Catacombs

Limited by the same desire for achieving the peak of recordable extremity as traditional death metal, funeral doom nonetheless continues to be pillaged for all it’s worth by various one-man projects and pale imitations of the sub-genre’s original greats. Catacombs stand out in the surprisingly saturated crowd for a number of reasons, most notably their seismically devastating low-end, and the unbelievable depths that the vocals reach — imagine a Tomb of the Mutilated-period Chris Barnes, only a good deal more cavernous. Predictably enough the work of a sole individual, In the Depths of R’lyeh is not designed to hook or confuse the listener — rather, keep hammering out the unbelievably slow, furniture rattling dirges, which (although this may be a side-effect of the album’s disorienting guitar tone) seem to get even slower as the album progresses. The folks at Moribund are best known for black metal of generally good quality, but branching out into Thergothon and Skepticism’s neck of the woods was an excellent move — this is truly one of the bleakest, most uncompromising albums to ever emerge from their roster. Track it down at all costs, and see just how free of exaggeration the things you’ve heard about Catacombs actually are.