As I start writing this review the summer heat is covering me in a blanket of brain fog and lethargy. There is a season for joy, and a season for sorrow. One gets the distinct impression that for The Bleak Picture every season of life is one of a different but equally sorrowful shade of grey. Hailing from Finland, and with a pedigree in none other than Goth metal legends Fall of the Leafe, I hoped this Death/Doom project adorned with Gothic flourishes could soothe my summer blues with a soft, velvety coffin of comforting catatonia. They largely succeed in that, offering immediate succor for sad winter-wishers with the thick and crunchy snow blanket of “Plagued by Sorrow”. This dolorous duo wait patiently for “Absolution” before really putting their silk-gloved fingers on the heartstrings. Just before the two minute mark, a magnificently morose riff glides majestically in from the cold, gray mist and tells you whatever you’re feeling is okay, because they’re feeling it too. Commiseration is the ‘spice’ of life, in all its shades of grey.
Further pale and fog-refracted highlights include the Insomnium-esque croaked whispers and gorgeous yet gloomy guitar riff on “Code of Ethics”, the opening and melodic development on lead single “Without the I”, and the entirely delectable first half of “Silent Exit”. On that latter track, The Bleak Picture show what they can do when sidling into the heavier dominions of Death-Doom, and I wish they would do so more often. Throughout, I’m—fondly yet with an appropriate twinge of melancholy—reminded of Counting Hours, Dawn of Solace, and even some Rope Sect in the Gothier melodic parts.
There is a subtle, slumbering peril in painting the shades of life as such a bleak picture, though. When the melodies fail to immediately engage as they do on some of the album's tracks and segments, the album has a tendency to slip through the cracks of the attention sieve like a cold and clammy vapour. Most of “Plagued by Sorrow”, the midsection of “Code of Ethics”, parts of the second half of “Silent Exit” and somewhat dead-in-the-cold-swampwater closer “City of Ghosts” suffer in this regard. The thick and somewhat suffocating production (although not an unfit choice aesthetically) also doesn’t always help here.
That being sadly said, both vocalist Tero Ruohonen and multi-instrumentalist Jussi Hänninen really pull their weight. Ruohonen delivers excellent death roars and despondent croaking whispers, and Hänninen pushes the heavy weight of an entire band of sad songsmiths like Sisyphus. I’m not sure he’s as happy, though. I’m especially impressed by his ability to make each instrument shine in turn, from the majestic guitar melody on “Absolution” to the cool drumming at the start of “Code of Ethics”, which is also paired with some thick and satisfying bass that lingers further into the track. Aside from the aforementioned fatigue issues, I’m also generally a fan of the production, especially of the thick and satisfying guitar and bass tones and the heft afforded to Ruohonen’s powerful yet plaintive vocal performance.
Like many a good Finnish band, The Bleak Picture know how to channel their gloom into songs that mesmerize in their melancholic melodicism. When they wallow well, they dip their sad, slopping bucket into the Swallow the Sun well and I’ll greedily quench my thirst and drown my sorrows in that Lethean liquid. I’ll even throw in a coin afterwards, hearing it clink down the slick stones and drop into the water tearfully. With that coin I’ll wish for an even better selection of somber songs from The Bleak Picture, I’ll surely sink into them blissfully when the mood hits.