Review by Sonny for Convocation - Ashes Coalesce (2020)

Convocation are a Finnish duo comprising multi-instrumentalist Lauri Laaksonen of death metal outfit Desolate Shrine and vocalist Marko Neuman of Dark Buddah Rising. They play epic and funereal death doom with great heaving, sorrow-drenched riffs and vocals that range from rasping, black metal-style shrieks to the more usual gutteral growling of traditional death doom and occasionally MN's unique, quite high-pitched clean style.
The album's four tracks span 45 minutes and as such are afforded the time to expound on their bleakly ominous atmospheres. The first two tracks, Martyrise and The Absence of Grief are fairly typical and really well done examples of this kind of epic death doom, taking their cue from bands like My Dying Bride, but shorn of the gothic overtones, which is just fine by me as I think it makes for a more pure doom experience. Third track, Misery Form, however, is a bit more ambitious, after it's unsettling intro it settles down into similar style to it's predecessors until just after halfway when it takes a more esoteric (small "e") turn and ends up sounding a lot like last year's Waste of Space Orchestra album, Syntheosis, of which Marco Neuman was part. Final track, Portal Closed, is an instrumental that again begins in conventional doom manner but which segues into a more reflective and calm finale, as if the listener has ultimately reached some place of tranquility after the myriad trials that previously beset them.
I really enjoyed this album, it's core of epic death doom is elaborated on just enough to sound fresh and new, whilst still retaining what makes death doom so appealing (to me anyway) in the first place.