Narrow House - A Key To Panngrieb (CD)

Review
Lords of Metal
8/10

Solitude Productions once again crosses our path with a mighty fine funeral doom album, this time from Ukraine. When looking at the cover of Narrow House’s ‘A Key To Panngrieb’ I am sure funeral doom is not something that will spring to mind. Pure funeral doom is really isn’t. It’s more psychedelic funeral doom such as we know it from bands such as Esoteric and Faal and in the quieter almost ambient passages of Shape Of Despair.

Four songs which clock in at 46 minutes of which the shortest one is seven minutes. Song titles and lyrics are, unfortunately, what I presume to be Ukrainian, but it could also be Russian since I don’t see and hear the difference between the two languages. So, having let loose an on-line translating machine on the titles in English they apparently translate to: ‘Last Refuge’, ‘Pseudosalvation’, ‘Glass God’ and ‘Behind Mask This’ and let this last song show exactly why automated translating programmes are so shite. When listening to it that last song seemed weirdly familiar and guess what, it is a cover of ‘Beneath This Face’ by Esoteric. Yes, there is more than one translation possible for a word. That cover, however, does define Narrow House’s sound and fits snugly in between the other songs. The good thing about the album duration is that it won’t start to bore and thus is a great first acquaintance with Narrow House. So, are you a fan of Esoteric or Faal and Shape Of Despair then ‘A Key To Panngrieb’ is something for you.

Author: Marcel H.