CoC : Dolorian - Dolorian : Review

Dolorian - _Dolorian_
(Wounded Love Records, 2001)
by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10)

These Finns' debut _When All the Laughter Has Gone_ [CoC #40] showed plenty of promise, but also a lot of rough edges, namely in the occasionally annoying keyboard lines. This self-titled follow-up wipes all of that away: there are no superfluous embellishments in the music of present day Dolorian, keyboard or otherwise. This is a -bleak- form of music we have here; something that can be called doom metal for the lack of a better description, but as far as I am aware, there isn't really an album in the whole genre that can be compared to _Dolorian_. This is an unrelentingly bleak mixture of heavier metal-like sections and hypnotic string-plucking passages, all laced with a strong ambient music component that dwells in the background. Nothing is upbeat, and anything you could call a hook is very unusual on _Dolorian_, the main exception occurring early in the album with the superb "Blue Unknown". Vocals are subdued, whispered and spoken rather than sung, while Dolorian's dirges merge into one another to form a continuous composition. There is little point in discussing whether the music ever becomes repetitive; it sometimes does, but only because they want it to. With titles like "Grey Rain", "Cold/Colourless", "Ambiguous Ambivalence" and "Seclusion", minimalist black and white artwork and matching lyrics, you'll be sure to know what to expect before you hear the music. Dolorian have created a complete package of misery entirely different from the hordes of more or less listener-friendly, commercially-oriented music that is created all the time. This all sounds detached, alienated, hopeless, fallen deep into despair; bleak. A remarkable achievement by Dolorian.

(article published 1/9/2002)

ALBUMS
7/20/2006	P Azevedo	8	Dolorian - Voidwards
6/15/1999	P Azevedo	8	Dolorian - When All the Laughter Has Gone