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Could my finger have slipped so far off the pulse of the funeral doom scene so much as to not see this coming, or is it that the pulse is soooo slooooow that it just didn't register? Basically, when I received this promotional CD in the post, my eyes scanned the band name and I immediately allowed myself a little grumble "Hmph, cheeky fuckers, naming themselves Worship... don't they already know there's a cult Funeral Doom band called Worship who split up ages ago etc etc".

So yeah, I didn't realize that this was actually that EXACT same Worship, the one who released the awesome 'Last Tape Before Doomsday', having reformed and finally managed to put the finishing touches to the album that never got released back in 2000 after the suicide of their venerable vocalist Fucked up Mad Max. I'm an idiot huh? In my defense, I guess I knew they'd split up after his death, so never considered the possibility of them reforming, but after listening to this album a few times, I'm sure glad they did...

Yes - Worship are back, and what a comeback it is. Still managing to feature the talents of Fucked up Mad Max (some of his vocals were partly recorded before his death, with the rest of the band tying up any loose ends and unfinished parts earlier this year), with his hooded, faceless figure eerily standing alongside the two other band members in the album booklet, it adds a poignant note to the albums proceedings. Carrying on where they left off with their only one true demo release (not counting their multitude of split releases with the likes of Loss and Stabat Mater), Worship purvey fantastic trudging funeral doom, which rattles and gurgles along at a snails pace, rumbling and crashing like grey oceanic tides of sadness on the blackened shores of despondency. The low-tuned guitar work gives hints of melody by way of slow burning, echoing guitar phrasing over bludgeoning chords which are struck slowly and repetitively, over and over in an hypnotic fashion, slowly eating away at your psyche, breaking down your defenses and exposing your vulnerabilities. A lot of funeral doom is depressing of course, but Worship are the daddies. Each and every note struck, each drum hit and each growl is structured for maximum psychological damage - their vocalist committed suicide for fuck sake, and is back on plastic from beyond the grave trying to convince you to do the same.

As well as all the excellently dark music the album contains, it'd be churlish of me not to mention the packaging for the CD, which is absolutely top notch. Dooom comes in a fantastic fold out multi-paneled digipak, featuring excellent art work courtesy of Gustavo Sazes. All in all, I really can't find much fault with this release at all. Its very existence took me completely by surprise, and smashed me mercilessly into the ground with the force of a jackhammer on slow-mo with its near perfect display of funeral doom. A must have for fans of the genre - it ain't called 'Dooom' for nothing you know.