VENI DOMINE – Tongues

It’s been a year and a half since the last release from the Swedish Christian Doom Metal band Veni Domine. The band was founded way back in 1987, but released their debut album Fall Babylon Fall in 1992. The band consists of vocalist Fredrik Sjöholm, drummer Thomas Weinsjö and guitarist/backing vocalist Torbjörn Weinsjö. Since they lack a bass player, they’ve called up a couple of famous bassists to help them out: Peter Carlsohn (Jerusalem, The Rise), Ez Gomér (Jet Circus), Andreas Olsson (Narnia, Rob Rock), and Gary Kuhstoss.

It’s easy to draw similarities to the Doom Metal band of all Doom Metal bands, Candlemass, when you hear this album. The music is slow and complaining, but what really separates Veni Domine from the rest of the bands in the genre are the Christian lyrics. The lyrics deal with finding comfort in God and Jesus Christ when times are bad. Not all of the songs mention God or Jesus Christ, and some of them could be interpreted in the way you want, but the overall feeling you have when you’ve read the lyrics in the booklet is that they’re all related to Christianity in some way. With that being said, it’s not necessary to be a Christian Headbanger to enjoy this record.

The musical highlights are many. Like the insane guitar solo Torbjörn throws in “Stay With Me.” He plays this one on top of a slow and groovy drumbeat, which only makes it more enjoyable. You also have the choir singing on top of Fredrik’s complaining vocals on the intro of “Leave Me Cold.” He’s voice is sometimes reminiscent of Messiah Marcolin (ex-Candlemass), which should be considered a good thing.

The opener “October” is one of the best songs on this release. The song has some really heavy riffs, and varies between playing slow and a little faster (though it’s really not very fast). It sounds like bassist-for-hire Ez Gomér uses a fretless bass on this one, and he adds a little extra to the song when he pushes the riffs forward in the absence of the guitar. This is especially because of the great sound in his bass.

The closer and title track starts off with a church choir singing praise to Jesus. It’s relieved by an extremely slow and heavy riff. The tempo could probably best be compared to the first part of the classic song “Black Sabbath.” Once again Fredrik’s plaintive vocals accompanied by Torbjörn Weinsjö’s backing vocals sets a dark mood for the song. Mattias Cederlund adds an unexpected, but nice element to the song as he makes a guest appearance on the piano. After nine minutes, drummer Thomas Weinsjö decides that enough is enough and speeds up the riff for approximately thirty seconds. This sounds forced and isn’t a good move. After this the song becomes very boring, and it’s also a bit disappointing that Andreas Olsson doesn’t make more out of his appearance than just playing the keynotes.

Overall, this is a fine Doom Metal release, though they could have shortened the title track, which lasts sixteen and a half minutes, to maybe half of it. The musicianship is great and though the variation on the album isn’t the greatest, and the songs can sound similar, there are elements in every song that makes them unique. If you are a Doom Metal fan, and don’t mind that the lyrics are Christian, this is a recommended purchase.