It has been one of my longest standing rules - feel like shit, reach for funeral doom. (If my spiral continues there won’t be enough funeral doom albums to listen to). For now though there was Finnish Profetus atop of the ever growing pile, and I found it appealing. The background story of the band in existence for thirteen years, but only producing several limited quantity releases, working on The Sadness of Time Passing for five long years, the cover art, Japanese style technique, yet depicting Finnish romantic XVII century painting.

Not the heaviest album ever, but The Sadness of Time Passing proved to be funeral doom according to the basic tenets of the genre, just like the promo promised. Long protracted compositions with rather loose structures and drum beats separated by good 2-3 seconds almost everywhere on the album until closer Tiarnia, which can probably qualify as Profetus fastest tempo song on the album. In other words The Sadness of Time Passing unfolds at pace you can call truly glacial. Maybe it is Profetus tempo, or maybe musicians were not hugely intent on making the album obviously melodic, but melody itself is not the easiest to pull out of this morass. Presented in a form of few repetitive melodic chords (title track), melody for Profetus is like a string of pearls, short and samey looking. Yet every chord by the band is tragedy impersonated, it grips you in unyielding remorseless vice. Profetus also utilize keyboards quite extensively. The instrument provides additional layer and elevates the whole experience to a cathedral level. Sometimes though, like at 6’30” of Nostalgia, organ takes over and provides that more animated melody with additional acoustical ornaments. Some compositions (Northern Crown) are a total dissolution of reality, without any percussion beats at all, with ethereal female voice appearing half way through. Vocal-wise though, most of the time though Profetus is standard fair mandatory bottomless growl, but the band doesn’t vocalize very much anyway. This music doesn’t need words much, it is all in the spirit, frozen and gazing into nothingness, surviving the deep sense of loss.

And that’s how The Sadness of Time Passing went for me, mood fitting, it won’t become my favorite funeral doom album to drown the sorrows in. It is simply not passionate or tear jerking enough. But it is very suitable for detachment from outside reality, for just sitting there and letting the mind drift in shapeless circles.