The Bleak Picture - Songs of Longing

The Bleak Picture is a new band from Finland. Founded by multi-instrumentalist Jussi Hänninen (Fall of the Leafe, Autumnfall) and Tero Ruohonen (Autumnfall) on vocals, The Bleak Picture set out to create old school doom/death metal in the style of mid ‘90s Paradise Lost and Katatonia. “Songs of Longing” is their first EP, released by Alone Records. Now the obvious question is: have these guys succeed in bringing us the doom, gloomy vibe matching their ambitions?

The simple answer to that question is yes. From the very start of opening track ‘The Dead Beginners’, it is clear that The Bleak Picture is not shy of showing its influences and at the same time you can hear that there is talent at work here. Hänninen’s riffs set the miserable mood, while Ruohonen deepens the despair with his growls and clean vocals. The band cleverly avoids the monotony that haunts certain doom/death metal albums by adding more atmospheric elements, adding a bit of a Fields of the Nephilim vibe at times, while the more melodic efforts bring back memories of Sentenced’s masterpiece “Down”. All four songs are of high quality, with closing tracking ‘Broken Statues’ being the highlight of the EP, hinting strongly at Katatonia’s legendary “Brave Murder Day” album.

If you’re looking for cheerful music about dragons, swords and trolls, you are obviously not going to enjoy “Songs of Longing” very much. But if you’re into some dark and gloomy music with plenty of heaviness, this might just be your thing. I strongly recommend it to fans of the bands mentioned above, as well as those who enjoy Swallow the Sun, My Dying Bride or Daylight Dies. I can only hope that this EP will not be last thing we hear from The Bleak Picture and that a full-length album will be the next step. After all, 24 minutes is not enough!

Rating: 80/100