LONE WANDERER - Exequiae SLIPCASE CD (Pre-Order)

With their third album "Exequiae" (Latin for “funeral rites”), Lone Wanderer from Freiburg im Breisgau/Germany make a striking statement in the realm of Funeral Doom. The band’s High Roller debut continues the thematic line of its predecessor "The Faustian Winter" - from the end of Faustian culture to inner grief and existential despair. “Thematically and musically, we’ve never been closer to the core of Funeral Doom than with these five songs,” explains singer and guitarist Bruno Schotten. The tracks - including the nearly 25-minute centerpiece 'To Rest Eternally' – combine majestic slowness, dense harmonies, and overwhelming heaviness. “The extended length of this track wasn’t intentional, but a logical necessity of the theme.” Musically, "Exequiae" marks a high point in the band’s development: “Despite extensive excursions into elaborate harmonies, a red thread runs through the album. Alongside blasts and death-doom passages, it sounds darker and more cryptic than ever.” The artwork, in keeping with the quartet’s tradition, is by Romantic painter Ernst Ferdinand Oehme, whose 'Procession in the Fog' captures the album’s grave stillness. “We oversaw every step of the production, from the first guitar note to the final mix. This album is completely our work,” Schotten emphasizes. "Exequiae" is a funeral mass in slow motion – majestic, despairing, uncompromising - and stands as the band’s most compelling statement to date, treating Funeral Doom as a true art form.

Andreas Schiffmann