Review by Sonny for Ennui - Qroba (2026)
Ennui were formed in Tbilisi, Georgia in 2012 by guitarists David Unsaved and Sergi Shengelia with the former also contributing vocals and keys and Sergi playing drums and bass in addition to their six-stringed day job. In 2015, for their third album, "Falsvs Anno Domini" the duo added Daniel Neagoe (Shape of Despair, Pantheist amongst many others) on bass and drums. However, he departed before the next album, "End of the Circle" and they reverted to a duo with John Devos (Pantheist, Comatose Vigil A.K.) showing up as guest drummer. Onto Qroba then and they have now expanded into a five-piece with no less than four guirarists, the original duo being joined by Andrey Azatyan and Kakhi Kiknadze with the drum stool being filled by Alexandr Gongliashvili. Unsaved also covered vocals and bass duties as well as panduri, which is a three-stringed traditional georgian folk instrument.
Qroba is not the most monolithic or repetitive example of funeral doom that you will ever hear and at times it is even quite melodic and atmospheric. This does not translate as "not heavy" by any means because it assuredly is, but there is a bit more to the songwriting than merely trying to write the slowest, heaviest-sounding doom metal on the planet. I would compare it to the early albums from France's Monolithe, but without the extreme track lengths. The hour here presented consists of five tracks, from ten to fourteen minutes in length, giving each plenty of time to establish its rhythmic tides and atmosphere without ever outstaying its welcome. Thematically it is fairly typical funeral doom fodder. According to the band themselves it is concerned with "coming to terms with the inevitable, told through melancholy and contemplation" and although this traversal from light to darkness is common subject matter in doom circles it is addressed so effectively both atmospherically and lyrically that it transcends the feelings of triteness that these overused tropes sometimes elicit in the ardent funeral doom listener. The track "Down, To The Stars" is based upon and uses the words of the poem of the same name from highly respected 20th century georgian poet Terenti Graneli and is a beautiful expression of the album's concept, but this is no anomaly and the band's own lyrics are also some of the most thought-provoking I have heard for a good while.
The songwriting is excellent and it is obvious that these guys have been round the doom metal block a few times because they are able to explore and stretch the funeral doom genre without ever threatening to dilute what makes it so appealing to its adherents in the first place. This is not some Frankenstein's monster genre hybrid, but genuine, lovingly-crafted, purely refined funeral doom metal with a breadth and scope deserving of respect. Alongside expert song and lyric writing these guys are evidently talented musicians and, to my uneducated ears, Qroba sounds technically perfect with some gorgeous guitar lines, yet it never feels staid or stilted, but oozes with feeling and passion, each track developing in an organic and natural manner so that nothing ever feels forced. Unsaved's vocals are the deep, abyssal growls expected from a funeral doom vocalist, yet he seems to wring an expressiveness and emotional resonance from them that I have very rarely encountered from an extreme doom metal singer.
In summary this must be one of the most affecting and haunting funeral doom albums I have heard and, despite its often melodic approach to the sub-genre, it is so skillfully executed that there is no compromise made as regards to sheer heaviness. In the extreme doom world, where sludge and noise-based releases seem to be the only kids on the block anymore, it makes my heart soar to know that there are still acts out there who can fire my soul in a genre that seemed like it had passed its peak some time back. Each play sees me falling in love with this more than the previous one.