Hailing from the UK and featuring members of black-dirge mutants Contra Ignem Fatuum, Drear begins the disc with three epic 10-18 minute tracks of extremely

grim, blackened funeral creep drenched in reverb and buzz and hiss, and sounding like the most suicidal, monstrous, plodding funeral doom imaginable being

performed in a huge empty cathedral, the drum hits and stark guitar chords and the singers blackened rasp all echoing off of the marble walls, swirling

together into an melancholy, evil drone haze. Imagine a combination of Xasthur and Skepticism, trapped in some dank subterranean echo chamber, covered in

mold and grime and howling out of the blackness. The last Drear track, "Ancient Bridge� is a particularly awesome psychedelic tomb-crawl with dramatic horns

blasting out of the depths over minimalist drum programming a la the s/t Jesu album, accompanied by rotten buzzsaw guitar ambience and chanted vocals

similiar to Panthiest. Crucial for fans of Nortt, Celestiial, funeral doom, and the dirgiest Xasthur/Leviathan/Draugur material.

Great American Desert follows, and it's some of the weirdest "doom" we've ever heard. GAD is a one man project from Jeremy Christner, who is both a

published author on the occult and a member of black metal outfit Vrolok, and here he creates a bizarre, avant/outsider doom-drone/post-rock/black

metal/satanic jazz-noir vibe through extremely minimal (almost nonexistant) drum machine programming, which is rarely anything more than a quiet, metronomic

series of cymbal hits, accompanied by meandering, detuned bass guitar and Christner's skincrawling Gollum vocals and cryptic Luciferian lyrics. The basslines

are seemingly improvised quasi-riffs and slinky, serpentine fretboard slides, and some of the songs take on an austere Swans-like atmosphere, with clean

chant-like singing and haunting, slowly picked arpeggios and fragile, decayed folk chords. Imagine a combination of Black Mayonnaise, the fuzzy psychedelic

USBM of Xasthur and Leviathan stripped down to a cobwebbed skeleton, Bohren And Der Club Of Gore, and Dead Raven Choir. Very strange, minimalist ambient

doomage. Nicely packaged with a multipage color booklet that has original artwork for both bands.