DEAD IN THE WATER: IN THE RUINS LP DOOM SLUDGE FINLAND

DEAD IN THE WATER: Echoes...In The Ruins LP (Winter Records, Finland, 2007).  Brand-new, still-sealed condition.  Package in handsome full-color gatefold covers.  **Please note that these copies sustained slight cover damage in their journey across the Atlantic.  Each cover has one minor corner crease and one seam split less than one inch in length.  Vinyl is mint and unplayed.**  CD version was released by Firedoom and this LP version was released by Winter.

Formed in Finland in 2000, Dead In The Water slowly shifted from their early hardcore/crust/punk sound to a more slow doom-paced metal, still laced with their crusty beginnings. The band released a 7' in 2002 and followed that up with an EP in 2003. Now in 2007, DITW offers a depressive, crushing, oppressive full-length debut, pointing the way for a very heavy future.

Winner to pay $4 US / $8 Canada / $12 Rest of World Airmail shipping.  Multiple item winners gain shipping discounts.  US buyers pay only an additional 50 cents shipping for each extra item won.  Please see my other auctions and feel free to ask questions.  Paypal payments in US dollars only are accepted.

A band with a name such as Dead in the Water could make people suspicious of possible emo core influences. Luckily, this is not the case: no hair combed over faces or whining about parents who just don't understand, here. After a tasteful piano intro that nicely sets the tone for the rest of the record, it immediately becomes clear what we are dealing with: wonderful doom metal with black and death metal styled vocals. And, while the doom genre in general has practically bogged down (almost literally) in a standard of one single droning chord every five minutes accompanied by slow, immeasurably low singing, Dead In The Water has looked for a more lively approach that on the whole has more variety than your run of the mill doom.  The band has looked in the right places, for the songs have an actual noticeable progression to them (contrary to some doom in which changes in speed, if there are any at all, are as perceptible as a glacier's movement), that, partly on account of a melodious slant, keep the listener's attention sufficiently. Added to this is the fact that it is not just doom and doom only that is played. 'Emptiness Inside', for example, has an intro that can easily be confused with something found on a pop album. From a very depressed band that is, but still. The same goes for the opening minute or so of the closing track 'Burden.' One could even go as far as to carefully state that the song '....' has an Ulveresque feel to it. 'Echoes In The Ruins' also reminds of Forgotten Tomb, but this thought reflects the guitar sound only.  Of course, the emphasis still is placed, according to the doom paradigm, on slow and dragging structures that are not meant to bring a smile to your face: this alone should appeal to fans of this subgenre. There is more to be found than straightforward doom, however: because of the variety, 'Echoes' will also please sludge enthusiasts and those who are into solid and abrasive but nuanced metal.  -Vampire Magazine

It doesn't happen a lot that a band with a hardcore / metalcore name catches my attention. But in case of Dead in the Water, for some reason, it did. After hearing only but one song on their MySpace, it was clear to me that an album like this would appeal to all my likings - and so it did. With an opening as mournful as the ending of a dramatic movie, the sound of a piano gloomes in. A perfect beginning of this depraved, yet beautiful album. 'The Silent Will Carry On' brings forth the sound of despair, with serious influences of the deathdoom genre vocal-wise and the progressiveness of Pelican with some post-rock tunes. Just when you think the post-rock melody is fading out this song, a riff as thick as fog drones into your ears, and screaming blackish vocals bring 'The Silent Will Carry On' to a perfect ending of a perfect song on a perfect album. After that, more of the same brilliance reappears. With '...' a short, accoustic and clean song, the band makes time for a short intermezzo, while waterscape-sounds give their name a very literal meaning. 'In Disguises' begins with a very drone-like intro and builds up to short strophes of text that are squealed out by their singer. A serious blend of drones, mixed with deathdoom, sludge and Pelican progressiveness, overflown by blackish vocals are the recipe for this song. The next song is by far my favorite, beginning with a post-rock intro, combined with funeral-like whispers and sighs. A song of solitude, confirmed by lyrics and sound. Emptiness inside silently spreads, you can almost feel the despair. The final song, beginning with a mixture between Isis-alike sounds and -again- Pelican on post-rock, and afterwards exploring the sludge and deathdoom scapes, is more then a genious ending to this wonderful album. A masterpiece for a debut, I love it when that happens! This experminetal doom album is a mixture of so many doom and post-stuff, that you can almost call it post-doom. Anyhow, fans of Pelican, Isis and Minsk should really check out these guys, but any person who loves doom (from stoner to sludge, from death to drone), is possible to like this.  -The Metal Observer

I wouldn't suggest inviting people around for a high energy party if you plan on listening to DEAD IN THE WATER's new album. No, I would suggest a darkened room with candlelight to go along with this superb album of crushing weight and overwhelming gloominess from this Finnish quintet. If someone told me they managed to perfectly mix ISIS along with MORGION, first I'd have laughed, but that is almost precisely what 'Echoes...In The Ruins' is. This is a majestic album with a sweeping venture in to my more and more loved Doom genre. On the opening cut, 'The Silent Will Carry On,' we are treated to a piano intro which evokes in a truly cheesy analogy, as it seems like what one might hear over a film image of someone, well, dead in the water. The song carries on with a solemn tone of thick, heavy guitar riffs and breathless high vocals that never soar above the ever present drone of gripping guitars and a querying rhythm section which fits the tone expertly as well. Towards the middle of the song it speeds up to a tasty pace that while still on a slower scale, is enough to have you really moving your head in unison. It's a riff so classic you could easily believe it is actually from a new CANDLEMASS masterpiece, which is how highly I think of it.  The idiosyncratic '...' comes across as a near middle mark of the album, being a beautifully played acoustic number with a quiet flow of water behind it. As you can imagine, it retains the cold, sorrowful tone of the whole album. 'In Disguises' is in principle like the opener, but has its own dark attraction with a slow moving first passage of measured, pounding drums accompanied by melodic twangs and a distant sound of creepy wailings. These passages of melancholy are interrupted a few times with short sessions of as close of a blast as a Doom or Sludge band can export. Then, oh then, just as you feel another discharge of this quick power you instead get such a f*cking killer Doom riff it is spectacular. I'm not one prone to hyperbole I don't think, but this riff is a sumptuous effort of both heaviness and melody. One of the best songs I've heard all year, as is the album. The other tracks follow the mix of bands I mentioned above, invoking at times a slow tempo ISIS type crush with a mellow wave reminiscent of recent PELICAN or even one of my other favourite bands of this year, MINSK. Compare them to who you will, these Finnish Doomers are of a special quality and 'Echoes...In The Ruins' is a significant entry in to 2007's best of category and hopefully it won't stop with this year. If you like your Doom with a bit of a punch then get thee to an internet portal where you can find this album.  -9.5/10 (Stephen Rafferty)