Year: 2020
Total Time: 45:03
Label: Everlasting Spawn Records
We’re into summer and it is a season that people feel like going to the beach, lying on the hot sand, spending their summer vacations they have meticulously planned, with a light mood during the day and even lighter at night. But CONVOCATION, these original Finnish guys, don’t really care about that and they are releasing their second album ”Ashes Coalesce” via Everlasting Spawn Records.
Funeral Doom Metal, as a genre, could be described as watertight, enclosed with a lesser ability for intervention and innovation, so, it until now out, it managed to avoid the hype of hipsters and followers to step on the wagon. The fact that this genre is exploring several uncomfortable personal situations such as loneliness, depression, abandonment and isolation -I could say- plus the fact that the sonic realm is inaccessible, full of dystocia and sometimes enigmatic makes it as a kind of inaccessible.
CONVOCATION are following the steps of legendary Finnish bands of this kind like THERGOTHON and SCEPTICISM and try to evolve and launch the genre furthermore. The two members of the band, LL on all instruments and compositions and his bandmate MN on vocals and lyrics, with their former experience in DESOLATE SHRINE and DARK BUDHA RISING, know how to convert dark ominous Death Metal into something bigger, almost gargantuan and, of course, mournful. 4 enormous, lengthy tracks –one of them is instrumental- with variable duration, from eight to thirteen and a half minutes, are responsible for a drowning sense for the listener, making him try to reach the exit, but at the same time feeding him with some little rays of light, capable of putting him into a temptation to see what is going to be heard as the song is climaxing.
I would say that “Ashes Coalesce” is vast, immense, depressive, oppressive with a feeling of despair and of course it’s not suitable for summer listening sessions. Under these circumstances the rating is indicative and the listening session will be resumed under better conditions of assimilation and concentration. Maybe then it could unveil some well hidden virtues and crucial details which are necessary for this kind of genre.
Rating: 6.5/10
Editor: Dimos Karadimos
Related Link: CONVOCATION – Facebook Page
