ALBUM REVIEW: SLOW - “V – Oceans”

By Marika Zorzi

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 26/01/2018

Label: Code666  Records

“V – Oceans”  crushingly heavy climaxes and reprieves alike hold many wonderful nuances and hidden melodic flourishes that deepen its sense of reverence and measureless pulchritude.

“V – Oceans” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Aurore
2. Ténèbres
3. Déluge
4. Néant

5. Mort

The Review:

It isn’t often that you come across a project that has the disarming intensity of “V-Oceans”.  Its creator is SLOW (which stands for Silence Lives Out/Over Whirlpool), a one-man band founded in 2007 by Déhà (We All Die [Laughing], Imber Luminis, Clouds, Cult of Erinyes, Merda Mundi, Vaer, etc.). In 2017, he joined forces with lyricist Lore B (Ter Ziele) to complete this incredible record.

“V – Oceans”is an atmospheric funeral doom album in which anxiety and dull pain leave no hope. “V – Oceans” comes about as close to capturing the unimaginable depths of the abyss as the human imagination is capable of. SLOW has succeeded in anchoring us to the deepest parts of our planet's marine biosphere with almost an hour of brooding funeral doom that conjures stark panoramas of dimly lit seascapes and the slow undulations of rolling swells. Much of “V – Oceans”' success in this regard lies in its masterful production values that paint a stunning aquatic landscape resplendent with a gradient shaft of sunlight far above the trenches of the ocean floor. The graceful portraits of horizonless views give us so much more than that, and the crushingly heavy climaxes and reprieves alike hold many wonderful nuances and hidden melodic flourishes that deepen its sense of reverence and measureless pulchritude.

“V – Oceans”keeps returning to the more dramatic sounds, hitting the melodic peaks that Déhà has accustomed us to over the years. The album flows like a liquid, without breaks between the long numbers, taking us from the first to the last note in close contact with the musical trademark that unites a powerful genre like funeral doom.

Originally published last year by GS Productions in Russia and now reissued on Jan 26^th via Code666 Records, the five tracks created for the SLOWproject provide us with one of the most successful albums in the European funeral doom scene, creating a fifty-minute dive into the depths of an abyss where escape seems impossible, never mind managing to discern any glimmer of light.

A visceral sound that, playing with an aquatic atmosphere, moves slowly in multiple directions, drawing in the listener with ambiances rich in ripples and details. A prominent melodic inspiration is the inner force that drives all of “V – Oceans”, accompanied by a cavernous growling that gives full expression to the sentiments conveyed by the instrumental side.

For everyone who loves funeral doom. You must not miss this album.

“V – Oceans”is available here

Band info: facebook || bandcamp