Cemetary: Gothic/Doom Metal

Following a decent enough debut of early 1990s Swedish death metal in An Evil Shade Of Gray, Cemetary release Godless Beauty, an album that finds the band making the transition to a more doom oriented approach. While their first offering was more or less a gloomy interpretation of Entombed’s Left Hand Path (1990) decorated with sprinkles of acoustic guitar and foggy ambience similar to early Tiamat, Godless Beauty is a shifting towards a sound similar to Paradise Lost’s Gothic (1991) merged with Tiamat’s Clouds (1992). However, unlike those two works which preserved the death metal voice over music that evolved beyond the stylistics of the genre, on Godless Beauty, Cemetary have not yet entirely rid themselves of their death metal influences, resulting in an album that, while not completely unfocused in its direction, represents a band in the midst of conversion.

Cemetary songs are fairly basic in design and execution, presented as they are on traditional rock-structured formats with a simplicity of instrumentation, with only minor deviations from this formula here and there. This provides the music a firm foundation, and allows the band’s melodies and atmospheres to establish a dominant presence in the sound. The band’s strength lies in their ability to hook the listener into the feelings of a song through familiar arrangements beneath which flows strong emotional currents. "The Serpent’s Kiss" is perhaps the best representation of this concept, and its position as second track is a clever choice. Vocals by band leader Mathias Lodmalm are a standard growl that changes tone according to the mood of a song, ranging from sinister to mournful, occasionally employing clean singing in a deep gothic baritone. The emotional core of these songs is most strongly communicated through excellent lead guitar playing of a highly expressive quality that shines through the compositional framework like the awakening to a golden dawn.

"The silence came so suddenly
No longer am I to breathe
The grip of life has faded
Mourning has come to an end"

Most of this material operates in mid-paced to slow movement, establishing dreary moods in the expression of suicidal fantasies envisioned during the nightfall of the spirit. Yet, "Now She Walks The Shadows", "Chain", and "Sunrise (Never Again)" are driven by a thrashing pace, expertly balancing death metal aggression with atmospheric tranquility and melody. What separates Godless Beauty from most other doom/death releases of this era is its song-based approach instead of elaborate portrayals of sorrowful orchestrations. This is not challenging music in terms of any sort of mechanical complexity, yet its moody enchantment casts a spell of dark serenity, exhibiting a pronounced presence of a beautiful melancholy which places this usually overlooked album alongside the premier works of the gothic doom/death movement.

1. Now She Walks The Shadows
2. The Serpent’s Kiss
3. And Julie Is No More
4. By My Own Hand
5. Chain
6. Adrift In Scarlet Twilight
7. In Black
8. Sunrise (Never Again)
9. Where The Fire Forever Burns

Following a frustrating experience in the live arena supporting Godless Beauty, Mathias Lodmalm, founder of Cemetary, dismissed all members of the band due to what he described as on-stage incompetence. After recruiting an all new line-up, Lodmalm returns with one of the strongest releases in the Cemetary catalogue, as well as one of the finest representations of gothic-rock inspired metal in the form of Black Vanity.

Moving further away from the origins of death metal towards the realm of dark rock/doom metal, Cemetary’s approach relies on mood-altering compositional shifts and gloomy atmospheres through simplistic arrangements where the minimalism of rock format discourages technical disruption of emotional flow. Though Cemetary experiment in subtle fashion with production technique, atmospheric dynamic, and electronics on Black Vanity, these remain songs of direct impact centered around strong hooks and choruses. The music does possess a more fluid motion than previous efforts, as these new musicians are simply better players than ex-members, yet the material is tight and focused in its design. Lodmalm’s voice continues to shed its deathly growl, having now developed a coarse singing style similar to Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost during his own transition to more melodic vocals on Icon and Draconian Times. More clean gothic singing is utilized here which serves quite well the shadowy nature of slower material such as "Last Departure/Serpentine Parade" and "Out In Sand".

Black Vanity is a well-balanced album. While the songs generally function within a particular formula, there exists a healthy amount of variety in terms of pace and atmospheric shade for the music to maintain a high level of interest for listeners attracted to gothic rock/metal. Indeed, songs like "Scarecrow" and "Sweet Tragedy" (Cemetary’s finest song) are joyless midnight rockers of coal black spirit resembling what The Sisters Of Mercy may sound like if they were to create a metal album. Yet within "Ebony Rain", "The Hunger Of The Innocent", and "Black Flowers Of Passion" a release of anguish through acoustic guitars, ambient keyboards, female vocals, and weeping melodies exhibit a forbidden lust for an ashen destiny. What is most remarkable about this work is its rising beauty from despair-ridden dreams fantastically realized by creators enriched with the gift of artistic perceptiveness.

1. Bitter Seed
2. Ebony Rain
3. Hunger Of The Innocent
4. Scarecrow
5. Black Flowers Of Passion
6. Last Departure/Serpentine Parade
7. Sweet Tragedy
8. Pale Autumn Fire
9. Out In Sand
10. Rosemary Taste The Sky

Cemetary
Sundown
Black Mark, 1996

Cemetary’s fourth album, Sundown, essentially completes the band’s transition from a decent death metal band to a terrific gothic rock/doom metal outfit. Having settled on a reliable collection of musicians, Mathias Lodmalm has accomplished his most impressive assembly of songs for this effort, and the fundamental aspects of the band’s sound have been refined to an extent that the music is provided a sharpness and a sense of clarity ultimately unknown to previous releases.

At this point of the band’s development, the compositional approach has been well established. The traditional structure of rock-song format has been Cemetary’s mode of operation as far back as their death metal era, yet what has occurred during the course of the band’s career is an even further trimming of material that could possibly threaten the directness and overall effect of each individual song. Indeed, these are Cemetary’s simplest songs yet, but the beauty of this music blossoms within the soul of the song, wherein the emotion of the expression pulses, distributing its vibrations through every passage. It is this element, along with Lodmalm’s gift of effective songcraft, melodic ideas and clever usage of those ideas, and captivating atmosphere, that place Cemetary albums among the most prominent of the gothic rock/doom metal genre.

"Bring down the damned
The blood is on your hands
As the sun sets forever"

There is an aura of impending doom hovering over these songs. Even during the high-energy rock numbers, which generally turn out to be Cemetary’s top quality material, the ghosts of despair swirl within. Sundown is about a world unable to heal itself from a festering infection, and its painfully aware inhabitants desperately grasping at strings of evasive hope as shadows of crippling regret and smothering sorrow stalk from every direction. As the final sunset approaches, the dawning of oblivion dances on the horizon. Humanity observes in terror and waits, tormented through attempts to comprehend this fate, while the spirits of aftermath radiate in anticipation.

"So cold inside this shell
Give me to the Earth"

"Elysia", "Ophidian", and "Last Transmission" are classic Cemetary dark-rock songs painted with shades of melancholy and driven by huge choruses, while"Closer To The Pain" and "The Wake" crawl through desolate wastelands of despair and regret. Only "Morningstar", despite its rousing mid-section guitar solo, doesn’t quite live up to the standard the rest of the album sets, as its Euro-flavored keyboard rock and flat chorus fails to ignite the emotional flame so crucial to this band’s music. If there is any real trouble to find with Sundown, it is that the album as a whole lacks the magical atmosphere of Godless Beauty and Black Vanity. Certainly, Sundown asserts a presence of its own, yet the ultra-clean production and mostly unexpressive lead guitar work hold this otherwise excellent effort in noticeable restraint. Nevertheless, Sundown marks Cemetary’s final essential release, completing a three album run of some of the finest gothic rock inspired metal ever recorded.

2/11/06

Tracklisting:

1. Elysia
2. Closer To The Pain
3. Last Transmission
4. Sundown
5. Ophidian
6. Primal
7. New Dawn Coming
8. The Embrace
9. Morningstar
10. The Wake

Cemetary
Last Confessions
Black Mark, 1997

Last Confessions marks the final recording from Cemetary before vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Mathias Lodmalm shifted his priority to his new project, Sundown. At twenty-eight minutes and eight songs, no lyrics or credits, the album is cursed by a rushed and incomplete feeling. The material functions within the same musical realm of straightforward gothic metal/rock as previous efforts, yet with a dirtier, heavier sound.

"The closer that you crawl
Just the further I will fall
Can’t keep me from dying
Can’t save me at all"

The majority of these songs are up-tempo rockers laced with the band’s familiar dark atmospheres. The opening pair of "Forever" and "Caress The Damned" get the disc off to a storming start, with the latter in particular one of the best moments in the band’s history. Both are fantastic dark metal/rock songs oozing with atmosphere and emotion, fueled by powerful rhythms, glistening melodies, burning riffs, and engaging vocals. "Fields Of Fire" is another highlight, a driving midnight rocker with an interesting whisper-effect on the vocals that gives the track a ghostly essence. "Carbon Heart" sounds like a Sundown leftover, as its pattern reflects that album’s design, though its quicker pace fits the song more appropriately on this recording. These four songs are the best the album has to offer. The remaining four range from decent (the orientally-tinged space-rocker "1213 Trancegalactica") to awful ("One Burning Night" features dreadful vocals by Lodmalm over soulless slow-churning blues-rock). Though the band is resurrected by Lodmalm a few years later with an all-new line-up, Last Confessions, despite half of the album being constructed of some of the band’s finest material of all time, is overall a disappointment and a pitiful send-off for one of the most underrated bands of the gothic/doom metal genre.

2/12/06

Tracklisting:

1. Forever
2. Caress The Damned
3. So Sad Your Sorrow
4. 1213-Trancegalactica
5. Twin Reactor
6. Fields Of Fire
7. One Burning Night
8. Carbon Heart

Cemetary/Mathias Lodmalm

Black Mark Productions

Cemetary Discography:

An Evil Shade Of Grey (Black Mark, 1992)
Godless Beauty (Black Mark, 1993)
Black Vanity (Black Mark, 1994)
Sundown (Black Mark, 1996)
Last Confessions (Black Mark, 1997)
Sweetest Tragedies compilation (Black Mark, 1998)
The Beast Divine* (Century Media, 2000)
Phantasma (Black Mark, 2005)

*As Cemetary 1213