A Review of 'Bathos' by Utku of Sonic Splendour Magazine

This is the first official release from young Finnish label Firebox Records. This split consists of recordings from two Finnish bands - Aarni and Umbra Nihil, which I consider to be two young, promising avant-garde acts of the doom-metal scene. They create a new dimension in this genre, combining elements which can't be noticed in previous releases from any band. Aarni contributed three tracks from their previous released demo 'Duumipeikon Paluu' and added three new ones: 'Ubbo-sathla', which is a very weird and mysterious intro, 'Liber Umbrarum vel Coniunctio', and 'Anima' which is a very mellow, atmospheric, instrumental composition. For those who don't know Aarni's music already - it is some kind of forest doom-metal, where a lot of styles and inspirations meet to create new, quality, really trance-like art. In the second half of the split another Finnish doom act dwells - Umbra Nihil. This band impressed me a lot with their first demo and the song-writing and performance were very very high-quality indeed - all songs from that demo were put on this split. And again for those who do not know UN - very haunting, yet mellow, trance-like music, with a great mystery around it. Really awesome stuff! Now I am waiting for the debut albums from both bands which should be released later this year by the same label - Firebox Records.

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