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Despond are an extreme doom metal band from France who may very well have the patent on the coldest, most frigid and morose kind of doom metal out there. Something about this album immediately grabbed the attention for me; perhaps it was the title – "Supreme Funeral Oration" – A badass title like that would do it I guess!

We get six tracks here, 5 of which hover around the 10 minute mark, with "Stellar Ways To The Everliving" closing at around 15 minutes. If that does not tell you what this is, allow me to elaborate: unbelievably slow, long, cold, bleak, dark and heavy as all hell! What makes Despond so damn awesome is the mix of both melodic overtones as well as harsh and morbid atmosphere. Mostly droning and long riffs are coupled with a ton of ambiance of "despondent fog" and coldness, supported by lion like growls and sometimes clean vocals. It is just a frigging awesome album, but not something you can always slip into the player and listen to anytime. The right atmosphere and emotion is required I guess.

Somehow, in 10 years of existence, Despond have managed only one long-player… I guess that's how long it takes to crop up this much depression! Anyway, I would recommend this album to any funeral/extreme doom metal fan out there.