Comatose Vigil



2006 - Narcosis EP

Reviews:

My Last Chapter
(april 2008)
(8/10)

There are three tracks on this CD, but there are really only two songs as Narcosis is presented in two versions; one with English and one with Russian lyrics. There is only one original song, as the ending track is a Crematory cover. And with only one original song it’s quite difficult to decipher their sound and general quality, but as Narcosis is one fine-arse tune I don’t mind hearing it twice. It starts off in a very demented way, which pushes my mental capacity to the limit, on the verge of letting go and fully embrace insanity. It might sound pretentious, but that’s really how it feels. The stark, bleak funeral doom is enhanced with some orchestral elements, giving it a very saddened atmosphere, that is driven right into the dirt, six feet under, by the powerful grunts coming at you. And in the background you can hear muffled sounds, which really enhances this desperation and feeling of choking claustrophobia. Sort of chugging, almost heavy metal-like, riffing accompanied by the slow, rhythmic drumming, resulting in a mix of the ultra-depressive funeral doom metal and a more classic sound. But the deep growls puts you into place with a brutal and wicked voice. It’s really a bloody great song, and as I said I have no problems hearing it twice. The ending cover differs quite a lot from Narcosis, but I guess that’s to expect as the original artist isn’t exactly of the same genre.


Reviewed by: Unknown

Maelstrom ISSUE 56
(7/10)

Comatose Vigil? A tad redundant, yes? Sheeit. It’s bad enough that the black metal hordes keep dropping linguistically and conceptually screwed-up band names into my lap, but now the doom metal branch has seen fit to send me the titularly challenged as well? Well, hallelujah, I’m bored and "Oprah," er, I mean, "Dog the Bounty Hunter" isn’t on for another half hour anyway.

And to add to the chuckle factor, the Comatose ones have graced us with not one, but two versions of the single’s title track: one in English, the other in Russian. No, that’s not the funny part, the duality even makes sense; the English serves to appeal to a broader fan base and the Russian acts a shout-out: "we’re true to our roots and will never forget the motherland and the hearty constitution of our loyal brethren that gets us through the harsh winters year after year." What makes it rib-ticklin’ is that each version is for all intents and purposes identical as the vocals are so guttural, processed and slurred — imagine a worker demon with a really bad bout of indigestion and brain fever — that they could be in Esperanto and extolling the virtues of coffee enemas, and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Damn, but I do love metal.

All hilarity aside, Narcosis is a fairly involving slab of funereal doom, full of slow motion riffs, somber keyboards that alternately lead and follow the track’s deliberate pace, the aforementioned sulfur-drenched vox and an ambient break that cedes to howling wolves before tromping off into the mist. These guys clearly know their way around the genre and the superb production renders their journey towards despair all the more immediate and inevitable.

Reviewed by: Joshua

Burning Black
(april 2007)

This EP is the third and latest release of this Muscovite Doom Metal trio. Its predecessor called “Not A Gleam Of Hope” (album 2005) received excellent reviews worldwide. But besides of the excellent comments I heard about this album, I never had the opportunity of listen to Comatose Vigil… until now. This young band (formed in 2003) delivers at “Narcosis” a highly interesting and, why not, original Doom Metal work. I really don’t know why some people call their music “monolithic” Funeral Doom, although their music is undoubtedly based in Funeral Doom Metal, this band expands its sound through using omnipresent keyboards arrangement that sometimes takes a rather symphonic aura, adding a huge sense of drama and a great atmospheric feeling. The music of Comatose Vigil moves at ultra slow tempos (as you probably expected), driven by a cadent slow drum work, sounding like a dying pulsing heart in its last moments. The guitars are low and crawling accompanied by low grunted vocalizations. Melancholic, hopeless atmospheres of pain and sorrow fill this EP, just the last track; a cover of Crematory’s “Tears Of Time” shows a slightly “brighter” sound. “Narcosis” EP consists in three tracks (including the mentioned cover) clocked at 36 minutes, the first two tracks are two different versions of the same song called…well, “Narcosis”. The difference between these two versions relays in the language, the fist one is completely sung in English, while the second one is sung in Russian, unfortunately, musically speaking, both tracks sound exactly the same and, at least to me, it’s a little bored to hear the same song two times in a row in the same Cd, makes it sound inevitably monotone …maybe if these two tracks were separated by the cover song… Anyway, despite of this issue “Narcosis” EP was an interesting surprise, an original musical propose, within the parameters of Doom Metal.

Reviewed by: AP

Behind The Veil
(april 2007)
(7,5/10)

Russia is a huge country; definitely it has a lot of bands. Comatose Vigil is one of these bands. They formed back in 2003 and they have released one demo and their debut album in 2005. Two years later through Solitude Productions they give us their newest EP “Narcosis”. In this work the band has included two versions of “Narcosis”, one with English lyrics and one in their mother tongue plus a bonus track. So actually we have one track with fifteen minutes of duration. Musically, now, the band walks in doom metal paths but slower than doom metal, it’s called funeral doom metal. Definitely it isn’t easy to hear this kind of doom metal because sometimes you think that you hear the same thing. If the doom metal isn’t so popular imagine something slower and heavier than doom metal. We must admit that funeral doom metal isn’t for all the fans of metal music; you need clear mind in order to follow the band and their compositions. So if you aren’t into this kind of doom metal, you should listen to something first and the if you like to purchase the work from Comatose Vigil.


Reviewed by: Antonis Maglaras