Locus Titanic Funus – Never Pretend

Locus Titanic Funus is, like their rather unique name implies, not your average run-of-the-mill band. The Russian quartet, which was founded nine years ago, specializes in themes such as romance, death, sorrow and decay – And, wanting to incorporate their talented violinist as well as having both a clean female and a growling male performing song duties, they decided to combine two genres who has dealt in the same musical arenas in the past; Namely, Doom and Gothic Metal, creating a menacingly slow, yet high-pitched and very symphonic sound.

This sound has since then been refined, as the band released their second Full-lenght last year. It carries the title Never Pretend, and consists of nine tracks spread across a little more than an hour worth of playtime.

Now musically, Locus Titanic Funus is not a bad choice – They seem to be inspired by some of the early to mid releases of Cradle of Filth, which they in turn infused with an almost signature oppressive, dark and melancholic set of overtones, that I rarely find outside of Russian, Ukranian and, to some extent, Finnish Metal bands. The end result is several tracks such as ”Piper” (which can be found below), eight to ten minutes long musical ventures into romances gone wrong, without ever leaving behind a small sense of lament.

Granted, at times the slow growl loses some of its charm and pull as the music slows almost to a halt – But when the band manages to hit their stride and merge their instruments together in a dampened, but consistent tempo; That is where Never Pretend truly shine.

In my honest opinion, this Russian quartet is one not to overlook if you are into the whole Doom Metal genre – It is powerful and engaging, and the Gothic lay-over gives it an interesting extra dimension. Alternatively, I will not recommend Gothic Metal fans to avoid an album such as this since the elements are clearly there – But at the same time, it is clearly not where their primary focus is.

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