Narcosis (Solitude Productions)

 This EP is the third and latest release of this Muscovite Doom Metal trio. Its predecessor called “Not A Gleam Of Hope” (album 2005) received excellent reviews worldwide. But besides of the excellent comments I heard about this album, I never had the opportunity of listen to Comatose Vigil… until now. This young band (formed in 2003) delivers at “Narcosis” a highly interesting and, why not, original Doom Metal work. I really don’t know why some people call their music “monolithic” Funeral Doom, although their music is undoubtedly based in Funeral Doom Metal, this band expands its sound through using omnipresent keyboards arrangement that sometimes takes a rather symphonic aura, adding a huge sense of drama and a great atmospheric feeling. The music of Comatose Vigil moves at ultra slow tempos (as you probably expected), driven by a cadent slow drum work, sounding like a dying pulsing heart in its last moments. The guitars are low and crawling accompanied by low grunted vocalizations. Melancholic, hopeless atmospheres of pain and sorrow fill this EP, just the last track; a cover of Crematory’s “Tears Of Time” shows a slightly “brighter” sound. “Narcosis” EP consists in three tracks (including the mentioned cover) clocked at 36 minutes, the first two tracks are two different versions of the same song called…well, “Narcosis”. The difference between these two versions relays in the language, the fist one is completely sung in English, while the second one is sung in Russian, unfortunately, musically speaking, both tracks sound exactly the same and, at least to me, it’s a little bored to hear the same song two times in a row in the same Cd, makes it sound inevitably monotone …maybe if these two tracks were separated by the cover song… Anyway, despite of this issue “Narcosis” EP was an interesting surprise, an original musical propose, within the parameters of Doom Metal. (AP)