Thergothon - Stream From The Heavens

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"I have seen the Lesser Gods die
I have seen the Mortal Ones scream in horror."

The finnish funeral doom-legend Thergothon managed to release one demo and only one full lenght album in their career before they disbanded. They are still considered to be one of the pioneers of the Funeral Doom style. One of the guitarists went nuts and joined in some christian-nonsense-cult and the singer with the other guitarist went to form This Empty From, which also split-up in at the end of last millenium.

Stream From Heavens was released in 1994, about tho years after it was completed by the band in studio. The album is filt with devastating, very very deep soundworld with Sirkiä's guttural vocals filled with Lovecraft-imagery. The production is not very tidy but it is also a part of the album's thick athmosphere. The guitars consume everything in their way and we also have a group of totally haunting lead-melodies. The keyboard-sound is also very fuzzy and combined with a huge feedback-driven bass-sound, this one is heavy as fuck.

The majority of the album includes long and slow-paced killing, as expected. The Unkown Kadath In Cold Waste is one of the two bit shorter pieces and and it has a very beautiful acoustic/clean keyboard-driven passage which is something you just have to hear to believe it's awesomeness. Elemental has some mid-tempo blasting near it's climax but mostly the music just drags you with it's sharp nails.

Who Rides The Astral Wings also includes surprisingly lot of clean vocals hand in hand with the basic-growls, and the combination works pretty well, though we could have also managed without them. They still add their own bit into this very versatile longplay. The album ends with Crying Blood And Crimson Snow, the other shorter one, this time witch vocals mostly in spoken style. A fair closener, though not the highlights on the record. The wholeness is still a pure diamond, very stable.

Enought the crap. Stream From The Heavens is an essential piece of FD-history and a rare, flawless jewel. Go get it if you find it.

This thing is awesome. Get it. The birth of Funeral Doom.

Awesome review, thank you.