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Worship > Last Tape Before Doomsday > Reviews
Worship - Last Tape Before Doomsday

When You Gaze Into The Abyss... - 100%

Mercian Doomster, September 7th, 2020
Written based on this version: 2004, CD, Weird Truth Productions (Limited edition, Remastered)

Worship were a funeral doom duo formed in 1998 and based in Munich comprising Daniel "Pan" Vaross and Maximilien "The Impaler of Trendies" Varnier (aka Fucked-up Mad Max). They recorded this four-track demo in April of '99 and released it as a limited edition cassette via Max's own Impaler of Trendies record label. It was then picked up by Weird Truth and received another (very) limited cassette release. And so it would probably have ended, except that in June of 2001 Fucked-up Mad Max lived up to his name and proved that the isolation and melancholy expressed in his music was no mere aesthetic choice but something he lived every day, when he commited suicide by throwing himself off the Edmonton High Level Bridge. The ensuing notoriety ensured that the demo had several more widespread releases on both vinyl and CD and word soon got around.

So to the actual music! Sometimes it is hard to come to a release without any bias, especially one as notorious as this, but in the realms of funeral doom, this is about as authentic as it gets. The production isn't great, obviously as it was a demo recording, but that's not really too much of a concern in extreme metal, be it doom, black or any other type of metallic extremity for that matter. In fact, a rough, lo-fi sound can add a certain edginess or filthiness to a release that a cleaner production fails to deliver and is certainly the case here.

First track Whispering Gloom is an extremely well-written track and is probably the most interesting on the album, consisting of morbidly slow, sustained chords, Max's guttural growls and soaring lead work, which is then thrown into sharp contrast as the track pauses for breathe with a minimalistic spoken word section, before kicking back in, sounding even more desperate than before, the inate despair highlighted by a particularly mournful-sounding piano picking out single notes over the glacial central riff.

A personal favourite of mine is the closing track (of the tape version anyway), the eponymous Worship, a sheer titan of a track that crushes any clinging hopefulness out of the listener before album's end. It's first eight or nine minutes keep a grindingly slow tempo with Max's contemptuosly growled vocals counterpointing Dan Vaross' plaintive guitar tone. At this pont the bass seems to pick out a heartbeat and with the gently picked guitar builds a sense of impending doom, then heightened as the throbbing riff kicks in and the vocals return, but this time with a ritualised, chanted feeling, the track ending as Max growls prophetically "Kill yourself and worship".

The CD also features a bonus track, Keep On Selling Cocaine to Angels, which was released as Worship's side of a split EP with belgian grindcore act, Agathocles and features more of the same utter misery which is great to hear, although I do prefer the original tape ending with Worship's chaotic climax and Max's final line seems a fitting ending to such a seminal recording.

There are, arguably, few better examples of the true expression of funeral doom metal than Last Tape (or CD, or Vinyl) and it's unremittingly bleak vision, completely lacking in solace or, indeed, any positive emotion whatsoever. If you're adverse to introspection then you're probably best advised to steer clear of albums like this, but if you have no fear of gazing into the abyss then you really need this *record / tape / disc (*delete as necessary). Arguably the best doom metal demo ever released.

Masters Of Their Craft - 100%

Nokturnal_Wrath, February 15th, 2014

On Last Tape Before Doomsday, Worship present the listener with four long songs of unrelenting funeral doom. Focusing on a similar wavelength to the band Thergothon, Last Tape Before Doomsday sees the band creating highly minimalistic and droning songs with a heavy emphasis on atmosphere, resulting in one of the most depressing albums within the metal scene.

Last Tape Before Doomsday is fairly typical by funeral doom standards, a down tuned, distorted guitar churns out long drawn out notes whilst a vocalist spits out low, incomprehensible growl mixed with the odd spoken word section. There’s not much in the way of dynamics, rather the variation between tracks comes from the mood each one successfully employs. From the depressed rumbling of the first two tracks, to the more sinister, foreboding yet still inhumanly crash of the last two tracks, Last Tape Before Doomsday successfully employs a myriad of moods to ensure that the music is kept interesting.

Funeral doom is a genre that prizes minimalism much more than other forms of metal and therefore aspects such as song writing become really important. It’s all well and good playing dirge like hymns to depression but if your song writing isn’t up to scratch then the results become lackluster. Worship on the other hand displays a strong sense of song writing far above what most funeral doom bands can hope to accomplish. The transitions between each section of the music runs smoothly, acoustic interludes never feel out of place, being a logical evolution of each track. Unlike most funeral doom, the songs on this album are in a constant state of evolution, never letting one musical idea grow stagnant, Worship move along each aspect of the music with a sense of determination. The spoken word sections work on a similar wavelength to the acoustic interludes, serving to break up the heavier sections of the music whilst still remaining consistent with the goals and general aesthetics of the music at hand.

Whilst minimalism should never be a means in on itself, Worship work incredibly well in an exclusively minimalistic, droning template. The riffs are really freaking huge, with one of the most powerful guitar tones known to man. The vocals are incredibly deep, powerful and expressive, whilst there isn’t much energy behind them, sounding tired and drawn out, they are incredibly effective and work incredibly well with the down tuned distorted riffs. The production is immaculate, each instrument is giving ample room to breathe, with the bass being audible, creating destructive undercurrents underneath the brutal waves of guitar, whilst the occasional washes of piano add even more ambiance and depth to the music.

Last Tape Before Doomsday presents a rawness that few can match, the music has been stripped to its bare necessities removing any and all unnecessary elements. Unlike many modern funeral doom bands who have incorporated female vocals and bombastic keyboards in an effort to make their sound pretty, Worship have done the exact opposite. This is how funeral doom was meant to sound, really thick, distorted guitars churning out drone after drone with very little, if any variation present. With Last Tape Before Doomsday, Worship has tapped into the darkest regions of the human psyche and have constructed an album that presents the most naked and pure representation of mental torment. Essentially some of the most extreme doom metal you will hear, Last Tape Before Doomsday comes highly recommended as an example of how to correctly play this style of music.

Dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom. - 90%

caspian, June 20th, 2007

When you've got a genre that's as minimalistic and hard to listen to as funeral doom, things like songwriting become really important. There's a fine line in this genre between oppressively slow, and just plain boring. Again, that's where songwriting comes in. The more interesting funeral bands are fairly repetitive, sure, but there's enough subtle variation to keep you interested.

Luckily, Worship are one of the more interesting bands in this genre. In fact, I would even describe this band as "Entertaining". Surprising, I know!

Yeah, it's hard to pick faults with this band. Worship do indeed excel at the usual crushing funereal riffs- pick any song, it will have some brutal downtuned riffs- but it's the other parts to this album that make this album so much better then most of it's genre. Solicide and the dawning of the Moonkult has a terrible song title, but there's some real nice clean guitar work, some ghostly clean vocals, and some simple but very effective lead work. Worship (the song) has a very tasteful and effective use of clean guitars, bells and a choir echoing in the background, along with some strange whispered vocals. And then there's the Godflesh-like guitar riff in Eclipse of Sorrow. Blasphemy!

Of course, all the experimentation in the world isn't going to help if the songs don't have some huge, lava-flow riffing. And this is probably where Worship really excels. It's kind of redundant to say that "the guitars are really distorted and really, really downtuned" but seriously, they are. Whoever produced this knew his funeral doom. I've never heard a more powerful guitar tone. Good riffs? Well, Whispering Gloom is chock full of them, as is Solicide. Eclipse of Sorrow takes a slightly different approach, with a slightly faster tempo, and it sounds great too. Everything is just really crushing and huge- what more could be asked for? The drums are, of course, really slow, but there's a bit of variety in them- the generous use of toms, the occaisonal tempo change. May not sound like much, but that little bit of change once in a while can make a band that much better.

Yeah, this is a really damn good album. Worship have created a truly bleak, crushing album, and for once, it's a bleak crushing album that you'll come back to again and again. Funeral Doom fans will love this to death, but I'd also recommend it to people looking for something a bit different.

Not for the weak of heart - 100%

WhisperingGloom, March 22nd, 2005

This is some of the most depressing and sick music I have ever heard in my life! I love it!

Unfortunately, I never got to hear the actual tape release. I’ve only heard the re-release of this album with the additional bonus track, Keep On Selling Cocaine To Angels, taken from their split album with Agathocles. This was one of the first Funeral doom metal albums I had ever listened to. My first one being Shape Of Despair’s Angel’s Of Distress, I do believe. But regardless, this stuck out as possibly one of the best underground doom metal albums ever.

Fucked Up Mad Max was a genius swallowed by depression. And it was that depression that brought us this masterpiece of depressing doom metal. There are not a lot of words to describe the music. You can call it sick, twisted and depressing, but none of them can do this album justice. This is one of those albums that you HAVE to sit down and listen to in order to find out for yourself. But beware; this isn’t an album for the weak of heart. It’s really slow, like you would expect with funeral doom. It’s heavy as fuck, even without the presence of a bass guitar. But most importantly, it’s just depressing.

You get swallowed up by the emotions poured into this album, whether it is by Max’s guttural vocals, or Doommonger’s guitar work. It just swallows you up like a wave and leaves you for dead, floating in the middle of nowhere. It’s just that good. The music itself is relatively simple and very repetitive, but it does the trick. This is not something you’ll want to listen to when you feel you’ve reached the end of the line, or chances are, you’ll end up like Fucked Up Mad Max (R.I.P.)

The guitars on this album are just beautiful. They are heavy as fuck, as I had mentioned. They’re so well and so low that there is no need for bass to provide a low end. Now that’s pretty impressive. The lead work on all of the songs is very minimal, but it’s very, very good. Every time I listen to track one, Whispering Gloom, the little solo/lead during the last minute and a half gets to me every time. It sends shivers down my spine and just kicks my ass into a whole different state of mind. I love music that can have this effect on me, hence why these guys are quite possibly my favorite funeral doom metal band ever.

But not all of the guitar work is low, distorted goodness. Doommonger provides us with some very beautiful clean guitar passages during the songs, which are usually accompanied by Max’s whispers (usually in French) These parts too, also contribute to the depressing feeling you get from listening to this album. It’s just amazing what playing slowly and playing minimally can do to a person.

The drums on this album are your typical funeral doom, or doom metal in general, type drums. They’re in the background, played slowly, and non-existent in parts. Actually, this album would still be amazing even if they never had any drums on it! In some parts, you can barely hear them because of the thick sounding guitars blaring through the speakers. Not much can be said about the drums though except, you won’t find any technical parts on this album.

The vocals on this album are outstanding as well. They’re low and full of raw emotion. You can tell that Max put everything he had inside into them. They are sick and tortured and just fucking brutal. Max knew exactly what he was doing. He knew the right recipe for making bleak and depressing music. And it was so affective that his music is actually blamed for his suicide. It’s sad, because he was a genius. In my opinion, he made some of the best Funeral doom metal that the world has ever had the pleasure of hearing.

But as mentioned before, Max doesn’t just do guttural growling vocals. He adds another element with the whispered vocals during some of the verses, if you can call them verses. And usually the whispered parts are in French, like a nice portion of the lyrics on this album are. But this doesn’t turn me away because I’ve studied French in high school for nearly 9 years, so I can comprehend them without great difficulty. There are even a few German lyrics on this album too, well, with the band being from Germany and all. :P

But nonetheless, this album is definitely for those who enjoy the funeral doom genre and those who are not afraid to experience a new level of torture.

“Kill yourself and Worship...” (R.I.P. Max Varnier)

True underground Doom - 95%

Onirium, May 12th, 2004

I'm one of those who were lucky enough to listen this group before the suicide of Max. I had never heard of them before, (they had just released their first and only demo) but it was very clear that they weren't like the other bands out there. What I mean is that they had a very extreme attitude, and you can see that in their music. Music without attitude is like beer without alcohol. Unluckily it seems the Doom Metal scene is full of bands that lack of this extreme/underground attitude, and therefore they sound more oriented to the Goth trend than to real depressive and dark shit.
Last Tape Before Doomsday is slow, dark, heavy... and it has an inhume feeling of despair! You won't find female vocals, keyboards or flutes... only some parts of piano were allowed, and they sound extremely simplistic and grim. It's a real pity Max decided to commit suicide, I would have loved to listen more of this band, but hell, with his last act he demonstrated that he was not joking, he really believed in what he did! People into Doom Metal underground should remember this guy in the same way Dead is remembered for Black Metal.
Listen to this if you really love Doom Metal. Those four songs are among the darkest and grimmest things ever made in history.

Amazing Doom Metal - 98%

DomitorInvictus, October 9th, 2003

From the 1st time i heard this release i was struck. this band was amazing. it is a real pity that maxx varnier decided to take his own life as this is how doom metal is supposed to sound. slow, heavy, drone-y in some parts and depressive as fuck. comparable to bands such as thergothon, and mournful congregation. from the moment you press play on your tape deck to the moment the tape finishes. it is obvious a tortured soul is behind this.. standout track for me is definitely Whispering Gloom. even the odd Piano is used. but to great effect. but the whole release is great. i would have liked to hear a lot more from this band but alas. if you ever get the chance to pick this up anywhere do not for a second think twice about it. 4 tracks and almost 50 minutes of pure fucking despair