Towards Darkness - Barren

TOWARDS DARKNESS - Barren
2012
Avantgarde Music

Funeral Doom is not a popular style in Canada - quite the opposite -, and bands that follow this path are not only few, but they also are mostly unknown on the underground scene. It's no wonder to see this ultra-specialized branch looking towards an international network. Nonetheless, Canada has some top-notch bands in the genre like Towards Darkness, a quiet band hailing from Montreal.

After a first album released under the moniker The Mass and entitled Towards Darkness, the formation changed its name and released Solemn, a suffocating yet intricating album in 2007. This proved to be an important step in the band's journey, as it started moving towards a different approach, more metal, and darker. This slow descent brings us Barren, five years later. Minimalistic, heavy and coated in a refined production, the four-tracks is a monolithic 55-minutes slice of grandiose desolation. The drum recording is crystal clear, and its decomposed patterns carry all the weigth of the music genre. There are passages of clean guitars, ambiant melancholic melodies that float here and there, but then again most of Barren is made of those heavy clouds of strings that rolls over the desertic landscape. There are no viruosity or technical feat here; just heaviness skimmed to its very bones. The choice to aim for a clean production gives the album an impressive depth, and adds a lot to the sterile looking overall atmosphere.

I like Towards Darkness because of the original path it took. Although it professes funeral doom, it came to it via sludge and bands like Neurosis. Here we find the monolithic guitar riffs, the droning routines, the layers of noise, and the hardcore accent of the vocals. Having said that, the band followed the road to exploration, and their original influences morphed into something else. One specific aspect of their sound, on Barren, is the keyboard. Filling most of the void with various notes and background layers, it seems to be influenced by the richness of finnish funeral doom. The result of this blend makes Barren an album that stands out in the genre.

Like a supergroup, Towards Darkness has impressive musicianship: Nick Richards from Show of Bedlam on drums, Kevin Jones also an ex-Show of Bedlam and ex-Negativa on guitars, Joël Cyr on guitars, and Simon Carignan from Longing for Dawn on keyboards and sound effects. As if it wasn't enough, they had guest guitarists Samuel Dufour from Vengeful and the late Steeve Hurdle from ex-Negativa and ex-Gorguts.

For those who dig the Neurosis influence in them, I would recommend their earlier efforts - but if you like the funeral death edge of Barren, I recommend looking into the equally excellent band Longing for Dawn.

http://www.lastfm.fr/music/Towards+Darkness