doom
When you are a doom metal fan but you still enjoy going to church, this album might soon become your favorite one. If you are one of those people who quite often find themselves banging their head to the 'Carmina Burana', you definitely want to check this one out. Metal and classical music often go hand in hand but it rarely sounds this epic and convincing.
Et Moriemur is a band from the Czech Republic, formed in 2008. Among their instrumentation are violins, cellos, trombones and piano and their vocal performances are just as varied. Not only that, so are the languages they use.
With lyrics in ancient Greek and Latin, plus Gregorian choirs, you might see this band as the Therion of doom metal. However, personally, I like this a lot more than I like Therion, probably because of the sluggish tempo and the immersive riffing. Another band that comes to mind, mostly in the melodic approach, is Amorphis and that makes an old school melodic doom fan like me very happy. Yet, Et Moriemur does a lot more than that. As I mentioned earlier, their vocal performances vary from Gregorian chants to funeral doom growls (often combined) and blackened sludge metal vocals.
With all those elements, including the traditional doom metal set-up, the classical instrumentation and the choir, you might expect an overwhelming and chaotic album but that's not really true here. It is overwhelming if you play it loud enough, that's true, but Et Moriemur seem to be experienced songwriters, capable of creating coherent and exciting music. That exciting music highlights multiple times on this album. 'Requiem Aeternam' is one of those highlights and so is 'Dies Irae', the latter probably being my favorite track here.
In all this is a unique and captivating piece of doom metal, a form that reminds me mostly of the gothic and folk inspired scene of the nineties with acts like Moonspell, Tiamat and the aforementioned bands. Yet, fans of funeral doom acts like Shape Of Despair and Evoken or even depressive black metal will also easily appreciate this. I just jokingly said to my wife: "this is Era for metal fans". It was a little joke, but not that far from the truth, to be honest. So check it out because this will certainly be a one-of-a-kind album in your ever expanding doom collection.
Serge
Et Moriemur is a band from the Czech Republic, formed in 2008. Among their instrumentation are violins, cellos, trombones and piano and their vocal performances are just as varied. Not only that, so are the languages they use.
With lyrics in ancient Greek and Latin, plus Gregorian choirs, you might see this band as the Therion of doom metal. However, personally, I like this a lot more than I like Therion, probably because of the sluggish tempo and the immersive riffing. Another band that comes to mind, mostly in the melodic approach, is Amorphis and that makes an old school melodic doom fan like me very happy. Yet, Et Moriemur does a lot more than that. As I mentioned earlier, their vocal performances vary from Gregorian chants to funeral doom growls (often combined) and blackened sludge metal vocals.
With all those elements, including the traditional doom metal set-up, the classical instrumentation and the choir, you might expect an overwhelming and chaotic album but that's not really true here. It is overwhelming if you play it loud enough, that's true, but Et Moriemur seem to be experienced songwriters, capable of creating coherent and exciting music. That exciting music highlights multiple times on this album. 'Requiem Aeternam' is one of those highlights and so is 'Dies Irae', the latter probably being my favorite track here.
In all this is a unique and captivating piece of doom metal, a form that reminds me mostly of the gothic and folk inspired scene of the nineties with acts like Moonspell, Tiamat and the aforementioned bands. Yet, fans of funeral doom acts like Shape Of Despair and Evoken or even depressive black metal will also easily appreciate this. I just jokingly said to my wife: "this is Era for metal fans". It was a little joke, but not that far from the truth, to be honest. So check it out because this will certainly be a one-of-a-kind album in your ever expanding doom collection.
Serge
