Another split album with funereal traits, this time by the Moscow-based label MFL Records, which features the ‘home’ band, Who Dies In SIberian Slush, paired with Finland’s My Shameful. As has been the case for some time now, releases in this format are proving to be prodigal with excellent music, showing moreover different nuances of the same musical genre thanks to the different interpretations of the bands involved. The opening is entrusted to one of the historical names of extreme doom in the ex-Soviet area, Evander Sinque’s Who Dies In Siberian Slush, who, as is their custom, offer a funeral-death that does not rely entirely on atmospheres but rather on a more disturbing impact, with its twisted progression always poised between the dramatic and the desecrating; better than at other times, the Muscovites express this peculiar mood, particularly in the excellent The Tomb of Kustodiev, where ultra-slow passages are emphasised by the use of a trombone: it is not difficult, closing one’s eyes, to associate this sound with the images of a band that, with uncertain steps accompanies the deceased to his final and final resting place. If you like, the style of Who Dies In Siberian Slush often shows more grotesque traits than dramatic ones, and it is certainly a different way than usual of dealing with the pain of loss or the approach of the end, perhaps less evocative in the immediate but nevertheless of great interest, as is also remarked by the other track entrusted to the Russian band, And It Will Pass. The second half of the split is entrusted to Sami Rautio’s My Shameful, who come back shortly after the release of the excellent Hollow: the two tracks present, of necessity, show a certain contiguity with respect to what was shown in the full-length, reaffirming the goodness and reinforcing the idea of a reached focus of style by the Finnish band, which now seems to have brilliantly found the right balance between the roughness of the death base and the melancholic doom procession. The Land of the Living possesses the stigmata of the best funeral, while Downwards shows more melodic traits, coated as it is with a certain gothic patina: undoubtedly two excellent tracks, which thus dispel the doubt that in this split My Shameful could have poured ‘rejects’ from Hollow. Instead, it is possible that these tracks were sacrificed at that juncture in order not to overburden a rather long album, which in any case demonstrates the high average quality of the compositions of a band that is rather prolific compared to the habits of those who try their hand at the genre. An excellent split album that confirms the status attained by My Shameful and, on the other hand, foreshadows something very interesting for the future in the house of Who Dies In Siberian Slush, in light also of the recent splendid work by Unmercenaries (which featured Gungrind and Evander Sinque, as well as Jürgen Frohling of My Shameful themselves, to reaffirm the close bond between the two bands).

2014 – MFL Records