Infinite Grievance - Funeral Mile

INFINITE GRIEVANCE - Funeral Mile
2012
Indie

Infinite Grievance is a two-piece band from Calgary, Alberta. It specializes in funeral doom, or a very slow form of death metal. You may not have heard of it as the band doesn't tour (in fact, it doesn't play live at all), and its records have not been distributed except in a digital form, by the band. We talk here about the true independant DIY experience.

So what is Funeral Mile? It is the second full length in the band's discography, if we count the 2010 Delusions of Clarity album. Other than that, Infinite Grievance also issued two demos, one split and one compilation, all in 2010.

Funeral Mile has 6 songs, ranging from 3 to 12 minutes, for a total of over 47 minutes of music. The short but excellent "Toska" serves as some kind of intro to the album. It doesn't do much other than offering a general solemn mood to the album, and preparing the grounds for "Drown". This second song is deep and very depressive, and reminds me of the excellent bands Loss and Mourning Congregation. So far, this is good material in the purest tradition of funeral doom, there are no surprises and no deceptions. To change the pace of the album (but not the mood), it is followed by the title track, a repetitive and mechanic song that pushes the listener into a state of vertigo and crushing movement. Strangely enough for a title track, "Funeral Mile" might take more time to digest compared to the other songs. "Fade With Time", is cleverly placed between two 9-minutes songs, and like the narrow passage on the cover artwork, it brings fresh air to the whole heaviness of this album, in a melancholic atmosphere reminiscent of early Anathema or Thergothon. However, the sky darkens again under the shape of "In Mourning They Damn Your Name", another slab of funeral doom in the same vein as the first 2 songs. With oppressive discomfort, it is dragging miserably (in a good way), and constitutes the funeral hymn at the heart of the album. As this track ends, a cold wind from the deep takes over, and serves as a brilliant transition to the last song. "Receding Frost" is an instrumental that sums up the album with a desolate atmosphere.

Musically speaking, Infinite Grievance doesn't bring any new water to the wheel. Although its guitar sound is really heavy, and has the right amount of both sustain and definition, it sounds pretty generic for a funeral doom band. Same with the vocals, bass and drum, which are very standard. For this reason, newcomers to the genre might find it dull and tasteless. On the other hand, funeral doom is a style that has become very traditional over time, and the bands are often described in relation to the cult landmarks of the genre. In this context, I would say that Infinite Grievance's Funeral Mile would compare easily with any roaster of the favourite russian doom label Solitude Productions (Astral Sleep, The Howling Void, Helllight, Funeral, Inborn Suffering, etc). Its strength might not lie in one specific song, and it may not be opening any new grounds, but the band is very competent at producing an excellent album for the genre.

Links to the albums and the band:
http://infinitegrievance.bandcamp.com/album/funeral-mile
http://infinitegrievance.blogspot.ca/
www.facebook.com/IGDOOM