Mesmur - Chthonic

MESMUR is a funeral doom band, of international origins, that formed in 2013. Their latest album, 'Chthonic' is their fourth full length album. The bookend tracks are fine on their own if listening to the album straight through (which is recommended)  but as a piecemeal basis, they aren't the meat and potatoes like the three tracks in between. With that being said, 'Chthonic (Prelude)' is a decent intro that flows into the first proper track without missing a beat. The outro 'Chthonic (Coda)’ flows out from the previous track just as well and serves as a more introspective respite from the doom carnage that precedes it.

'Refraction,' begins with the barest of morose melodies just touching upon the incredible heaviness that are the guitars. The track is slow moving and never gets any faster—which is great. This song, and album as a whole, is almost like a love letter to funeral doom because everything about the genre is done incredibly well. This is good if you like the genre but if not…oh well, your loss. As the song lumbers ever forward, details of small changes, of these different shades of black make their presence known. It might be subtle keys, a change in  a melody or even the turn of a drum pattern…this song is so well composed that not only does it warrant repeated listens but new discoveries are made each time.

'Petroglyph' opens with clean and ambient textures that are chilling and even alien to a degree. These notes carry on alongside the doom, giving the song a duality of crushing heaviness among twisted landscapes.  Around the midpoint of the song, these elements are pushed away in favor of Gothic elements before coming back to the more unnerving ones.  This is all done seamlessly and the flow of the song is never compromised nor muddled.  The overall atmosphere of this song is more foreboding and sinister than ‘Refraction’ and I do appreciate the band doesn’t make the entire album sound the same.  It may not seem like it at first but stick with it and this album will show its variety and different approaches within its funeral doom sound.

I found ‘Passage’ to be the most aggressive on the album.  Not only does it start more immediately but the guitar tone is something ancient and archaic. Still, it does weave in melody in a serpentine way and there is a brief quiet moment before the second half of the song begins where clean but cold tones attempt to wash away what came before but doesn’t want to hold back what is ahead.  Within the last five minutes or so, the music changes from gothic textures to loud, corrosive funeral doom that ends the song in a surprisingly explosive way.

MESMUR’s ‘Chthonic’ is an engaging funeral doom album that hits all the sweet spots for the genre and with more than enough depth and detail to give reasons to return.