Gnawed from the inside and itching around the edges of every breaking wound this welt-inducing examination of purpose, human nature, and ever-ailing compassion by way of Athens, Greece-based funeral doom metal trio FÖHN finds its breach point at a loss of purpose, offering their resignation to nihil as we step into their realm. Delivered with commendable patience and notable enough conviction ‘Condescending‘ is a considerable ask out the gates as a four-song, hourlong double LP (and a debut release at that) yet any patience given to their work should yield equitable results for the funeral doom attuned sort. Within these four extended meditations they’ve infrequently strayed into the avant-garde spectrum of the sub-genre, tactfully presenting just a few key points of abstraction for the sake of distinction and gilding alike on this above-average first showing.

Föhn formed circa 2016 by way of Georgios Schoinianakis (ex-Αρχή του Τέλους) and Nikos Vlachakis (Ocean of Grief) who’ve played in funeral death/doom metal band Shattered Hope since the early 2000’s. Their goal with this project was two-pronged per my understanding as they attempt something reasonably avant-garde in terms of funeral doom metal style but also generate emotional resonance with catharsis for the broader social issues of the moment. Their work is stated as intentionally cathartic, reading as death poetry one moment and otherwise leads with empathy via the suggested themes… a mix of cold reality and despairing warmth echoed in the atmosphere of their work. The first glimpse of the band wouldn’t arrive until 2022 when they’d demoed one of the songs from ‘Condescending‘ in a more nascent state, “A Day After“. From my point of view the guitar work on that song at least resembles some of the earlier signature of Mournful Congregation in terms of its inherent progression and seems to pull from the more classic spectrum of funeral doom when examining pace and sound design, dead slow and slightly raw. Beyond that point we’ve no wealth of information on the group beyond bassist Giorgos Miliaras (All Sins Undone) joining in 2023 though we can directly compare the new version of this track to the old to generate at least some contrast between past and present.

The grand entrance of opener “Bereft” is in fact a fairly singular point of interest in terms of its use of trilling and wailing saxophone to create disarray amidst distempered arpeggiation for the first four and a half minutes of the song. They’ve suggested a few points of inspiration for this, ranging from Swans to Esoteric and I assume more recent iterations (as in, the last decade or so) of each, though this particular moment recalls Five the Heirophant more than anything else on my end. The riff that develops otherwise steps from Jesu to the plodding ring of ‘Terranean Wake‘ in a matter of a minute or so as the saxophone intermittently returns for flourish behind a few movements. In description it might sound like we’ve set these moments as if objects in aspic but in practice these folks have mastered the pace and general flow of true funeral doom per its slow-stepping dread, never offering more than a suggestion of the horizon ahead. This fog of war doesn’t lift at any point but we do get an impressive set of growls from vocalist Vlachakis (+ guest vocalist Alexandros Sismanidis possibly of Chaotic End?) who do well to create imposing yet pained tonality, an appropriate funeral death/doom metal level of expression from my point of view and one without any too-wild flourish to start.

That is about as avant-garde as the album gets beyond a few similar bursts of dark jazz infused relief on the 17+ minute closer “Persona”, where the infusion is sparing but notable. My own definition of funeral doom metal is inherently avant-garde as a subsect of gothic doom metal, and in some cases death/doom metal, to the point that these jazz fusion cribbed infusions are less a break from the norm and more of an authenticating signature, a point of singularity in an ultra-niche sub-genre that demands one stand out by design or not at all. As we step away from our introduction and hold the grand finale of the record at bay this new version of “A Day After” becomes our point of normalcy and familiarity as a slow-built funeral death/doom metal piece light on the death metal but increasingly ethereal as it escalates to chorales and leading bass guitar phrasing in the second half. This isn’t drastically different from the 2022 demo version of the song, the structure of the song was more-or-less set but this version not only fits here as a proper centerpiece but it retains an even more dramatic quality per the changes made to its second half and closing moments.

From there we are fed into “The Weight of Nothing”, perhaps the coldest and most straightforward dirge of the four songs on offer per its first half and finally one of the heaviest parts of the album as we reach the very depths of its drift roughly ~10:45 minutes in. Though this isn’t a death metal album in any sense there is a sort of discordant groove that momentarily builds for dramatic effect, enough of a payoff for sticking with the extended build of the piece. This moment and the opener were generally the most prominent, repeatable sections of the album that I’d engaged with most though there is no avoiding the lengthy, arduous step of closer “Persona” and its lengthy introduction where a victim of sex trafficking gives her account of how the “lover boy” method is used to entrap sex workers via emotional manipulation and drug addiction. Listening to this account once makes enough of an impression but I don’t know that I’d needed to recount it on every listen for the sake of how extensive it is. The song finds Föhn at their most remiss, detaching in long-sustained breaks of riff as we find the searching leads of Mournful Congregation once again spiking up and fading out in the first third of the piece. Here I’d felt less engaged with the sorrow and suffering of it all and felt more of a connection to the surrealism on offer, an unreal level of destitution illustrated through long-hanging single notes and the cold downward strum of a few chords. Not at all my favorite portion of the album but it does come as a complimentary bookend for opener “Bereft”.

The ‘ready attuned funeral doom metal fan could likely get the greater rub of ‘Condescending‘ in a single pass as any notable nuance is hardly buried as the overall sound design presented is crisp and unobstructed. There are few lingering points of interest in the actual songwriting for my own taste yet I was always acutely aware that this was a (brilliantly executed) funeral doom record and in this sense fans of the sub-genre will prone to enjoy a polished take should dig in. The implementation of saxophone and various other accoutrement help to generate some sense of artful and emotional expression, successfully leading us toward some manner of chaotic melancholia as the album begins and ends. I wouldn’t say that Föhn stand out for their avant-garde choices on this debut so much as their attempt at frustrated connectivity, they’ve clearly gotten a lot out within the confines of this album without leaning into the most taxing aspects of the sub-genre. Otherwise it was their sharp and stylized presentation which pulled my ears and eyes closer in for repeat listens. A moderately high recommendation.

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