Here’s a Finnish band trying to build a different approach to melodic doom: Weight of Oceans present themselves without a vocalist in their second ep Terminus, unlike the one released in 2021 entitled Hollow Sounds. The result is a rather intimate sound in two of the four tracks, Unspoken, in which a female voice appears, that of Aoife Blight, and Return, led by the precious piano work of guest Heidi Elmgren, who also contributes to the marvellous title track, where the rare but intense passages appear, which can also be found in the other main track, Causeway. The work of the Jyväskylä quartet, made up of two guitarists Mikko Mali and Ville Muona, bassist Harri Viitanen and drummer Olli-Pekka Moisio, is a brief but intense listening experience of music steeped in melancholy but without the drama of the more metallic versions of the genre; a little over twenty minutes is ample time for Weight of Oceans to show their ability to excite and involve, without resorting to some of the seemingly inalienable guidelines of doom.

2022 – Independent