Paramaecium. Legendary. Heavy as a concrete slab, and slower than a slug. The band’s debut, Exhumed of the Earth, shocked metal fans everywhere with slow, heavy riffs, string parts, and death metal vocals that were juxtaposed with occasional operatic female vocals added in for good measure. Their sophomore album Within the Ancient Forest changed styles somewhat by cranking up the folk and classical elements and adding a technical flair. But by the time A Time to Mourn came out, the band had shifted styles again–still within the doom metal category, of course–by adding a touch of groove and including Seventh Angel/Ashen Mortality frontman Ian Arkley (later of My Silent Wake). The riff on featured track I’m Not to Blame has a satisfying crunch that is hard to find elsewhere.
Enjoy today’s Song of the Day, “I’m Not to Blame.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9Ff2qG5WFI
Yes!!
This song is my favorite from this album. The best of what they tried to accomplish here.
For my tastes the debut is the absolute monster of their catalogue. It stands with the best of what the secular doom/death scene had to offer. Early My Dying Bride, Anathema, Paradise Lost, etc had direct competition with it.
Honestly, the songwriting remained strong throughout their career but Andrew’s monotone clean vocals really bothered me and their increasing use on every subsequent release was unpleasant. A weird complaint but something I never really got over.
I agree that Exhumed is incredible. I didn’t get it at first, I must admit. It was so slow and had all those long songs. It took me years to fully appreciate it!