By a lucky coincidence I acquired this CD of the Belgian PANTHEÏST, who create with O Solitude the music I was looking for a longer time. An Opus which touches the deepest parts of the soul, sprawls into depression, despair and melancholy and gives one the feeling of loss.

PANTHEÏST is the band of Kostas, whom interested persons might know as a review writer of www.Doom-Metal.com. After their demo 1000 Years, O Solitude is the first official label release, which also acts as the first part of a funeral opera – the second part of the epos will be released under the Finish Label Firebox as well.

The Band’s work is based on the principle of a pantheist, an adherent of pantheism, a worldview that states that nature (or the universe) and God are the same entity. The human individual can sense a unity but the consciousness condemns us to live separated within our individualities, which only death can destroy, finally uniting us. This realisation evokes feelings of loss, emptiness and depression, which the band tries to capture musically.

Although a lot of different syle-elements are used, the best description for this style is Funeral Doom. As comparison I would take bands like Shape Of Despair or My Dying Bride, although MDB I only announce because of the feeling. This special feeling that accompanies during about 53 minutes and doesn’t let one off, that sucks one down again and again and lets one dive into the depths of the music. The heavy riffs that ignorant people would call dreary and boring, paired with vocal variations – at one time the lyrics are whispered smoothly, while at the other parts they are sung in a duet – transfer one into a trance-like condition that won’t disappear even after the last notes of Curse The Morning Light die away. The band consciously plays with the listeners feelings, one is carried from deepest depressions onto places where hope enshrines its glow – especially within the song Don’t Mourn that has a very special, mystical, spherical character, not only because of the instrumental realisation. Envy Us is a symbiosis of music by F.Chopin and Ludwig Van Beethoven, which adds a special enchantment to the song. In the end I also have to mention the lyrics which fit into the sound characteristics and underline the intensive tension.

A real masterpiece that is recommended to everyone who is into Funeral Doom. Let the sunny spring days be doomed…