A warm welcome to Pablo Lopez-Custodio, who makes his Funeral Echoes debut with the piece below, a review of Funelore’s debut EP, The Dissolution of Conscousness. Pablo writes for Mexican music publication Caperuzo, and has developed a format which is distinctly his own — one that, as you are about to discover, involves two blokes in a pub.

Pete and Bob are two fictitious characters that meet regularly at Ye Olde Salutation Inn to drink beer and talk about metal.

Enjoy.

Editor’s note
— atheistpreacher

‘And a half of Brixton, please’, demanded Pete at the bar in Ye Olde Salutation Inn. Perplexed by the oddity of Pete’s request, his mate Bob saw an unmissable opportunity for a little banter.

‘Drinking halves, eh? Is it because Brixton is the most expensive beer on tap, or have you joined a cult?’

‘You see, Bob, ale is no different to metal in that it can also be enjoyed in small tastes.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Well, as you may know, there are some brilliant EPs and standalone singles out there. They have the charm of leaving you with a mixed feeling; you’re left wishing for more tracks, but you may also be relieved that the band demonstrated a couple of flawless tracks without exposing their potential weaknesses. In fact, this is a recommended advertising strategy for debuting demos – there’s less chances of making a mistake if you only give them a couple of solid tracks. A recent EP, whose resemblance to a much-beloved classic demo has raised some eyebrows, serves as a perfect example of this strategy. I’m talking about the first demo EP by Funelore.’

‘You mean the Finnish death metal band Funebre?’

‘No.’

‘American death/doom band Funereal?’

‘No.’

‘Funereus, the original name of Evoken?’

‘No. Wait, what?’

‘Evoken released their first two demos in 1992 under the name Funereus. You can listen to this rough material as bonus tracks to the Peaceville incarnation of “Quietus”.’

‘Oh, is that so? Interesting… The band I’m talking about is a newborn Canadian duo, Foxtrot-Uniform-November-Echo-Lima-Oscar-Echo. But your Evoken reference is fortuitously spot-on as the duo have largely based this, their first demo, on Evoken’s quintessential demo from 1994, “Shades of Night Descending”…’ The return of the bartender with Pete’s half of Brixton interrupted his enthusiastic speech. ‘Lovely! Ta.’

‘Given that you’ll down that in two sips, should we drink at the bar for once?’

‘Sure. Cheers.’

‘Cheers!’ Both stared at each other as they clicked their glasses; the institutionalised ritual. ‘So, Pete, seems we have another child in the remarkably growing offspring of Disembowelment. We were talking about Worm the other day here, in the Sal. Tell me more about the newcomers.’

‘Well, you might be familiar with one of Funelore’s pair of members, Alexis Élément from Me Saco un Ojo’s frontline spear band Sedimentum?’

Bob nodded and then sipped his beer, a gesture, Pete always believed, to be interpreted as ‘up to a point’.

‘So I thought.’ Pete acknowledged. ‘Contrastly, the second member remains in obscurity with little to no information provided in their Bandcamp, Metal-Archives and so forth. Entitled “The Dissolution of Consciousness”, the 2-track demo EP in question is the only music known, thus far, to be released by the duo.’

‘You know, Pete, Sedimentum are the archetype of a Me Saco un Ojo band, their sound following the commandments revealed to us by Incantation. If a project with doom metal intentions were to be attempted by one of their members, I would expect such a band to be more on the sluggish death metal side of doom. The likes of Krypts, Spectral Voice, Cryptic Broom, Anatomia and even other Me Saco un Ojo doom bands, like Decrepit Altar, would serve as references. But pallbearers-in-chief Evoken? I don’t know…’

‘Although Funelore indeed ditch the particular flavour of death/doom metal that you mention, they are not practicians either of the monolithic sound that’s normally associated with funeral doom and, consequently, with Evoken. Remember that in their “Shades of Night Descending” demo, Evoken hadn’t yet found the utterly slow and devastating sound that would eventually make them a funeral doom staple. The then newcomers were still showing signs of past death metal roots. Their sound was far less slow and heavy, yet it already showed a clear influence of Disembowelment’s magnum opus, ‘Transcendence into the Peripheral’, which young Evoken had just discovered. This snapshot in the band’s evolution is what Funelore aims to bring back to life. In that sense, I’d argue that the death/doom label suits Funelore much better than the funeral doom one.’

‘I’ve got that Evoken demo on tape,’ proudly bragged Bob, whose physical media collection, he believed, gave him popularity superpowers. ‘I’ve always been fascinated by its atmosphere; it’s somehow closer to Emperor than to Skepticism! How far did Funelore go in replicating such sound?’

‘Quite far. In resemblance to “Shades of Night Descending”, this demo EP provides that death-metal-laden doom played at mid- to down-tempo but never suitable for a funeral procession’s pace. The drums, programmed but not carelessly done so, aren’t frugal with the use of double-bass – a sign of Disembowelment influence. Funelore, nevertheless, won’t resort to blast-beats, at least not for the purposes of this short demo. The riffs, although, again, not funeral-doom slow, are equally crushing with harsher distortion than what you hear in “Shades…” or in Sedimentum, for that matter. The sinister melodies in clean guitars, another Disembowelment patent, are used above recommended doses. And, although Evoken’s similar obsession with this device was already noticeble in “Shades…”, it is perhaps the tone of these clean guitars in Funelore that reminds me of how fellow Canadians Dream Unending incorporated them in their peculiar brand of doom. The outstanding constant contrast between clean guitars and overwhelmingly distorted riffs brings to mind another member of the Disembowelment genealogical tree, Hierophant…’

‘Hey, I saw Hierophant live at Easter!’ suddenly interrupted the bartender. ‘They were great, I saw them in Inferno Festival…’

‘Whatever Hierophant you’re talking about is not the one in question since my Hierophant probably never played live, and has been defunct for the past 20-odd years. Hierophant was an American one-man project that at some point was considered one of the heaviest bands in the world, his music being a mash-up of Worship and Evoken. Alas! Although the dude continued releasing music under the moniker of Catacombs for some years, he seems to be fully retired from music now.’

With auspicious timing, a new customer approached the bar, and the bartender felt relieved to be taken away from these two nerds.

‘Although I haven’t listened to Hierophant in years’ acknowledged Bob ‘I remember how the shit recording quality of those demos helped the utter sense of brutality and dread in them. Do Funelore resort to this kind of recording quality too?’

‘I would say that the crudity of the recording quality, added to the exuberant use of keyboards, plays a central role in this demo. Both elements are evidence of Funelore’s connection with “Shades…”. The keyboards are at the front of the mix and are almost omnipresent. The synthetiser choirs, in particular, provide that gothic, rather than funerary, atmosphere that you brought to attention, Bob. Naturally, the poor recording quality, presumably unintentional in “Shades…”, appears in Funelore not imposed as a limitation but exploited as an atmospheric element…’

Pete paused here and, while swirling his small glass containing the last remaining sip, added: ‘You see Bob, lower recording quality in doom metal is like dry-hopping in beer which you have to carefully add in the right amount to get the correct bitterness…’

‘Woah, another beer metaphor! You should apply for the job of Tankard lyricist!’

‘Will do. As I was saying, an excess in poor recording quality can render an album unenjoyable. Key, in my opinion, is to preserve a good mix. And in Funelore’s demo everything sounds in place, simultaneously obscuring the mechanic hints of the drum machine. This fair mix assists the recording quality with better results than in other albums which, despite their sketchy mixing and recording, maintain a cult status. For example, Thergo…’

‘Careful Pete!’

‘Sorry! Some universally praised Finnish band whose vocals in their only LP, severely hit by the crude mix and terrible recording work, I find impossible to enjoy. Speaking of vocals, Alexis Élément is at Funelore’s microphone. Not as brutal and deep as Hierophant’s, Evoken’s or Sedimentum’s, Élément’s gutturals in Funelore should be more fairly associated with Nick Holmes’s “rotten growls”, as fans have had the pleasure to coin them. Growls in this demo are also less homogeneous than in Sedimentum, while spoken words and whispers come much to the assistance of the atmosphere.’

‘I’m not sure, Pete. These Funelore fellas sound promising but you make them look more like a tribute band rather than some musicians putting forward their own interpretation of a set of influences.’

‘You’re probably right. However, excuse the audacity of this comparison, but I’ll invoke here the precedent of traditional doom metal. We all love traditional doom. Bands like Pentagram, Saint Vitus and Trouble only exist because we needed more Sabbath after the original one went into steep decline in the late 1970s. If you asked me whether we need more “Shades…” I’d say “fuck yes!”. Have Funelore done a decent job in preserving such sound? I’d argue they have. We all love the style that Evoken has developed over the years. Many of us named Evoken’s latest LP “Mendacium” the best album of 2025! However, with the band having fairly detached from their demo-era sound, if it wasn’t for Funelore, we’d have to limit ourselves to half-an-hour of music in such a unique style. We don’t know what these Canadians are planning for their first LP. They might as well change their style completely. Although Me Saco un Ojo already released this demo on vinyl, the band remains unsigned…’

‘This looks like a job for Dark Descent or 20 Buck Spin!’

‘Yeah, or even Me Saco un Ojo, who I don’t think would be a bad match. Whichever label has the fortune to sign them, I look forward to the first LP. Expectations are high for Funelore after this demo which I’d rate at 90/100 on Metal-Archives, should they ever accept my reviews. I just hope we’re not about to witness another Pyogenesis-kind-of surprise…’

‘The bartender is coming back, mate.’

‘Oh, hi again. Can I have the world’s largest pint of Screech Owl?’