Thergothon
Fhtagn-nag Yog-Sothoth (Demo) 1999 Eibon
Initially released in 1991, Eibon records decided to re-release Thergothon's demo album in the summer of 1999. The demotracks were remastered and provided with new artwork (which is excellent btw. Just too bad the slide card board doesn't have the normal CD case measurements). Legendary Finnish cult doom band Thergothon released only one album after this demo, called 'Stream From the Heavens', in 1994, on Avantgarde Records. Thergothon plays slow, dirging doom-metal with sickening grunts. The vocals seem to come straight from the lowermost parts of Niko Sirkia's soul. I personally haven't heard another band with growls so deep. All four tracks are more or less in the same vein: Downtuned guitars play a slow melody riff, drums are way in the back and have a very distant sound, in-your-face growls explicitely in the front. Two of the songs are retaken on their latter full length album. If this isn't depressive, then nothing is. I still wonder what other band there is with a cold, frightening style like this effort of Thergothon. Maybe it is slightly comparable to Winter? [Editor note: Interesting fact is that the song 'Evoken' is indeed where the band Evoken got their name from!]	1. Elemental 2. Evoken 3. yet the Watchers Guard 4. The Twilight Fade Approx. 27 minutes Original release: 1991
Reviewed by: Heiko Isselee
Stream From the Heavens (CD) 1999 Avantgarde
If there is one band on earth that can top (or should I say dive?) the Finnish band Skepticism in slowness, it must be their compatriots of Thergothon. Hardly ever can one hear music as slow, brutal, heavy and utterly depressing as in this album. It deserves entirely the label "genre classic". Every single second with this album playing, tears the listener up between the most negative feelings one can have. Sadness, despair, pure misery and suffering, this is what this album is about and it is one of the best attempts ever to convert those emotions into music. You have no idea how long two seconds can last if that is the period of time you have to wait before you hear the drummer hit his drums another time. With an average of 7 minutes per song, you can easily call these tracks 'Everlasting', which is also the name of the first track. We can also find the song 'Yet the Watchers Guard' and 'Elemental' on this album again (both songs that are also featured on their demo 'Fhtagn-nagh Yog-Sothoth'). Another great song on this album is called 'Who Rides the Astral Wings', that has great double vocals. Instrumentally, Thergothon uses heavy, distorted but very slow guitars, dark sounding drums as slow as the guitars and sometimes an organ sound in the background. Vocals are mainly grunts. Very deeeeeeeep grunts, almost like vomiting. It's the kind of grunts that makes you wonder 'How does he do that?'. Every now and then there is an additional clean voice too to implement the grunts. If you are a fan of slow, depressing doom music, you should own this album. Avantgarde Music thought so too, and to make it easier for the fans, they re-released the impossible to find album in 2000. Great job, Avantgarde! Reviewed by: Heiko Isselee A decade has passed since last the Old Ones spoke and the world has grown darker still… All the more reason to let them speak again, but sadly that is not going to happen in our lifetime, at least not in the form we are used to. The Ones known as Thergothon utter their cries no longer, but the echoes resound once more through the black matter out of the workshop of the Painiac. In non-KVLT language: Painiac Records have re-released Stream From The Heavens on 12" vinyl. The band have called it quits years ago and went on to form This Empty Flow, but the impression Thergothon have left on the modern doom scene is thorough and will not fade away soon. This edition shows why that is done so more profoundly than the CD releases ever could. Niko Sirkiä himself points out in a band member's commentary on the back of the LP that the album was originally meant for release on vinyl as it was intended to be split into two separate parts, spiraling inward. Besides the musical aspect, the re-release is visually more pleasing. The ominous front cover is shown in greater detail and the lyrics are calligraphed on the inside of the gatefold, which heightens the mysterious atmosphere that surrounds the band and its music. Thergothon's utterly slow, dark and uncompromising doom forms one of the pillars for the Funeral Doom subgenre and their two releases can be considered milestones in the Doom genre proper. All the more reason to get your hands on this one if you haven’t done so already. This limited to 500 12" is probably the best version available, because this is 'Stream'...as it was meant to be. Don't hesitate and contact Painiac now before it’s too late. I'd like to close this review by quoting these final words from the back of the album: "We owe respect to Painiac for releasing this Lp and respect to all those who have kept Thergothon dead but dreaming for all these years… The Great Old Ones still live in our dreams..." Reviewed by: Oscar Strik	1. Everlasting 2. Yet the Watchers Guard 3. The Unknown Kadath in the Cold Waste 4. Elemental 5. Who Rides the Astral Wings 6. Crying Blood and Crimson Snow Approx. 41 minutes Original release: 1992