Initial Impressions: Catacombs: In the Depths of R'lyeh

I can not imagine a more suitable style of music to be the soundtrack for H.P. Lovecraft's work than funeral doom. It accurately catches the sense of hopelessness and foreboding in the face of looming apocalypse that Lovecraft's writings convey. With that out of the way, here we have one-man funeral doom band Catacombs and one of the greatest covers I have ever seen.

This is definitely not melancholic, easy-listening doom, this is as harsh as funeral doom can get. This is an absolute audio nightmare. Of course with the subject matter, it could not possibly be any other way. This music is the soundtrack to abject terror. It is slow, dark, and monumentally heavy. There is no reprieve when this music starts up. This is abyssal madness captured in sound.

I honestly do not listen to a lot of funeral doom, but the album cover to this release captured my attention. I have only Ahab to reference for this type of genre, so what I will say is that Ahab is easy-listening compared to this. This is a monstrous, terrifying-sounding album. It is very well worth the Lovecraft cover. This sounds like the atmosphere The Call of Cthulhu was going for, down to the vocals.