Published: October 15, 2020

He's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! He's expired and gone to meet his maker! He's a stiff! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed him to the perch he'd be pushing up the daisies! His metabolic processes are now history! He's off the twig! He's kicked the bucket, he's shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleeding choir invisible! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!

Now, why did I start this review with a whole paragraph of the famous Parrot Sketch from Monty Python? Two reasons, really. There's of course the whole theme of Einderlicht, which is all about death (more specifically suicide). And secondly, the fact that the lyrics are just as impressive in finding synonyms for the word death as the aforementioned sketch. All silliness aside, the lyrics itself are definitely solid, but not exactly very varied due to the limitations of the theme.

What is varied, however, is the music. Einderlicht is a death doom record through and through. One moment you're listening to a doom song with acoustic guitars and dense droning riffs. The next moment you're listening to an aggressive track that puts a bigger focus on the death metal elements. The album effortlessly switches between these doom metal and death metal songs, and thanks to the variety it manages to keep the listener engaged from start to finish. However, I sometimes wished these doom and death elements would have been more blended in with each other in the tracks, rather than the track-by-track nature that we have now. I feel like that would have made the songs even more unique.

Another thing that impressed me on this record are the vocals. Growls, cleans, screams... they are all here and done really well. Arne Vandenhoeck delivers a simply excellent performance all throughout Einderlicht.

Next, we've got the production. And it's the kind of production that I really like for these types of albums. Guitars with a raw dark tone, vocals that are clear in the mix, haunting acoustic parts and drums that pierce through and put some nice emphasis in the music. Quality stuff.

There's one more thing I want to talk about. More specifically, one song: the title track, which closes the album. It's the only track in Dutch and it's a spectacular one. I did some digging and apparently it's the first time ever that Marche Funèbre made a song in their native language, and while I often find songs in Dutch odd-sounding (even though it's my native language as well), this one feels just right. I consider it the highlight of an already strong album.

So, do I recommend listening to Einderlicht? Yes, of course. However, I recommend it to people who like both doom metal and death metal. This is not one of those records with a death doom label that clearly leans more towards the doom or the death side. No, like I said earlier in this review, Einderlicht switches constantly between the two. Meaning that if you aren't a fan of one of the two genres, you'll probably dislike half of the album. But if you like both genres, give it a listen. It's really well put together.