Ceremony Buryment - Trail of the Unknown Fate

Ceremony Buryment is a funeral doom metal band of international origins, their two members hailing from both the United States and Croatia.  Instrumentalist Malevolus (Venomous Echoes, Void Blight, Wallow) and vocalist Margul Demonic (Dysenteric Excementation, Embalmatory) formed the band in 2022.

I enjoyed their debut album, “As We Weep Over Life,” but “Trail of the Unknown Fate,” takes their sound to a higher level.  The production is better and I find the over songwriting to be even more bleak and despondent.  

This is funeral doom exactly how it should be played:  incredibly slow, cavernously deep, and devoid of anything that might appeal to the mainstream.  Funeral doom, in my humble opinion, should always be against the grain and an esoteric experience.  This describes the album perfectly and it’s one hell of a journey.

The album opens with “Paroxysm of Dubiety,” and in the spirit of true funeral doom, it takes nearly 50 seconds for the music to begin creeping in.  It builds up perfectly, the distortion warning its way in just before the deep, nearly inhuman sounding, guttural growls make their presence known.  The lead guitar provides what could be considered a form of melody but it isn’t bright and sunny–it’s dismal, moldy, and highlights just how dark the album is. 

As with any good funeral doom, there are a lot of liminal spaces and ambient textures that fill in the cracks between the slow, impending doom.  The segments, such as the one between the 3:15 and 3:42 mark, go a long way into fleshing out the song and are just as important as the actual metal parts. 

A longer example of such textures appears around the eight minute, bridging the gap to the other side of the hellish shores, which begins around the 11:44 mark.  The death growls are a suffocating blanket, complimenting the guitars which are also a suffocating blanket. It’s just a sweltering example of the power of funeral doom—if you know, you know.  

“Traversing The Unknown,” is a weird song (in a good way) that indeed thrives inside a cauldron of mystery.  At times, it’s almost alien such as in the opening moments that is laced with clean tones.  The bass hits around the 1:18 mark, immediately filling up the atmosphere with deep, rich, notes.  This song unfurls in a very natural way and it’s the shortest so it fills up every available second with everything it needs, nothing more, nothing less. 

By the time the distortion kicks in at 2:35,  the song is already captivating but now it goes overboard into true insanity.  Some kind of monstrous, disturbing vocal lines echo throughout these dark corridors. As the song grows, I feel swallowed up by it, descending deeper into whatever type of hole this is.   The last couple minutes are a tragedy incarnate and I felt it.

Funeral doom can be as towering as it can be cavernous, such as “Stand Before the Monoliths” displays tenfold.  The guitars and vocals are stark standouts, reaching clawed and broken hands for a higher abyss.  This possibly the darkest song on the album (and that is saying something) due in no small part to the clean notes that pepper the heavier aspects.  It’s almost maddening in a way, as if I'm coming face to face with something I can’t truly understand.  Around the halfway mark, the song descends even deeper.   The glacial music pushes me through claustrophobic and uncomfortable passages until the ending of clean notes that only make the danger that much more present.

“Embrace The End,” begins with appropriately funereal keys and a somber atmosphere.  Death arrives around the three minute mark.  The heavier parts of the song mix in so well with the more ambient/key textures, creating an unique atmosphere for the song.  It’s both sad and disturbing, hitting emotions in a very strong way.  Out of the three songs this one combines heavier and outside the box elements in the best way—very smooth flow despite how it makes me feel.

All in all, Ceremony Buryment’s “Trail of the Unknown Fate,” is a truly encompassing and enthralling funeral doom album that any fan of the genre would do well to add to their list.