For Sfeerverzieker, "Death is the Desired Ending" to a Doomed Existence (Early Album Stream)

Even despair has its share of surprises. Although the title of Dutch sludge/doom project Sfeerverzieker, Death is the Desired Ending leaves little room for optimism, the sonic journey to this ultimate outcome is no straightforward plunge. There’s a surprisingly bellicose quality to the downtrodden subject matter, as if project mastermind Sven is biting back, in a way, against the darkness, and doing so with the ultimate weapon: riffs. After the heavily atmospheric doom that starts off the record in “Fall of Men” transforms into agile sludge riffs partway through, listeners start to get a hint of what lies in store: death may be the desired ending, but Sfeerverzieker is going to make things interesting on the way there.

Connecting back both to sludge’s roots in angry, caustic punk and traditional doom metal’s penchant for complex riffing, the shorter tracks like “Masters of Insanity” and “The Horrors We Are In” feature fancy hooks and primal rage as faithful companions, with the longer songs taking that foundation as a launching pad for experimentation. Vitriol and emotion fundamentally drive Death is the Desired Ending, tackling both a pessimistic outlook on the future as well as the pain of experiencing that future come true. Thus, it’s clear that negative emotion shapes the core of the record, but Sven uses this sentiment as fuel to craft heavy music that’s far more nuanced.

Stream the album below before it releases next week.

Sven comments:

Writing and recording of Death is the Desired Ending felt like sort of an escape valve from all the negativity that is surrounding us, and with all conflicts and crises in this world today the prediction for the future is that we are going to face even darker times. Those dark times also set the future for Sfeerverzieker. Death is the Desired Ending became one of my most personal album to date. Keeping the process of writing music and lyrics as well as recording, mixing and mastering as close as possible by myself, I could create music without boundaries and influences from outside.

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Death is the Desired Ending releases October 28th independently via Bandcamp.