They died in Siberian slush a long ago – 85%
In fact, the present second work sounds different than the debut; as the title states – it sounds dead, but “dead” in a very Russian way, where depression paints with shades of green and personality wears an emotionless mask. An old bench, overgrown with weeds near an abandoned house means nobody is waiting, pointing out that there is literally no one left to wait. Oppressed and doomed, feared to touch anything that could disturb the present state of the small world centered on that house. The personality does nothing but aimless drinking, getting their emotionless mask to fuse with their real face; drained and exhausted, it does not live anymore, but continues to exist among others.
Musically, this album has a much deeper sensual load than their debut. If the debut album had not been pushing towards certain oppressive cogitations, but just exhibited sorrowful, alcohol-driven soul tortures, then the present one does. It shows the whole fickleness of the mind while it is in deep, incurable depression. There are no beautiful interludes or hopeless tentative whining, but just exsiccated pain of living. No one can explain it that way until he goes himself entirely through it. This makes the music of WDISS very fair. Let us just follow the dynamic changes in “The Day of Marvin Heemeyer”, how oddly they sound and how they do change the perception of the song. Also, special attention here should be paid to Heemeyer’s personality, the topic of which is a bit of a strange choice for a doom metal band. In common, everything blends into a single composition, depicturing the embittered depression “at the edge” and ending up with a single hopeless dead shot; even if from the first look similarities are not so obvious.
The sound appreciation by the listener is impossible without a demonstration of undoubted technical skills by musicians, who play the music. This is what usually is hardly accomplished by the huge number of bands in genre, but once the point is reached, the next step is to apply it correctly. In the case with WDISS, while the first point is reached easily, the correct application stays within several moves that really make the music recognisable, but does not always sound well-timed. However, solid dry riffing makes the main sound of WDISS here, with an ideal minimum of keyboards; its sorrowful minor is almost fully responsible for the mood that the album creates. Harmonic guitar leads sound very balanced, rarely pumping the volume down or moving to simple power chords schematics and dissipating the accumulated energy for a moment before going on again.
The three songs in the middle present the main monolith of the album; it seems like the core of the whole depression’s description. Unsteady guitar soloing makes another recognisable mark here, filling a spot for a classic composition structure. Solid drum performance is given in a slightly subdued way, where the louder cymbals’ splashes might have given additional “shades of green” to the sound. Nevertheless, the chosen way does not allow any experiments in drumming and should be responsible for the strong rhythm section with no step aside, along with the dwelling bass-guitar lines. Again, here the cookie goes to the Primordial Studio craftsmanship (where the album was recorded and produced). Vocals, keeping their lines indeed in a really deep, but monotonous guttural growl way, show emotional variations, even if just few and of the same type, but real ones, ones you could touch and believe in.
The instrumental track “Funeral March № 14” presents a mournful journey through a rainy day, apparently giving the last honours to the one, whom the march is addressed to. Being supported by the peals of the brass section, the track creates a really gloomy atmosphere, with beautiful guitar work that however brings nothing but grief in the end. It looks like the musicians laid a specific portion of atmosphere particularly in this track, which on top of everything sounds as the most atmospheric one among all their works I have ever heard. It is an oasis in the middle of nowhere’s desert. In addition it needs to be said that this is the only track that justifies the “funeral doom” tag on the present album.
The final track is showing the quintessence of the whole album lyrically and instrumentally. Everything together reaches just an exceptional balance. The lyrics are the English translation/interpretation of one of the famous poetry works written by Russian poet Arseny Tarkovsky, infamous for his strong fortitude but full of despair lines. The middle tempo doom/death style, where the dismal guitar lines help to fortify the impression, creates a new level of WDISS’s music here (or vice versa), by the end.
For a certain extent, there is no life on this album, as I have already phrased somewhere in the top. The second work from Moscow doom metal masters is for a much narrower public of mournful music admirers; crafted in a deeper depressive state for deeply depressed people, but without extremeness which is usually associated with it. Highly recommended for those who strive to find “think-through” music (if you allow me to say so) and has a will to be told a story about Russian depression in its own, unique way.