METAL MONDAYS: Thergothon-Stream from the Heavens ALBUM REVIEW

   As is evident by my last couple ramblings, I’ve been on a pretty serious doom metal kick as of late and I’ve been loving every miserable wrist-cutting inducing minute of it! The stunted-tempo music of Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus, Hooded Menace, and of course, the funeral doom of bands like Mournful Congregation and Evoken. However, the music of the latter two bands would not be compelling me to abuse anti-depressants right now if it wasn’t for Thergothon, a Finnish band who many see as the originators of the style with their one and only album Stream from the Heavens.

   This album, which contains the pure essence of horrific atmospheric metallic goodness, was recorded by the trio when they were only teenagers, and teenagers who were obviously reading too much H.P. Lovecraft and listening to too much first-wave death metal. You’d obviously expect the group to be a dour bunch; misfit kids who don’t fit in and plot to burn the high school down to the ground when not wallowing in the darkest pits of their black souls, but surprisingly enough, this isn’t the case. In a recent interview with Decibel magazine, the group talked about their average high school lives and how, at the time the band was active, they were just going to school and partying like all the other kids. One member even talked about how the most depressing moment of his whole life at that point was his girlfriend leaving him, and that may have added to the darkness of the album. Holy shit. If that’s all it takes to inspire such an insane level of misery in musical form, then hell, give me a goddamned girlfriend and I’ll hope I get attached to her enough so that when she eventually breaks up with me (and she WILL break up with me) I will be inspired to create an album’s worth of music as or about as good as Stream from the Heavens.

   Like a lot of albums that are catalysts for the development of new metal micro-genres, this album has a very rudimentary quality to it. This album’s production is only slightly better than a Darkthrone album; the cymbals and snare are thin and crispy, the guitars and vocals absolutely gurgle, and the keyboards sound like something you’d find at a yard sale or the Goodwill. Sometimes, bands who take this approach just sound like amateur hour because they don’t have the songwriting talent or the conviction to make up for the lack of sound quality. That’s not the case here. The sense of doom and dread this band pushes with this album is so convincing and enthralling that the production becomes no issue. You feel the darkness, and it absolutely engulfs you as you stand there speechless with mouth agape, because hey, a doom metal album that fails to make you feel that darkness is an album that fails on almost every level. The raw, perhaps rotten production just adds to the charm of this thing, and imagining the album with increased production values isn’t as appealing. That album would still be satisfying, but it would be no classic.

   Looking deeper into the album’s music, you’ll notice how the band thankfully breaks up the monotony associated with this style. Still, it’s a tough listen for those with short attention spans (or those who only listen to grind and hardcore.) The tempos are some of the slowest I’ve ever heard in my life, but there is one moment on the track “Elemental” where you’re treated with a significant tempo shift, and you feel like a prisoner being freed when it happens. Add some dashes of melody, thunderous bass, and eerie keyboards here and there and you have in front of you an album that transcends doom, metal, and doom metal into a realm of the rawest kind of abjection beyond your imagination.

   If you’re not into the funeral crawl of doom metal, I’m not going to guarantee you that this is the album that will convince you, in fact, I’m certain it won’t. But if you are a doom connoisseur, then this album is essential and a treat beyond words. This thing is the original, and many would say that it hasn’t been topped, and you can count me in with those people if you want, because I think a good amount of doom out there is parlor music compared to this.