CEMETERY OF SCREAM

In 2003, the debut album of the Polish band CEMETERY OF SCREAM, "Melancholy," was reissued. It is a rare case for Poland where a band achieves at least modest recognition without playing black-death or death metal. Of course, one could criticize this disc at length for being derivative. Indeed, by 1995 everything had already been said in the doom metal genre by the second wave of bands — MY DYING BRIDE, PARADISE LOST, TIAMAT, and many others. So the question arises: what are CEMETERY OF SCREAM trying to prove? And that's precisely the point — nothing. They genuinely make no attempt to show off or amaze anyone. There is not a gram of pretension in their work, no desire to outdo others in darkness and despair. The disc does not produce the stunning otherworldly sensation bestowed upon us by, say, TIAMAT's "Wildhoney" or MY DYING BRIDE's "The Angel and the Dark River," which were composed around the same period. The album "Melancholy" is rather melancholic and sorrowful than dark, and somehow very elegant — there is no other way to put it. Plenty of keyboards, a huge number of interludes, instrumental passages forming practically the backbone of the album. The disc possesses a stunning sense of harmony within its chosen sonic palette, and thanks to this, its 70 minutes go down very easily. The music doesn't cast any gloomy veil over you; quite the opposite. CEMETERY OF SCREAM were not alone — around the same time, similar things were being done in various ways by Denmark's SATURNUS, Israel's ORPHANED LAND, and several other acts. All in all, a fine debut effort; the subsequent three releases are in many ways inferior to it. The album was originally recorded in vinyl format and only later released on CD.