as you can picture the drummer unleashing his booming fury on the kit while drenched in the rain from the storm that started as soon as the song did. A man in tights came out from the trees and began playing a flute. The guitarist is standing on top of a tree stump while playing his low, demonic chords to the beat of his own oppression. The song continues, slow and brooding, untill the instruments slowly start to fade away, leaving our peaceful little wooded area in ruins as they march off to play the next song.
Now don’t get me wrong, this album isn’t just all about the atmospere the music creates. If you’re looking for that, go check out their first album, Portrait of a Dream. Butterfly Decadance is more of a proper funeral doom sound, while still maintaining a great deal of the creepy-yet-beautiful mannerisms that their fans already know and love. This is shown on the second and heaviest track, Of Love Then Deceit. After a two minute long piano intro, the crunchy guitars and humongous drumming come in as well as the vocalist making his first apprearance. He’s making noises that wouldn’t be out of place if you heard them during a scenic tour of hell. Distant yet as powerful as it gets, even if you can’t understand a thing he’s saying. His sound speaks for itself.
Every song is full of beauty and disharmony, yin and yang if you will. The subtlety of tracks like Nothing Has Ever Been and the title track is just as effective as getting the listeners attention as the heavier moments on the record. If the thunderous sound of the instruments don’t get you, the creepiness of the end of the title track sure will…
“The world is teeming with unnessesarry people. It’s gods decision that I fight. As a knight of honor, as a protector of the seal. I sacrifice myself to the blood of criminals-*gasp*“
Listening yet? I thought so. Then you’d be prepared for the albums last proper track, “Vast Infinite Beauty.” The name is surprisingly apt for something this evil and eerie. This song is a great way to fininh, it sums up the album quite well. Dark, atmosperic, heavy, elegant, all with an incredible amount of power behind it. The only problem is, it’s quite monotonous. While it doesn’t exactly seem like just one long song, it’s hard to differentiate between tracks. If you don’t have a very large attention span, this album won’t be easy to listen to. You’ve got to let it sink in and digest. As weird as it sounds, you’ve got to appreciate the monotony. It’s not for everybody, and the replay value isn’t the greatest but if you can really understand it and what it does, you’ll adore it.
Finishing up the album with a cover of Night’s Dew by Shape of Despair, it makes for quite a captivating listen. The cover doesn’t really add anything to the album but it is the catchiest and funnest track to listen to casually. All of the 1000 Funerals songs on the album, however, need to be listened to in sequence for it to be fully appreciated. Butterfly Decadence is a great addition to the band’s catalogue and proves that the band is close to finding their niche and that they could release something really spectacular in the near future. Untill then, this is more than enough to hold you over. I’ll see you in our little forest scene, and perhaps we’ll see this again on a few end-of-2011 lists. Start from the top, flute man...
