Woe Unto Me, Along the Meandering Ordeals, Reshape the Pivot of Harmony (M-Theory 2023)

Funeral doom band Woe Unto Me investigate sorrow on their third full-length album, Along the Meandering Ordeals, Reshape the Pivot of Harmony.

Woe Unto Me formed in Belarus in 2007. Their music is fascinating for the surprisingly variety of influences it reflects – after all, funeral doom does not often stretch out in many directions. One of the driving forces of Woe Unto Me, Artyom Serdyuk, describes the album this way: “Musically the new record is the continuation of our movement into more progressive realms of doom metal. This is not a typical funeral doom or death-doom, but it contains the elements of all kinds of doom metal sub-genres.” Indeed. The variety of vocal presentations alone is impressive and unmatched by other bands. Yes, this one is something different.

The album has five long tracks, all individually over twelve minutes in length. “Mired Down In The Innermost Thicket” – the title describes the music well. You do feel caught in the opening bars of the music, mired. You want to move, you are trying, but you are held down. Sorrow and sadness surrounds you, and that is why you want to get away, but then you can only see more sorrow in every direction. How much better off will you really be over there? The songs show off the vocal range of the group with melodic and rough vocalizations, spoken and sung emanations. It is a darkly beautiful piece. “Spiral-Shaped Hopewreck” brings melodic singing out first, and the pace is greater at the beginning than the previous track. Prog elements become clear in this one, and it has a genuinely haunting cooldown at the end. “Deep Beneath The Burden” walks an odd line, with lashing waves of sound pulsating all around such soft and gentle primaries. It mixes your feelings, leaving them all there individually and at the same time requiring them to relate to each other.

“Blood-Black Nothingness Stops Spinning” invokes notions of quest and spiritual deliberations. The music turns darker a few minutes in, and the permeating doom returns, as you knew it would. The final movement is “The Great Waste Of Withered Pipedreams.” To me, the music in this piece is the most actively menacing. It is unsettling, even frightening. The elements we have experienced before return, but they are armed differently, shrouded more darkly. I like every song on the album, and this last one is my favorite. The doom I hear on this record is different than what I am accustomed to, and its dark appeal will have a lasting impact. Highly recommended.