This beginning of 2023 proved to be quite prolific as far as Portuguese funeral doom is concerned as, besides the release of two remarkable albums such as Oak’s Disintegrate and Carma’s Ossadas, we now find the absolute debut of this new band called Velar. The band is led by Belial Necro (Nuno Zuki), who is already known for a rather demanding first approach to the subgenre in 2019 with his solo project Abominamentum, and for his membership of Sepulcros, authors a couple of years ago of Vazio, an excellent death doom debut; accompanying him in Velar is the drummer P. Tosher (Pedro Almeida) and the fruit of this union is a fine album such as Os Anjos Não Velam os Mortos, in which a dense and very dark funeral is displayed. Along four tracks for a total duration of fifty minutes, the Lusitanian duo’s approach unfolds through a sound that is almost devoid of melodic overtones, merciless in its relentless and caliginous progression that, if we want to use a term of comparison, can be compared to the more recent releases of Stijn Van Cauter with Until Death Overtakes Me; this Velar debut further expands the funeral doom proposition in a country like Portugal, where until a few years ago the only noteworthy name was Bosque, making it today one of the most consistent movements in the subgenre in Southern Europe.

2023 – Prophetical Productions