Bandcamp The Bereaved opens on its bravest gesture and closes on it too. “Thank You for the Dance” begins as near-a-cappella folk, wide reverbed choirs hanging in a dark, low-mid room before the full band crashes in, and the instrumental “Tyhjä” late in the record sits in the same haunted air: unsquashed drums with real wooden body, fuzz-thick guitars, synth pads bleeding into the reverb, a genuinely gorgeous piece of atmospheric post-doom. This is Marianas Rest at their most distinctive, a Finnish melodic death-doom band who have quietly grown a folk-and-post-black shadow-self, and when that self is driving the record is special.
The core sound remains Finnish melodic death-doom done with real craft. Baritone cleans and harsh screams trade lead across the album, and the band are excellent at the slow reveal, the reduced, hall-heavy verse opening into a wide chorus. “Pity the Living” is the best of the properly heavy tracks, gothic-and-doom-tinged with lead guitars that cut cleanly through the rhythm bed on well-judged delay, and “Again into the Night” earns its wall-of-sound through an airy, patient intro. There is genuine dynamic range here where the band let a song breathe before it detonates.
The problem is the stretch in between. “Rat in the Wall,” “Divided,” “Diamonds in the Rough” and “Burden” are all competent, but the production goes glassy and surgical, high-gain guitars stacked for maximum loudness, drums that read as synthetic and sample-clean, a mid-range push around 3 to 5 kHz that fatigues over a full sit. It is the polished modern-melodeath-into-metalcore mode you have heard from a dozen European bands, and it sands the character off exactly where the record needs to keep it. The songs are fine; they just are not these songs, the ones with folk bones and doom patience.
The Bereaved is a very good album with a great one folded inside it. When Marianas Rest lean on atmosphere, the folk intro, the gothic-doom weight, the instrumental hush of “Tyhjä,” they sound like few of their peers. When they reach for the loud, clean, modern melodeath middle they sound like a lot of them. Fans of Swallow the Sun and the more song-driven end of death-doom will find plenty to love, and should note how much better the record is when it slows down and lets the dark in.
Finnish melodic death-doom with a strong folk and atmospheric-doom shadow-self, and the bookends are the highlight. “Thank You for the Dance” opens on near-a-cappella folk and wide reverbed choirs in a dark low-mid room before the band crashes in, and the instrumental “Tyhjä” is a gorgeous piece of atmospheric post-doom, unsquashed organic drums, fuzz-thick guitars, synth pads bleeding into long reverb. “Pity the Living” is the best of the heavy tracks (gothic-doom lead guitars cutting cleanly through on delay) and “Again into the Night” earns its wall-of-sound with a patient airy intro. The reservation is the middle stretch, “Rat in the Wall,” “Divided,” “Diamonds in the Rough,” “Burden,” where the mix turns glassy and surgical: stacked high-gain guitars mastered for loudness, synthetic sample-clean drums, a fatiguing 3 to 5 kHz push. Best when it slows down and lets the dark in.
Standout tracks: Tyhjä, Pity the Living, Thank You for the Dance
