The Slow Death – Siege (Review)

This is the fourth album from Australian death/doom band The Slow Death.

The Slow Death contain current and ex-members of bands such as Illimitable Dolor and Temple Nightside. On Siege, we are given 63 minutes of crushing death/doom metal, which also contains elements of Gothic metal and funeral doom. Featuring four colossal songs, this is a dark and gloomy trip into a world of multifaceted misery and woe.

The long songs are well-crafted and well-structured. The band know their art intimately, and are aware that the best examples of this style focus on building immense mood-driven soundscapes for the listener to lose themselves in. The vocals consists of clean female vocals that are powerful and emotive, and deep male growls. Both singers work well together.

The songs are rich and involved, with a layered sound that benefits from a range of different ideas and creative depths. The keyboards are notable in their lushness, wrapping everything in a cloak of sumptuous darkness. The band’s music is highly atmospheric, wielding a command of mood and emotion that’s impressive. The sombre leads, omnipresent keyboards, and clean vocals account for the majority of this impact, but it would be all for nothing if the songs weren’t so well arranged and constructed too.

The Slow Death also understand the need for a bit of diversity in their delivery, and they accomplish this via the use of a range of different paces, feelings, and textures across the album. It’s good that the death metal side of the death/doom equation is well-represented too on occasion. The band know how to include some old-school brutality in their music when they need to.

Melancholic death/doom with Gothic metal touches is rarely as well-written, compelling, or engaging as this. The Slow Death’s fourth album is a very satisfying example of the style.

Highly recommended.