Longing for Dawn - Between Elation and Despair

This is the third album from Canada's Longing for Dawn and it is a heavy dose of funeral doom with ambient ingredients that is not like much else out there in the doom scene. What makes this different is the use of electronics that are used in a very effective manner by guitarist Frederic Arbour. The guy has two dark ambient projects of his own and on here he demonstrates how industrialized electronics can blend with crushing funeral doom to form a incredibly cold atmosphere which only enhances the bleakness of a musical genre that is largely one-dimensional. Interesting to note that this album has appeared on many top 10 doom lists of 2009 and yet somehow this band never gets discussed much on webzines and forums. I got this album late last year so it missed out on my being in my top list but if i had have got it earlier it would have certainly made a appearance because this is a pretty good album indeed. The album is made of 4 really long tracks that are rich in dark ambiance and icy melodies. The vocals of Stefan Laroche are a very deep and bellowing roar that we have all heard before in funeral doom but he somehow manages to sound fresh and unique. He mixes his roar with spoken word sections that adds to the ambiance and this gives the band a original edge. Opener "Our Symbolic Burial" opens with a lengthy ambient buildup before launching into plodding heaviness but with clean vocals before moving into total death/doom mode. The song has a surreal quality to it with a good use of space between the musical sections that highlights the albums gloomy yet melodic approach to funeral doom. Its a solid piece of work but the album actually gets even more impressive when the second track "A Sunrise at Your Feet" kicks off. This might be considered the most depressing track on the album, based around Arbour’s minimal guitar melodies and Francois Fortin's hypnotic drumming style. Even though the track weighs in at over 11 minutes, time flies by keeping the track involving and interesting by the use of electronic elements. The next track "Reflective" is right up there too with a suffocating bleak sound, some albums like this can be too heavy in mood to take in all in one sitting but the music on "Between Elation And Despair" actually draws the listener in and puts you in a trance-like state. The weakest track is the last one, The Piscean Dawn" and its a 16 minute source of aural punishment that is too long for its own good. Not a bad track by any means, its just i found it a real hard track to get through as by the 10 minute mark the mournful melodies get a bit exhausting to the ear. If there is a weakness to the band it would be the bass and drumming that while its competent, for the most part they don't add much to the actual songs. The strong point to the album though is the above average songwriting, the shifts between tranquility and short doses of aggression keep it interesting and captivating for the most part. This is one of those doom "sleepers" of 2009 that is worth hunting down if you can find a copy, i have heard it is a hard one to find. Longing For Dawn do bring something a little new to the table of doom and for that reason they must be applauded. 8/10

Longing for Dawn @ MySpace