When All the Laughter Has Gone

Finland may not be a doom forge equal to that which, say, the UK has birthed, but it has always had a small, diverse and impressive share of such bands (Shape of Despair, Umbra Nihil, Tyranny, etc). But Dolorian has to be my favorite. A bleak and unforgettable sound incorporating the sparse use of lumbering, frightening riffs, black vocal snarls and subtle keyboards over churning, clashing chords and atmospheric acoustics laden in chorus effects.

The band has evolved through its career into something more 'artful' and even tranquil, but their debut When All the Laughter Has Gone remains my favorite. It simultaneously immerses you in its starving grace while destroying you with its poisoned black spit. "Desolated Colours" inaugurates the funeral with horrific chiming ambience before the riffs slowly creep forward. Like most of the album, this song conjures to mind a struggling individual, left alone in a desert on black and white film, ever lurching forward in a hopeless quest for sustenance where none will be found. "My Weary Eyes" is a grooving volley of minor notes and chords which devolves into a black abyss with its jangling clean tones and minimal chiming atmosphere. "A Part of Darkness" contains an idyllic medieval atmosphere due to its bouncing, playful synth-line, which is quickly destroyed by a very basic stream of repeated chords, as the song transforms into its gloomy core. The title track again uses effected clean notes and almost ironically happy synth lines to paint a tireless scene of agony, like a corpse riding a ghostly carousel at the local carnival where everything is unplugged yet still operating. "Collapsed" does not deviate, if anything it's complete cohesion with the concepts of the previous songs, just blacker and potentially more devastation. "Fields" crafts one of the best weaving melodies of the album over whispers and torn throat diatribe, and features a fine acoustic bridge. Album closer "With Scorn - Perish" is my favorite track with a truly evocative, haunting melody of bells and acoustics that breaks down into a grueling, hopeless pit of black doom.

I must note here: When All the Laughter Has Gone is another of those albums to listen straight through. The songs aren't super catchy as individual pieces, but the work as a whole is quite devastating. It's under an hour in length, but this is an hour you'll want to commit if you enjoy the bleaker aspects of doom. I'm not sure if this qualifies as 'funeral' doom but it's certainly an album which would appeal to fans of that. If you enjoy this you'll also want to check out their self-titled follow-up, another act of frightening if tranquil decimation.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

It came as a shock to me when I noticed that Dolorian hadn’t had much coverage on the Archives. Even this stirring debut effort, entitled ‘When All The Laughter Has Gone’, has received only a small amount of the attention that bands like fellow American act Evoken have amassed in recent times. I have a tendency to relate both bands, as I discovered them both around the same time and, whilst appreciating the fact that they don’t exclusively play a similar style, the bands do remind me of each other in small, significant ways with their repressed spirit. Both bands have been on the Archives for almost the same amount of time, roughly seven years, so I was expecting, due to the large fan base the respective bands have, that they would also have a considerable amount of reviews and reviewers willing to tackle the doom and gloom of the hybrids these bands work within. Unfortunately, this has not been the case in regards to Dolorian, who have been unashamedly overlooked by unobservant gentlemen like myself. I have a tendency to steer clear of bands with mighty reputations as it can be intimidating when forming a review around the climatic structures that bands like Dolorian work towards.

Generally, if it raved about by the masses, I will keep clear of it until the heat dies down and that has certainly happened in regards to Dolorian, who are struggling to draw in the reviewers. Partially, I think the trouble with bands like Dolorian is the simple fact that their music is more abstract than anything and thus, it is difficult to describe without sounding like a metaphor whore, or someone who struggles to form their opinions in a coherent manner. The band rely heavily on simplistic techniques to draw out complex atmospherics that not only make up for the slightly repetitive and simplistic nature, but actually amass a certain amount of credit due to the fact that the band can cause such a stir of emotions within the listener despite being overly cautious when it comes to experimenting with the instrumentation. There is no doubt however, that Dolorian do experiment when it comes to the atmosphere. The band raise a funerary sound from shallow graves of the dead, rising up and out of the ashes of the cremation like a phoenix in full flight, the funerary sound dominates the structure of all the Dolorian songs.

Take ‘Collapsed’, for example. This song relies almost entirely on a repetitive and slow haunting bass formation and light keyboards, which sound almost like wind chimes on occasions, to subtly tip-toe around the harsh elements of the sound - which includes the guitars and, most notably, the black metal inspired vocals, which are watered down rasps, in a slower fashion, to meet the standards of the instrumentation which is, obviously, slowed down for the doom lovers to appreciate in context. So, although the band aren’t exclusively a funeral doom band, I do hear elements that reminds me of Evoken - who truly are overrated. Out of all the black/doom hybrid bands, Dolorian sit in the mind for a long time after having heard their music. Particularly ‘When All The Laughter Has Gone’ with its mesmerising waves of melancholy that comes in an abundance from beginning to the tragic end. As expected, to maintain the attention levels, Dolorian do occasionally wander out of their safety zones, particularly on songs like ‘Fields’, which uses a fantastic combinational style with the hollow bass and the acoustics mixing together to cause a steady flow of emotions beneath the crumbling surface where the vocals are doing their best to tear down the walls of insecurity in the listener and release their true feelings unto the world, in full force.

Being the abstract entity that they are, Dolorian are difficult to describe without delving into metaphors and comparisons to abstract themes of life where things go beyond things in a bid to show the struggling soul, who is finding life all too much to handle, that there is some small release to be had in areas of life like this. Dolorian’s haunting music isn’t so much a pressing piece which doesn’t allow for a moments breath, but instead, its soothing and rather soulful with its high quantities of unreal bass, which acts like an apparition, weaving it and out of the current world and the afterlife. This surrealist record works well in context as the lyrical themes suggest the songs are all about the depression that we can sometimes face in life, when we’re forced to deal with issues like personal grief and loss. The lyrical themes work particularly well in relation to the spiritual factor as much of the instrumentation, particularly the vibrating bass which reverbs in and around out beating hearts, filled with misery, which rumbles constantly and consistently, is other worldly.

There is an aquatic sense felt within the instrumentation, though I suppose the idea of a surreal world and an aquatic world go hand-in-hand since the creatures of the depths can seem alien like on occasions. The world, on land, is ours, but in the seas, it is dominated by creatures we cannot begin to compete with without our man-made weapons of destruction. Equipped and ready to punctuate the domination of the creatures of this world unknown, Dolorian express a deeply spiritual, oceanic world in the bass, dreary guitars and the funerary keyboards that dominate over the percussion and vocals, which were a surprise to me when I first encountered them. Much more inspired than bands like Evoken, who can tend to overextend their capabilities by playing overly long songs that can irk me after a short amount of time. Thankfully, Dolorian have kept their songs down to a reasonable length and do not annoy with tedious repetitious that seems to last forever. Dark and claustrophobic, ‘When All The Laughter Has Gone’ is a monument to depression, melancholy and misery. Highlight is ‘My Weary Eyes’.

Dolorian is a relatively new band on the doom front, but already they are ready to make permanent tracks in the history of doom metal. The fact that they only needed to make three copies of their demo to get a label to sign them, compared to most doom metal bands who have a hard time getting signed, speaks for itself. The music is hard to define as there is not much that even sounds alike it. It is doom with it's depressing, dark mood and slow floating tempo. At times the pace changes and becomes in many ways too fast to be doom, but they have found a solution to keep it doomy still. By keeping a slow and steady rythm on parts of the drums it creates a doom depressing bloodrush. There are also a lot of black elements in the music which does a great job on creating a cold and haunting atmosphere.

A lot of musical ingredients new to the genre have been used. Echoes, chimelike keyboard, whispers that seem to origin from everywhere, the combined slow uptempo pace, and the unique screams. No band I have yet heard of, besides Dolorian, mixes death metal screams with clean vocals at the same time. This and a haunting echo of the vocals, placed in strategic places, adds the final touch to this empty pain that Dolorian has created.
Strangely none of the whispered lyrics on the CD can be found anywhere. According to the band they are in the moment feelings and personal thoughts and thus too personal to make public.

Interpretations of the songs:
-Desolated Colours: opens the album with echoing chimes that sound like they are from a horror movie. The vocals are harsh and would fit the description of depressive aggression/frustration. The guitars are distorted with simple and varying riffs. The riffs range from echoed melancolic and silent riffs, to a chaotic mixture between a slow and high paced tempo. Even without the lyrics the song portraits perfectly the chaotic feeling of depressive frustration and anxiety. The lyrics are about percieving colours, and the way I interpret it they are metaphors of feelings. In which case "desolated colours" and "pale shadows" must mean the inability to percieve any feelings but sadness. The colours slowly fade away as the track comes to the end, where the music slowly slows down to a halt.

-My Weary Eyes: is heavier than the first track. The tempo is smoother and somewhat feels like rolling wawes of dark water. The eachoing chimes are now at times not only an intro to the song, but creates an eerie aura during some sections of the track. The track is intended to sound tired and lifeless, and does a great job at it. The lyrics are suicidal in it's own way. And that is a major theme in the emotion which this song was built upon. The feeling of being so tired of life that the thought of ending it becomes a heartwarming experience. The whispers consentrate on single word sentences with the word "fall" inbetween them, creating a subconcious depraving effect on the listener. In the end of the song the sentence "there is no need for you, children of Jesus". It might mean that the song blames religious fanaticism for the depravity or that he is happy now in his misery and does not need their happiness. Suicide is after all a sin...

-A Part Of Darkness: is the only one of the tracks that Dolorian does not want to write down the lyrics of. In a statement they have said that they want those who really are interrested in the lyrics to have to work for them. It took me several hours to do so myself, and I am still uncertain of what they are saying on two two of the lines. Still I ahve gotten a pretty good idea of what the song is about. If Dolorian was a satanic band the lyrics would have gotten a totally different meaning, but according to interviews they are ateists. The mentioning of the abyss, the laughterdead and revenge is not a reference to anything satanic, but a metaphor of an emotion. A feeling of despair that is a mix, between the lifelessness of My Weary Eyes, and the painful frustration of Desolated Colours. A feeling that Dolorian rightfully describes as if the whole world turned into Hell in front of your eyes. Musically the echoes of the chimes sound again. The beginning of the song sound steady like My Weary Eyes. Then suddenly distorted riffs that twists the melody downwards adds a fitting depravity. The keyboard follows the riffs in a higher multitoned pitch, giving a ghostly impression. The empty sections are a little more filled than the previous two songs to make things a little more sinister. A "Why?" introduces a high paced part like the ones in Desolated Colours for the same reason. To include frustration in the melody. As a final touch the song ends in a different way than the other songs. After the last vocal the ending part only lasts a few seconds and stops brutally.

-When All Lafter Laughter Has Gone: starts the journey into emptiness that Dolorians next, self titeled, release were to continue. The guitars work together with a high pitched synth in the background in a simplistic way. Toghether they fill only a small part of the music space leaving the rest of it to their echoes. This creates an empty atmoshphere with calm sadness. There is little vocals on the track, but those who are are wery fitting to the music. They describe how the illusions of happiness are all gone and the knowing of doom is all that remains.

-Collapsed: begins with a faint rattling of chimes. Then going in a few seconds over from a simple and silent sound to a heavy mysterious part. Which there is several of in the track. The first vocals are unique on the album in that they have whispered echoes in addition to the screams. In no other part of any of the tracks do the scream sound this painful. The guitars vary between filling the music aura completely and to leaving things nearly to emptyness. In many ways this track can be described as an emotional breakdown, leading to collapse. The lyrics themselves tell of the feeling of hating everything within oneself to the point where you cannot look at yourself. And once again the lyrics create the perfect tale of utter dispair. The track ends by slowly fading away into misery.

-Fields: is with it's 4 and a half minute lenght, the shortest track on the album. Still it is definately one of the best. A tad heavier than the other tracks, it pushes a little more aggression into the music. Also a church organ used gives the track a much more horrible appearance. It has two uptempo parts where the screamed vocals take off. The vocalist has really screamed his lungs off. The lyrics utter a wish to just be left alone in ones own misery. When the vocalist screams his lungs off for everyone to leave him alone, it matches the desperation perfectly. As Collapsed the trakc ends by fading away, but this time to desperate screams.

-With Scorn/Perish: seems to me not to be one, but two songs sown together to create one emotion with two similar faces. The lifetiredness spoken of in My Weary Eyes comes to show here too, but it becomes a hatred directed towards life and those who have made life this miserable. One could also seperate the track into two parts, beginning with With Scorn. In the With Scorn part the guitars are averagely harsh compared to the rest of the album, but just harsh enough to show that angry feeling. The end of the With Scorn part is a beat distorted downwards. It slowls slowly down to a halt, which can be interpreted as life coming to an end. The Perish part is slow guitars only, creating a dreamy or voidlike atmosphere. Almost like drifting in the silence beyond...