Doom metal has been developing and evolving for as long as there's been doom metal, which, if you acknowledge Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath" as a doom metal song, means it's been developing and evolving for as long as there's been heavy metal.
No splinter genre seems like doom taken to its logical conclusion quite like funeral doom. Bands like Loss and Mournful Congregation have turned a merely heavy style of metal into one characterized by songs that regularly eclipse the 20-minute mark, creep along at immeasurably slow tempos and feature lyrics bleak enough to drive Kierkegaard to suicide. Portland's Aldebaran throw a few more elements into the mix, but Embracing the Lightless Depths carries a gleeful embrace of nihilism that makes it easy to lump in with the movement.
Five tracks comprise its nearly 70 minute duration — three instrumental interludes, the 25-minute "Forever in the Dream of Death" and the 30-minute "Sentinel of a Sunless Abyss." True to funereal form, those two tracks are mercilessly heavy, devoid of dynamism and depressing as hell.
Each is a perfectly competent execution of the subgenre, but keeping a half-hour song with a single snail-paced tempo interesting is an uphill battle, and Aldebaran isn't totally up for the challenge. No one could accuse the band of unnecessary ornamentation, but the abyss is perhaps a bit too black here. Even Mournful Congregation's 33-minute "The Book of Kings" from last year was self-aware enough to pick up the pace when picking up the pace was demanded.
If anything, Embracing the Lightless Depths will stand as a monument to just how dark music can be. It's not pleasant listening, but that wasn't the band's intention. If it's an exhausting, emotionally taxing experience you're looking for, this is as good a record as any thus far this year. Just don't look for glimmers of light around the edges. Aldebaran left none.
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