Most funeral doom is considered to be morose and monotonous with little variation in mood or composition and relying on slow tempi and sustained power chords on low tuned guitars to relay a sense of heaviness. While Thergothon pioneered and utilized a lot of these tropes on their seminal release Stream from the Heavens, their music had a lot more to offer than the constant droning that has plagued this style. The longest composition here, “Elemental” is a macrocosm of the various ideas and feelings conveyed within the album, ranging from defeatism to wonder, joy, serenity and in complete defiance of the genre; triumph. The climax that appears at (6:19) demonstrates this perfectly without deviating from the band’s style or introducing uncharacteristic gimmicks.
The song breaks down into a soothing clean guitar melody before adding an almost joyful synth lead on top. The guitar plays around an arpeggio of a suspended fourth chord before moving on to a major chord a fifth above. The suspended chord is generally used to delay resolution, it floats within that small space between consonance and dissonance and in isolation is essentially an emotional void. The major chord appears very briefly and is used sparingly as to not the make the passage too bright or cheerful. The synth plays around the suspense and doesn’t seek to resolve the passage, it actually creates the tension needed for the song to dive into its climax. Ultimately this entire section allows for a brief respite from the rest of the overwhelming heaviness before resolving with the absolutely thundering riff that is to follow.
The distorted guitars return in full force despite there being no shift in tempo or tonality as the C# power chord returns to open the riff. While every riff in this song has relied on that chord as a tonal center, something here has significantly changed. The duration of the chord is much shorter as if it was injected with primal vigour and instead of the guitars holding on to it, there is an immediate jump up an octave into the most fundamental heavy metal motif which is the first three notes of the minor scale. This motif has been played in every single form and variation from the very inception of metal. It is the de facto motif used to convey triumph, grandeur, heroism and other associated emotions. Most of the uses of this motif tend to be uninspired due to its simplicity and ease of access but Thergothon sidestep this by playing with expectations and misguide the listener into thinking they are going back to one of the previous riffs but instead appropriate their heavy metal influences and twist them for this riff. The first part of the riff is then ended by a really unconventional arpeggio in both execution and choice. It is an A major chord but the fifth that gives the chord it’s fullness is pushed down an octave as to not sound too bright and cheerful and to maintain coherence with the bassiness of this album. The triumphant first part is given more power by the major chord of the second part. Where most metal bands avoid major chords as they are often too “happy” and “soft” for this type of music, major chords have always been used to convery triumph, rejoicing of victory and praise to a higher power which is the core of this piece’s theme; a celebration of the strength of nature. By lowering one note in the second part by an octave, the band still maintain the initial triumph but without sacrificing any power or gravitas. The riff then repeats the first part verbatim before opting for a small variation on the second part. This time there is a little slide as soon as it hits the root note that briefly hearkens back to the suspended chord used in the buildup. This maintains the sense of triumph of the first variation but inject a sense of mystique to convey that this power beyond human comprehension.
The whole passage is only repeated twice but lasts around thirty seconds. Each note is fully felt and is instrumental in defining the entire passage, there is not a single note out of place or used as a placeholder to fill up space. The slides that end each repetition don’t quite fall on the beat and feel slightly rushed but that works to the song’s favour as it gives it a little bit more pace in contrast to the rest piece.
Stream from the Heavens is an incredibly particular album with nothing sounding like it and has the rare quality where any randomly selected passage from the entire album is instantly recognizable and many of these passages including this climax contradict and vastly improve the idea of what a death/doom album should be but it does so without corrupting the very essence of the subgenre thus making it a true classic.
