Worship constitute the Pillars of Hercules of funeral doom, the classic point beyond which pushing oneself appears as something unimaginable; the Germans make the lesson of their fathers Thergothon their own (listen to their version of Evoken in the splendid tribute album to the seminal Finnish band), taking the slowing down of sounds to the extreme consequences, an aspect, this, that might appear paradoxical if we think that the peculiar characteristic of funeral is precisely the obsessive dilation of notes. In activity for more than a decade now, Worship with Terranean Wake would theoretically be only on their second full-length, after the now distant 2007 Dooom, but in fact, the debut demo Last Tape Before Doomsday (1999) is considered in the same way as a real album, having been unanimously identified as the authentic musical manifesto of the Bavarian combo. Probably the history of this magnificent musical entity would have been different if in 2001 one of its two founding members, Max Varnier, had not tragically taken his own life. Left without his partner in crime, Daniel “The Doommonger” Pharos waited a good six years before releasing the magnificent Dooom, which also featured the finished versions of some unfinished songs composed by Max. Having reconstituted a full line-up, Daniel in this Terranean Wake offers material that is entirely unreleased and, more importantly, of recent production. In spite of this, the particular trademark of the German band is certainly not lost and, in my opinion, wanting to compare this release to the previous ones seems an all in all superfluous operation: after all, Worship‘s funeral remains, as in the past, as close as can be in the musical field to the representation of the last vital breaths of a dying organism. Notes dilated to the point of improbability seem to be each time the prelude to the end, offering a sense of genuine suffocation except then trudging along yearning for the last particle of oxygen in restarting for yet another cycle of this interminable agony. Personally, I consider Daniel Pharos’ creature something unique, not only in the variegated metal panorama, but also in the narrower one of extreme doom: whoever tries to listen to it will have to travel a long, winding road paved with suffering; each time there will be different sensations compared to the previous occasion, not always in a positive sense, since the different predisposition of mind with which one approaches Worship can indifferently determine absolute dependence or total and unconditional rejection. However, as a fixed point, the high value of a record played and composed by musicians perfectly aware of presenting a work with a very narrow target and dedicated to a few but devoted fans remains. Tide of Terminus, The Second Coming Apart, Fear Is My Temple and End Of An Aeviturne are just the different titles that separate into four parts a monolith of pain depicted mercilessly, without any intent or cathartic effect: an inescapable end, slow and frightening, awaits sooner or later every thinking and (apparently) living being on this planet, and Worship reminds us of this by using no less than three different languages (English, French and German) for their lyrics throughout Terranean Wake, as if to be sure that their message of desolating resignation reaches its destination more effectively.
2012 – Weird Truth Productions
Mournful Sounds 
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