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Got this fistful of Doom promos from Solitude Productions, though even if I didn't know they were all on the same label I'd have guessed, as there is a common aesthetic at work here. Doom is usually a pretty shallow pond, and it can take a fan to bother with sorting out the fine distinctions between bands. Abstract Spirit are a band from Moscow with their debut album, and I like it.

Funeral Doom is an acquired taste, and the confines of the subgenre are so narrow that bands pretty much succeed or fail based on their ability to get you to partake of the mood. Abstract Spirit are quite good at this, and there is a lot of stuff to like on this disc. I especially dig "To Kiss The Emptiness" and the haunting "Sarabanda", but there are no bad tunes here. This is a long, slow album, and the musical ideas take a long time to develop, but they are worth the effort. Funeral Doom albums don't really have big moments, they build and build over time, with the length of the compositions very much an intentional part of the experience, but I find myself still spinning this after a week, and there is a lot more here than it seems like on first listen. Worthy.

1. From Behind the Verge
2. To Kiss the Emptiness...
3. Ruined
4. Sarabanda
5. Apostasy
6. Liquid Dimensions Change