As you can guess from the name, Norway’s Funeral is one of the principal architects of funeral doom. Funeral doom is essentially normal Doom but played MUCH slower. Now I can hear you cry, Stewart from the way you describe it, normal Doom is already slow and plodding. Yes, it is, but Funeral Doom is even more lethargic, a glacially paced musical form where the notes are dispense in an unhurried and protracted manner.

Revered in the circles that revere this sort of thing but ignored practically everywhere else, Funeral have been diligently concocting this sort of thing for over 30 years. There have been the odd change in personnel (especially on vocals) but in the main it is the same group people plodding away after all this time. “Gospel of Bones” is magnificent and by a long stretch the best thing they have produced in decades. It is an expansively atmospheric endeavour that is rich with texture and musical differentiation.

One of the keys to its magnificence is Sindre Nedland bombastic vocal style. He is positively operatic and of grandeur in its style, which marvelously mingles with the maudlin nature of the music. Big but also slight, this is a fantastic record full of haunting refrains and large swaths of opulence.