Narrow House - A Key To Panngrieb (CD)

Review
Infernal Masquerade Webzine
8.3/10
08.11.2012

Being huge fans of Doom Metal, we sometimes dabble in the realms of Funeral Doom Metal, its ugly and boring cousin. While we are not huge fans of the genre due to its mind-numbing repetition and ridiculously slow execution, some bands like Shape of Despair and Thergothon are still ok in our book. Hence today we have Narrow House and their less boring approach to the genre with “A Key to Panngrieb”. By introducing lush atmospheric elements that range from keyboards to cellos, this band really grabs ahold of the listener and keeps it engaged for the duration of the huge songs in this album.

Opening with the crushing “Poslednee Pristanishe”, things start very well with the perfect mixture of slow and painful riffs, commanding growls, and brilliant atmosphere. The simplicity of the music is really well shrouded behind a well-crafted atmosphere thanks to the keyboards. The band does a great job in navigating through such a long song with well-placed tempo changes. The same can be said about the considerably shorter track “Psevdoriatunok”, but with a nice combination of growls and ethereal clean vocals, very reminiscent of Draconian and such bands.

The hypnotic “Steklianniy Bog” has to be our favorite track thanks to its very martial feeling and unique atmosphere. The pace of things is majestic allowing the song to free flow slowly and carrying all the emotions through it. Closing with the 11 minute scorcher “Pod Maskoy Etoy”, the band really brings this release full-circle with a powerful yet elegant track. However, there are a few speedups that we didn’t quite like since the sound very abrupt and chaotic, but other than this little detail the song is pretty solid.

“A Key to Panngrieb” is definitely for fans of Funeral Doom Metal that need a bit more than just punishing riffs repeated over and over. With the atmospheric elements, Narrow House manages to be above the average bands in the genre and should actually be considered as one of promises of the genre. If the band puts a bit more effort in creating a bit more diverse songs, we foresee ourselves liking them quite a lot more in the future, and we are sure they will also attract more fans this way.

Author: Dark Emperor

Review
Iye Zine
7/10
08.11.2012

I Narrow House appartengono alla nutrita schiera di band dedite a sonorità funeral doom che, in questi ultimi anni, stanno emergendo dai territori dell’ex-Unione Sovietica.

I nostri, nello specifico, arrivano dalla capitale dell’Ucraina, Kiev, e con “A Key To Panngrieb” pubblicano il loro esordio assoluto; in casi come questi non è infrequente imbattersi in lavori a dir poco minimali oppure suonati in maniera approssimativa e prodotti ancora peggio.
Per fortuna tutto ciò non accade ai Narrow House, che propongono un buonissimo disco ricco di atmosfere tetre quanto eleganti, andandosi a collocare non troppo lontano dalle quanto già fatto dagli ex-connazionali Comatose Vigil e, quindi, mostrando tutta loro devozione verso gli Skepticism, autentici numi tutelari di questa variante atmosferica del funeral.
Nell’esaminare l’album, si nota che i primi tre brani (i titoli in inglese sono frutto di una libera traduzione dal cirillico, quindi non è detto che siano corretti al 100%), nell’arco di mezz’ora abbondante di musica si mantengono abbondantemente all’interno dei binari tracciati da molte altre band, ma non per questo il lavoro del quartetto ucraino deve essere trascurato, tutt’altro: il suono mantiene costantemente un preciso disegno melodico grazie ad atmosfere struggenti sulle quali troneggia il growl maligno di Yegor.
Un discorso a parte va fatto per il quarto e ultimo brano che, in effetti, mostrerebbe interessanti elementi di discontinuità rispetto al resto delle tracce, se non si trattasse della cover (ben camuffata inizialmente dal solito titolo in cirillico) di “Beneath This Face” degli Esoteric.
Complessivamente “A Key To Panngrieb” si rivela un bel disco e, pur senza strafare, i Narrow House portano a casa un’ampia e meritata sufficienza; inoltre, considerando che il contenuto di questo lavoro è frutto di una gestazione durata circa due anni e che, nel frattempo, la band ucraina può e deve essere ulteriormente maturata, mi sento di scommettere qualche euro su un prossimo full-length in grado davvero di lasciare il segno.

Author: Stefano Cavanna

Review
Doommantia
8.5/10
05.10.2012

Another band from the Ukraine, another album on the Solitude Productions label and another band with a strange name. Actually Narrow House is a slang term for a coffin so it is actually a very fitting moniker for a doom band. Narrow House are obscure so there is not much I can say about where they came from. I do know that all the original members came from other band called Funestum but that is where my info ends. You also don't want to confused this band with another Narrow House from the USA, if you do you will get a very weak thrash-metal band. The band has given themselves many tags including, "apocalyptic doom," "funeral doom," and "ambient doom" so you may be a little confused over where they fit into the doom scene and after listening to this I too am a bit confused on where to place this band. This is death doom, funeral, traditional, ambient but funeral doom is the best tag for this band. The recurring element though is a bleak atmosphere and crushing ambiance and while there is nothing unique about the band really, they thankfully don't sound too much like anyone else which gives 'A Key To Panngrieb' some staying power.

The main gear the band get stuck in is funeralized doom metal and a very dark and gloomy one at that. Make no mistake about it, there are no light hearted moments on this album, this is a heavily atmospheric album that WILL bring you down emotionally if you let it. As I already mentioned the band is on the Solitude Productions label and that should be your first clue. This fits in with most of what else the label has on its books so it comes as no surprise when you hear this is generic slab of funeral doom but as predictable as it is, it is still a excellent dose of funeral doom that is actually memorable which for the funeral doom sub-genre is quite the achievement. Sounding a bit like label-mates Abstract Spirit, the band take the listener through four (mostly) very long funeral doom dirges, the longest being almost 15 minutes and it is certainly not the most straight to the point doom album going around. Song titles are in their native language so I won't try to remember them here and have no idea what these pieces are all about but the growl is very much in the mold of bands like Shape of Despair - so much so that I did think I was listening to that band at one stage during my first spin of this album.

It is not exactly ground-breaking stuff nor does it need to be, if it is good enough and thankfully Narrow House have more going for them than the average funeral doom band. Oddly enough, the band are not real big on riffs. Songs are built around simple chords and a rumbling, guttural resonance coming from the vocals. Songs for the most part are lifeless, depressive excursions and I say that in a good way. The album starts off surprisingly peaceful but soon explodes into loud, crushing waves of apocalyptic doom so you have been warned, be careful with the volume as this beast gets incredibly loud once it gets going. The album starts with 'The Last Refuge' if you want the English-translated version and it is a kind of apocalyptic slice of moody doom that never seems to get to where it wants to go. It is a slow building dirge that blends the horrific and ugly with the beautiful and the melancholic but just as you think the band is going to lighten up the depressive load, it drags you under once again with suffocating bleakness. Depressing doom albums are a dime-a-dozen these days but this surely stands out as one of the most depressive albums released in some-time.

As the album progresses, there are no big surprises, this is funeral doom, generic but interesting and never so slow and uneventful you get the urge to turn it off after one song (the problem with a lot of other funeral doom acts). The album is big, open and spacious like the musicians are not even playing in the same country, let alone the same studio. There are huge gaps in every guitar strike, cymbal and drum hit which makes this seem much slower than what is actually is. They bleed out their music so listening to this is like being strangled to death very very slowly which is a killer hook and perfect for a funeral doom exercise. The first three tracks on the album all follow a similar path and don't offer a hell of a lot of variance so you can be forgiven in thinking this is just one long funeral doom epic. Narrow House blend in keys and cello but they are used very sparingly and you may not even notice this instrumentation at first.

The album closer is a cover of Esoteric's "Beneath This Face" which is translated into Russian for the album (the other tracks are all in Ukrainian) but it still works in the bands favor. This version is very good but if you are like me, you might wonder why they bothered as the bands originals are just as good. When it is all said and done 'A Key To Panngrieb' is a very solid but unoriginal funeral doom album, nothing remarkable but very listenable. The playing, production, and songwriting is great despite the feeling you have heard it all before and after all, how can any band be totally original in such a limited genre anyway. If you are seeking out something totally original in this bleakest of sub-genres, you are probably looking in the wrong place with this album. As it is Narrow House have produced a "surprise release" that is far more captivating than anyone could have possibly expected. This is for fans of Shape of Despair, Ea, Abstract Spirit and Colosseum. You guys and girls have another foreboding chunk of funeral doom to soak up.........perfect with the winter months approaching, check it out.....

Review
Pest Webzine
8/10

It seems Doom Metal is a real trend in Russia and Ukraine nowadays, otherwise I wouldn't explain myself how come there are so many bands comming out from those lands. Narrow House seems to be a pretty young act, composed by young musicians, so I hope they are not in only for the sake of being part of the trend, I hope they will continue with this band, on the same path as now. "A Key to Panngrieb" is the band's debut album composed of only 4 tracks, but the total playing time is more than 45 minutes. For a genre like Funeral Doom Metal that doesn't give much space for variety and complexity in composition, Narrow House did a good job here by adding the very depressive, disturbing voilin parts. The keyboards play also a major part in their music, the vocals are as versatile as they can be but still keeping a growling tone most of the time, the drums and bass lines really capitalize their importance and the excellent production allows all this to happen. So all in all Narrow House released a very good debut album, one that will certainly attract the interest of Funeral Doom followers out there.

Author: Adrian

Review
Doom-metal.com
01.10.2012

Whenever I listen to an album for the final time before reviewing it, I jot down some handwritten notes. Usually they take up about one third of a page, but not all of them make it into the final version of the text. In the case of A Key to Panngrieb, the debut album of Narrow House, my notes are considerably shorter, amounting to a couple of lines only. Why is that? Is it an almost flawless album with very few weaknesses to point out? No: there simply doesn’t seem to be all that much to be said about this album. The band is from Ukraine, plays Atmospheric Funeral Doom (their own description is Ambient Funeral Doom, but I cannot detect any Ambient to be honest) and has signed a deal with Solitude Productions. These few pieces of information pretty much sum up the whole deal and will tell every fan of Solitude’s profile to give this band a try, whereas those who are on the lookout for something groundbreaking will look elsewhere.

Of course, this preliminary summary is a simplification. It is true that Narrow House do not bring anything new to the scene, their Funeral Doom is very much by the book. Steady rhythms, simple power chord progressions without any technically or structurally challenging elements, little change throughout the songs, you get the picture. Like many of their Solitude colleagues, they have a less melancholic and emotional sound than their Finnish forbears (most notably Shape of Despair and Colosseum) while still maintaining a gloomy atmosphere. Their style is somewhat reminiscent of their labelmates Comatose Vigil or Abstract Spirit (especially the first album), only less… abstract. As usual with the Russian label, the production is modern, powerful and crystal clear, and the quality of the printed artwork leaves nothing to be desired either.

By now it has become unavoidable to ask: do the Ukrainians have any identity of their own that transcends these predictable parameters? Well, let us have a look at their consistent use of a cello … There are few lead guitars, leaving it to the cello and the keyboards to provide the melodies for the most part. In theory, using the cello as a replacement for lead guitars could be an interesting idea and a recognisable trademark. Unfortunately, this potential is not exploited – instead, the cello remains very much in the background (sometimes it is even overshadowed by synthesized strings), playing simple supportive lines most of the time. It does add to the atmosphere, but remains more of a gimmick. The final track “Под Маской Этой“ serves best to illustrate these shortcomings: it is in fact a cover of “Beneath This Face” by Esoteric (translated into Russian, which is the language of all the lyrics with the exception of “Псевдорятунок“ which is in Ukrainian), and while the band certainly deserves respect for managing to recreate Greg Chandler’s complex arrangement, their version is very pale compared to the original and totally lacks the density and depth the British masters are renowned for. Again, it could have been an interesting experiment to transform the song into a more orchestral piece with the cello as a prominent instrument, but it just isn’t daring enough.

Despite the above remarks, 'A Key to Panngrieb' is a solid album which shows a lot of promise. The band’s talent in creating a dark, foreboding atmosphere is most apparent in the opening track with its cleverly arranged intro section slowly building up into a bleak Funeral Doom anthem. For a debut, the level of professionalism is quite exceptional, and the musicians do a good job. Apart from the strong growls, I would like to highlight the drumming in particular, which is excellent for genre standards and surprisingly well-produced, too. On the whole this should be a nice adition to the collection of Melodic/Atmospheric Funeral Doom addicts. Let us hope that Narrow House will be able to exploit much more of their potential on future releases and come up with something more relevant und unique. I believe that they can do much better than this. Their work made me think of the way Ea started out: their first album didn’t catch my attention back then, sounding rather generic and immature, but they have since evolved into a force to be reckoned with and their albums are captivating from beginning to end. I can imagine a similar career for the Ukrainian newcomers.

Author: Dominik Sonders