Rating: 6.3

Country: Sweden

Release Date: 2005

Track list:
1. The Dissection Of An Evil Mind
2. Spiritual Disaster
3. Epitaph
4. Behind The Door
5. Nyarlathotep (Harvester Of Souls)
6. A Future So Dark
7. Absinthe

Band Website: World Below

World Below - Maelstrom

Mikael Danielsson - Lead vocals/bass
Jonas Kjellgren - Guitars, vocals, keyboards
Per Nilsson - Guitars, keyboards
Ronnie Bergerstähl - Drums

This is kinda odd. I distinctly remember checking this band out on doom-metal.com a year or so ago, and I remember them sounding far more inclined towards the Sabbath and Count Raven school of doom, as opposed to the Euro-doom phenomenon (read: Candlemass, Forlorn and Thunder Rider) that has swept the doom community of late. I have to concede, then, that this development was rather an unpleasant surprise, considering I really enjoyed the songs I had heard on their website, and have recently cultivated quite a nasty bias against the entire “epic doom” genre (save, of course, for Solstice, Doomsword and Isole, three bands who continue to floor me). Factor in my hesitation to check this band out (stemming from their ties with Carnal Forge, who I really loathe), and you can imagine my dismay at the sounds that erupted from my speakers. Of course, all my reservations regarding World Below would be negated if they played profoundly moving music, but as it stands, this is merely "above average" in my books, though there are CERTAINLY flourishes of distinctly recognizable excellence scattered within the somewhat standard compositions.

Much like the new Wall Of Sleep record I reviewed earlier, this album starts off on a VERY high note, issuing forth the thoroughly brilliant “Dissection Of An Evil Mind”, which opens with great grandiosity and cascades into a mournful, keyboard-accented, vintage Candlemass patch of despairing weepiness before shifting high gears into chugging, flesh-tearing riffing, given great weight by the highly distorted guitar sound. While I am somewhat annoyed by the extremely modern production here- the double bass drum sounds clicky when it's going fullsteam, and the guitars are a little too sludgy and almost death metal-y for my liking, though in certain sections the overdrive and crunch really works in their advantage. As a whole, this recording sounds a tad too polished and sterile for me, almost as though it were exhumed from the bowels of Nuclear Blast or Century Media.

See, the fundamental strength of Candlemass' music wasn't so much the songs in themselves, though Mr Edling certainly had his hand in creating some of the most orgasmic music known to man, it was the SPACE and ATMOSPHERE that pervaded each and every one of the Messiah masterpieces. This is precisely the fundamental failing of this recording, it spends too much time attempting to replicate Candlemass and Solitude Aeternus without paying attention to what made those bands so fucking great in the first place- the SOUND and SPIRIT of the records. The drum sound here is rather irritatingly processed, the guitar sound is grinding and churning, lacking the approachable, intimate warmth and exceptional emotional depth of epic doom's foremost progenitors. Of course, this isn't ALWAYS the case, the clean guitar that is grafted upon the churning foundation 9 minutes through 14 minute epic “Epitaph” is pretty gripping, and other sections that contrast a wailing, sorrowful lead line droning atop a swollen, lumbering premise of lead-footed percussion, abrasive, acerbic riffing and resonant bass.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of some of the Katatonia/mid-period Opeth stuff on tracks like “A Future So Dark” either, other than to say it's never really been my sort of thing. I have absolutely no idea what people see in this pseudo-romantic, quasi-Sisters Of Mercy gloom-metal thing, and it all just gets VERY forgettable and bland for me. For whatever reason, this album REALLY drops out after track 4, which already sees the band mining 'Discouraged Ones'-esque territory, and becomes FAR too predictable and linear for me. I tried delving into them further at least thrice after my initial dismay, and I can conclusively assert that this particular strain of pseudo-doom will never appeal to the bestial, sludgeon and bludgeon Neanderthal in me.

A very, very mixed bag then, this album, a mish-mash of haphazardly executed ideas that somehow manage to fluctuate between absolutely astounding and absolutely awful with a good deal of somewhat forgettable filler hovering in between the two extremes. They lack the subtlety, the sensitivity and the finesse to fashion songs worthy of the Candlemass template, and really lose it when they venture into the depths of gloom-metal silliness. That, of course, isn't to say that this album doesn't have its share of EXCELLENT ideas, because, as the first track evidences, it very clearly does. If they would have spent more time polishing and developing the obvious bright spots here, this record could have turned out a lot better than it did. Apparently, the vocalist/bassist recently left the band, which should actually be an advantage, considering the vocals can get awfully pedestrian in spots here (particularly when contrasted with the lofty ambition of the music itself), so this band might get a lot better yet. Here's hoping, then.

February 5th, 2006