Ultra-crushing misery. Latest reissue of this straight-up death-doom classic from 1995, originally released on Requiem Productions, presented as a lovely single LP with the original track listing (actually, I think this is the first time this has ever appeared on vinyl as the original single album). The debut full-length album from this Green Bay, Wisconsin band has gone on to cultivate a devoted cult following amongst fans of the slow n' miserable, breaking new ground at the time with their unique mixture of ambient elements, cello and "clean" singing amid the spine-crushing weight of their sound. Majestic Thou In Ruin is definitely one of my favorites in the genre, unafraid to experiment with unusual textures and sounds, and in the end producing an incredible, memorable album that would influence a host of death-doom and funeral doom artists in following years. A stateside response to the pioneering extreme doom of the Peaceville Three, maybe? Drawing energy from what Disembowelment was doing with Transcendence Into The Peripheral? Either way, Dusk brought its own brooding magic to the dark art of extreme slow-motion contemplation, crafting and sculpting massive soundscapes out of nature sounds, gossamer electronics, and gut-churning death metal played at abysmally slow tempos.

You're pulled into their world immediately, the sound of wild fowl, woodlands, and running water that introduces opening song "...Majestic Thou In Ruin" capturing the feel of the beautifully minimal landscape of the cover art, but the band fast falls into a crawling down-tuned chug-a-thon, dropping you into massive tempo changes that transform into strangely atmospheric dirges. The shifting riffs avoid repetition, and the moments where Dusk moves from rumbling double-bass driven crush into swirling slow-motion misery and forlorn, chant-like singing are fuckin' brilliant, offering something akin to hearing glacial death metal exuding an ethereal fog like something off an old Projekt Records release. Especially when the gleaming, almost gothy guitars float in from above. That combination of skull-crushing weight and dreamy, gauzy gloom is uniquely handled here, setting Dusk's death-doom apart from anything else at the time. You'll hear crows cawing and the sounds of wetlands suddenly drift out of the collapsing heaviness, sliding into passages of distant thunder and wildlife sounds, continuing to weave their strange ambience as the album moves through all four songs. Steve Crane's guttural roars are grotesque and ghastly, though, a harsh contast against the solemn, dismal atmosphere, even with his unusually poetic lyrics. This stuff is heavy, for sure, even as Crane's droning, plaintive baritone and those vaguely Nephilim-esque guitar melodies surface constantly over the pummeling death metal. There's an odd jagged element and abruptness to some of the riffs, as well, which adds to the overall strangeness. It never loses that massive heaviness, and you can easily hear how this album could have had an impact on later bands in the "funeral doom" field as "Paled" and "Thy Bitter Woe" sink into ever-more-mournful swamps of suffocating sorrow. The prominent guitar-based synthesizer sounds fall across this like tattered funeral shrouds, another ominous layer to Majestic's monstrous melancholy. Closer "The Transfiguration (And It Was So)" is the standout, adding the sound of Tim Pantzlaff 's (Crawl / Bleed) weeping cello to a field of swirling drone, joined by gorgeous singing from Stephanie Reinl - it's here where the faint ethereal / darkwave vibe really emerges out of the roiling metallic crunch, ending the album with a sumptuous wash of shadow-cloaked tranquility.

This LP reissue includes an insert with liner notes, review quotes, lyrics and album credits, further positioning Majestic as a unique moment in mid-90s death metal. A must-get for fanatics of stuff like Morgion, Evoken, early Unholy, and November's Doom.