Yearning (Finland)

[Eoin McLove]

Been investigating this old Finnish band this evening and they have really captured my imagination. Symphonic in places, traditionally doomy at times, aggressively doomy deathy at others, they seemed to cover a wide enough array of styles. I ordered a With Tragedies Adorned CD after listening to Canticum (the end of which is a ringer for While Heaven Wept!) but I might also have to grab Plaintive Scenes if I can find a copy. It sounds reminiscent to me of early Arcturus, or more accurately, early Garm (who, coincidentally, I was listening to just before...). Really interesting and catchy stuff. It's amazing the amount of great doom seems to have just slipped into total obscurity.

https://youtu.be/s_aUM47H2LI

https://youtu.be/frSqM5w8cdw

[vinterland]

Had the jewel case of their debut album just over twenty years ago and ended up trading for DMDS. Maybe should've held onto it a while longer and seen if it would grow on me but in the days before Spotify and Youtube I was half expecting Finland's answer to My Dying Bride and was a little despondent when it turned out not to tick that particular box. Holy Records definitely wouldn't have had the marketing prowess of the likes of Peaceville or NB so Yearning definitely flew under the radar for many.

[Eoin McLove]

Yep, I'd never even heard the name until recently. They sound great to me. Plenty of experimentation and variety across their recordings from the listens I had last night. Going to dive back in now. Luckily all of their stuff seems to be easy to get second hand and for cheap so I'll clean up on their back catalogue over the next few weeks.

[vinterland]

I actually bought the long sleeve of "With Tragedies Adorned" from NB around the same time for a song and used to wear it every now and then. Eventually got mislaid somewhere between Adelaide and Perth. Not a bad design apart from the needless backprint.

https://tshirtslayer.com/tshirt-or-longsleeve/yearning-tragedies-adorned-holy-records-ls

[Eoin McLove]

I've nothing against a backprint!

[Thanatos]

I remember the adverts for Plaintive scenes in Terrorizer back in the day, Possibly the Nuclear Blast catalogues too. It always seemed to me that the Holy Records stuff didn't have the greatest of distribution. I put in an order though the shop I was working in the late 90s via PHD or Pinnacle - Mainly Elend and Legenda albums (The one with the old Photoshop tutorial leaf on the cover). The only thing that showed up was a dusty copy of the first Elend album that was obviously dead stock.

Jason Walton from Agalloch was playing a lot of this kind of stuff on his I Hate Music Podcast a few years ago and dredged back up some memories of stuff that I've not listened to in almost 20 years - and a lot of stuff I never managed to get my hands on.

[Pedrito]

Been investigating this old Finnish band this evening and they have really captured my imagination. Symphonic in places, traditionally doomy at times, aggressively doomy deathy at others, they seemed to cover a wide enough array of styles. I ordered a With Tragedies Adorned CD after listening to Canticum (the end of which is a ringer for While Heaven Wept!) but I might also have to grab Plaintive Scenes if I can find a copy. It sounds reminiscent to me of early Arcturus, or more accurately, early Garm (who, coincidentally, I was listening to just before...). Really interesting and catchy stuff. It's amazing the amount of great doom seems to have just slipped into total obscurity.

https://youtu.be/s_aUM47H2LI

https://youtu.be/frSqM5w8cdw

Sounds great. You could imagine the prog collection them lads would have. All.sorts of 60's and 70's rock influences too. Arcturus definitely springs to mind. Great artwork too.

[Eoin McLove]

Might have to dig into the Holy Records catalogue for a little snoop.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Yeah, this is great, will definitely check out whatever I can find by them.

[vinterland]

Another band worth checking out on that label are Exhumation. Greece may not be the first country that springs to mind when melodic death metal is alluded to but they're worth a listen. Dance across the Past is probably their best album-a cracking opener and a closing cover of Sepultura's Territory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04WyGLR1Al4

Might have to dig into the Holy Records catalogue for a little snoop.

[Eoin McLove]

The words 'melodic death metal' scare me but I'll give them a spin