Pesthammer are a German funeral doom band and this is their debut release.
Now this is the stuff. I find it incredibly hard to dislike something like Trumpets of Dawn. All together now – DOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The songs are slow, heavy, full of relentless misery and hopeless despair. Yes, exactly what you’d want from funeral doom.
As well as the heaviness of the music, there’s also a layered emotive side to the songs that really brings them to bleak, harsh life. Mournful melodies and subtle, depressive keyboards are used to add to the forlorn guitars, creating songs that don’t just crush, but also draw you in emotionally and wring you out until you’re left spent and ruined.
The songs create atmosphere easily, and do so with a fair amount of finesse and subtlety in places. The often-neglected bass guitar gets some good treatment too, which I always like.
Grim deathgrowls accompany the despondent music as it drags you down into the darkness. These do exactly what you would want them to do, providing harsh, blunt focal points to latch on to, while the emotive, textured music swirls around them.
For a first release by a new band this is very enjoyable, and shows great promise for the future too. Check this out and give it some time – it’s worth it.
Wonderbox Metal 