Published: September 21, 2020

MARCHE FUNEBRE is a doom metal band from Belgium, formed in 2008.  “Einderlicht,” is their fourth full length album; they have also released two splits and two EPs.  I discovered this band just weeks before getting the “Einderlicht” promo and have been listening to both this album and the previous album “Into The Arms of Darkness,” nonstop.  What impresses me the most is how insanely well crafted their songs are, including the variety they throw into them.  In addition to the obvious death and black metal influences in their brand of doom, I also get a lot of classic rock and traditional meta/doom vibes.  The guitar can be as gentle as a breeze or intense as a landslide.  Likewise, the vocals display a range that is as impressive as anyone I’ve heard in the doom genre—Arne is one hell of a singer who can go from quiet cleans to brutal death growls to blackened screams.

The band almost seems to exist in two doom worlds at once, one extreme and the other not so much.  However, the way their songs meld these two dimensions together is impressive and never once does anything sound copy and pasted or out of place.  In essence, they are masters at many crafts but most importantly masters at putting all this variety together into one cohesive sound. “Einderlicht,” seems more melodic in places than the previous album which, at this moment in time, is the only other album I’ve had the chance to explore. With that being said, the death/doom side of the band has never been more potent; most of the songs are both melodic and brutal.

“Scarred,” is the album’s first track and is a good choice to present the album to the listener because it encompasses the sound the band is going for.  Clean guitar fades into the foreground, quickly joined by a guitar solo that wouldn’t be out of place in a guitar driven rock song.  Once the cleans come in, it is obvious the band has no issues in showing off the quieter, more lithe side of doom metal.  One aspect I love about “Einderlicht” so much is that there are moments, such as the one I’m writing about now, where there is no way anyone could guess how dark this band can get.  They are just that damn good at showing off the different shades in this album.

Around the 4:15 mark, the death growls come in and a chill went up my spine the first time I heard them. Unrelenting, the song pushes ever forward in its extremes, collecting heavy riffs and bass along the way.  The music stays heavy even the vocals revert back to cleans and its a shining example of the album’s power and versatility.  The song proceeds to speed up and when those blackened death screams come in…chills again! “The Eye Of The End,” starts off heavy with growling and a faster tempo than the first track.  The clean chorus is catchy as hell and makes the death growls with follow it all the more potent.  After the chorus repeats again, the song’s doom intensity just keeps twisting into this putrid form of a beast with no name.

“When All Is Said,” is one of my favorites on the album because it uses every second of its eleven and a half minute run time to kick all the ass and take all the names.  The darkly melodic guitar pairs with the death growls for a more down downtrodden approach. The cleans are beautifully done and the chorus will be stuck in your head for days.  At 9:27, the title track’s phrase is sang clean until the word “done” is screamed…..just so  damn awesome. “The Maelstrom Mute,” is a song that surprised me at first because it is all clean vocals.  There is nothing wrong with that of course but after the first half the album containing a lot of death/doom fury, it was just a little jarring. The song itself is heavy but more along the lines of traditional doom/metal than the more blackened death/doom approach of the other tracks.  The cadence of the vocals will be in your head for days and it makes the seven minutes go by like a breeze.  I can see this song being a big hit live.

“Deformed,” hits like a freight train from the very beginning with choppy riffs that drift in and out of a quick groove.  The vocals work with the grain of the music and get increasingly more evil as the music does as well.  The mid portion of the song has some clever melodies and a brief respite before the carnage begins anew. Last, and most certainly not least, comes the album’s title track, “Einderlicht,” and it also happens to be what I consider the album’s best song.  The beginning moments are clean guitar and melodic bass paired with vocals that are slight death growls used as a spoken word whisper.  When his voice raises, he sounds truly depraved but at this point so does the music.  This is the most melodic song to me on the album, treading the line between melodic death and doom.  The rumbling double bass keeps the song grounded on the heavier side even during the more melodic parts.

MARCHE FUNEBRE’s “Einderlicht,” is an album that impressed me from the very first listen and still continues to hold up well and, I imagine, will for some time.  I have a suspicion their next album will probably be a game changer if they continue on the upwards trajectory they are on right now.  This album needs to be on the radar of ANYONE who likes doom metal.