From Separate Visions to a Shared Darkness

Silent Deep Ocean hails from Venus, Texas. Originally the one-man project of fellow Funeral Echoes writer Gregory Ritchey, today’s exhibit In Dark Eternity marks the full-length advent of the multi-talented Bulgarian musician Tehina Spasova, also known for her one-woman project Destruction of Orion. I confess that I am not familiar with Silent Deep Ocean’s back catalogue, but since spontaneously attending the listening party for this particular album a few weeks back, I found myself returning to it more frequently than expected. Nestled in a short intro and outro are seven proper pieces averaging just shy of nine minutes in duration, resulting in a full sixty minutes of well-crafted funeral-esque doom experience. Being described as “a harrowing and transcendent journey into the depths of human fragility and cosmic despair”, can In Dark Eternity rise above the deeply rooted, impenetrable gloom of its own entity and serve as a beacon?

Anatomy of a Funeral Dirge

Long story short: yes, it can. Aforementioned and very short intro Preludium opens the record with some spoken word, light piano usage and distant wave sounds to arguably little atmospheric effect. The wave sounds carry over to the record’s first proper, and longest, track Lamente de profundis. If you were expecting standard funeral doom proceedings, to quote a man much wiser than me, I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news. Not only does the track open with a perfectly fine, radiant pad synth – there is a delicate bamboo flute accompanying it. Furthermore, Tehina Spasova immediately delivers pristine clean vocals, almost as if the Lady of the Lake was serenading one. It is a fragile opening I would have enjoyed lasting longer, but which is quickly being overrun by lamenting guitar chugs and a complete vocal antithesis. The angelic, ethereal cleans give way to abyssal growls, seemingly echoing from the very depths of the bottomless pit. A hurdy-gurdy joins in rather unexpectedly – a welcome surprise, before long leading to one of my personal favourite moments on the record: a lonely guitar being plucked over a gentle pad synth, evoking in my mind’s eye the vision of overlooking a procession traversing a meadow in the evening light. The cleans make their return, adding great character to the song, especially in contrast to the following hellish death growls which I would love to hear a raw recording of. Afterwards (editor’s note: shortly before the 6:19 mark – R.M.), there is a sudden change in tonality, completely changing the character of the song. The observed procession is swallowed by unexpected darkness, bass joins in, drums gather strength, the guitar becomes the centre of attention again, complemented by the hurdy-gurdy once more, as the song enters its final chapter before slowly fading out. The clearly audible bass is a nice touch, albeit its sound could be a little fuller for me – I am aware that this is nitpicking at a HIGH level and would like to point out that this is still the first song of the album. But why am I analysing it in so much detail? To emphasise how much there is to unpack and discover.

Through Mist and Mourning

Following this grand opening, one will still find details aplenty in each of the songs, despite the elements and techniques used to deliver it rarely deviate from genre standards. There is no need for that though, and it should not be overdone simply for the sake of overdoing it, right? Seamlessly integrating a bamboo flute and a hurdy-gurdy in the same funeral doom song is quite the achievement already. Vale of the Forgotten has Tehina sport a compelling middle voice, solemn and wistful, alternating with the aforementioned abyssal growls. The procession has indeed left the scenic meadow, instead cutting across a mist-ridden, murky vale. The latter half of the song has Mr. Ritchey deliver some spoken word over atmospheric instrumentation, adding a deeply emotional touch. While its predecessor was almost lighthearted and serene, this is the song to watch your house plants wither and die to during your next depressive phase. Things do not get easier with the next song, which – according to my notes – would be adequate for a funeral march. The piano Ms. Spasova already used to great effect with Destruction of Orion (I urge you to give that project a listen!) opens the song, the harsh vocals seem like merely a whisper coming from the other side of the veil. All instruments are playing but the most minimalistic and simplistic patterns and melodies for basically the entire song, yet it makes for a compelling and hypnotising piece of funeral doom. The last third of the song harbors a playful, lone guitar again. Long before overstaying its welcome, the other instruments make their return to initiate the song’s conclusion, gracefully blending all of its components and thus giving birth to a moment far transcending the sum of its beautiful parts.
A Pale Shade of Mourning is atmosphere-heavy, starting off with ethereal and sombre keys accompanied by soft piano usage and the ever-so-lovely cleans, rarely giving way to the abyss growls and simplistic guitar strums. There is a certain interesting drum fill around the 2:20 mark, only for the briefest of moments beckoning the question whether the song will now enter metalcore territory after a descent bridge– oh it is over already, okay. Instead, the beautiful cleans and piano return with the latter now taking on a more prominent role, being an opening for the song’s most beautiful passage: an ephemeral amalgamation of piano, pad synth, and the softest of Tehina’s vocals. It is a grand passage and, despite only lasting for little over a minute before bringing back the crushing doom, elevates the track head and shoulders above its competitors. The remaining songs all bring different elements to the forefront: Embers of War is heavily reliant on glacial pacing, organ sounds and slow, menacing guitar strums before the clever use of crash cymbals and toms contributes to a gargantuan feeling. In Dark Eternity’s opening melody immediately reminded me of a musical clock and makes clever use of a string quartet and the occasional, jarring piano chord used to great effect.
As O’ My Darkened Angel, the final ‘proper’ song, begins with more of Tehina’s growling, I cannot neglect to mention that despite the heart-wrenching heaviness and profound depth, there is a soothing element to her vocals. While the song builds itself around a genre-standard drum pattern, simple strums and an organ, the vocals always remain the focal point, lending the music a certain stability. It is hard to put into words for those who have not heard it yet, but they evoke the feeling of a silent sentry overlooking the procession taking place, keeping their keen eye upon its participants to protect them from the lurking shadows all around. Eventually, Postludium ends the album with another spoken word entry of Mr. Ritchey, speaking to the Shadowed One on Distant Shore, to whom this album is also dedicated to.

A Monument of Contrasts

In Dark Eternity is an album of contrasts. It weaves in genre-atypical instruments with ease and elegance, while also standing its ground perfectly fine when only relying on classical funeral doom instrumentation. The vocals are, as pointed out, also operating on completely different endings of the spectrum. Angelic, pristine clean vocals and some of the most abyssal death growls imaginable, done by the same person. And despite the crushing heaviness it brings to the table, this album is an unwinding and soothing listen. It’s almost as if the artistic vision was creating an extremely slowed down version of symphonic metal.