Ethere

When does a 28 minute EP constitute an essential release? When the band in question is Skepticism and the EP in question is Ethere. I'm pretty sure this is the first Skepticism release I ever bought. I bought it based on a song I heard from Stormcrowfleet and all the acolades they've recieved throughout the Doom community. Skepticism hail from the motherland of Funeral Doom (Finland) and have always and rightfully been regarded as masters of the genre, second only to the monolithic Thergothon. Two of these songs (The March and the Stream and Aether) later appear on Skepticism's next release, Lead and Aether, in different versions.

Someone once used this metaphor to describe how slow Skepticism's music is: At a gig, the drummer could hit a beat, walk to the bar to get beers for himself and the rest of the band, return to the stage, distribute the beers accordingly, sit down at his drumkit and still be in time for the next beat." (I'm paraphrasing)

The ominous drum funeral march of The March and the Stream opens this disc and the aformentioned metaphor is quite appropriate as this song lumbers along. Slowly, more elements come to the for, the whispered vocals, eerie keyboards. Guitars briefly make their appearence before fading into the green blackness. A slow, sorrowful piano solo is then played, bringing you to the edge of despair, staring into the black chasm below. The solo reaches its climax and the guitars re-enter, crushing your emotions, forcing you to stare even further into the abyss below, seemingly on the verge of falling. Just when it seems the song couldn't get any bleaker, the infamous organ enters and you seem to float away from the cliff, falling into the chasm, as darkness fills your sight, you seem to fade away into a nihilistic void.

The bleakness of the first track (what many call the most depressing song ever recorded) is matched perhaps only the bleakness of the last song, Chorale. The Organ dominates this song, as the melodies of this song are played on this instrument. But nothing on this disc can prepare you for the pure melancholic bliss of the organ solo. If I were to die, I'd like this song to be played at my funeral as it is just the embodiment of (non-romantic) melancholy. This is what Funeral Doom is all about. This album is a must for anyone even mildly interested in doom metal. Even the ignoramus' who feel doom is nothing but a bunch of self-pitying whiners find some appreciation for Skepticism's music. I shall conclude this review with some well words courtesy of this fine and mysterious band: Stream brought words and Stream brought meaning, through its aether were seen all beings, beauty revealed as cruelty, core of grief as death of desire.