When writing the book on funeral doom, I was undecided for a long time whether to include the Greeks Decemberance in the part dedicated to southern Europe, because in fact the first two albums Inside (2009) and Conceiving Hell (2017) were on the classic ridge between different sub-genres but, personally, I always felt that Yiannis Fillipaios’s band was more classifiable in death doom, albeit very slowed down in its dynamics. The Athenian musician (who, in addition to being a member of Daylight Misery, was also the drummer in Immensity as well as in the last album of Shattered Hope) with the recent full-length of his main band, entitled Implosions, has caused me some regrets for this choice as it is certainly the one most funeral-oriented; this work consists essentially of two very long tracks with a total duration of over an hour, Scaffold and Shrouds, interspersed with the instrumental The Blue Thread (moreover entirely based on the delicate intertwining of piano and cello, both played by guest Iliana Koretsi) but, despite the fact that this might suggest some difficulty in listening, in reality these episodes are characterised by a certain variety. In fact, although the basic rhythms are decidedly very slow, the band does not disdain vehement accelerations that do not, however, break the pathos provoked by lacerating melodies, often entrusted to the lead guitar but also appropriately accompanied by the use of the cello; Implosions is a splendid album to say the least, it has no weak points and is simply to be listened to and made one’s own by immersing oneself in this painful and involving sound, capable of even leaving a sense of emptiness when Shrouds ends, a track very close to the absolute masterpiece and which, with its duration of over 37 minutes is in fact worth an entire album on its own. As has been the case with many other bands, the long wait has been amply repaid and, in the light of the results, Decemberance join, also in terms of quantity with three full lengths to their credit each, fellow countrymen Shattered Hope on the summit of Hellenic extreme doom.

2023 – Indpendent