Skepticism's latest, Companion, comes as a celebration of quite a milestone - their 30th anniversary. Out on Svart, this Finnish funeral doom outfit shows the world what practicing (and pioneering) grimly tinged doom for the past three decades sounds like. With an output as plodding and deliberate as the doom on hand, Companion is a welcome addition to any funeral doomster's collection.

Resting snugly somewhere between Lord of the Rings and black metal, Companion is the latest slice of funeral doom to the constantly growing genre, and no one does it better than Skepticism. While every metal maven's cup of tea, there is a certain cinematic, symphonic flair to funeral doom that keeps it distinctly separate from its peers. In standard fashion, Companion is built around long-form tracks (six, to be exact) that allow the dirge to take its time and fully develop. As mentioned above, there is a cinematic air to these offerings, and this ethereal quality helps to add a completely different texture than most doom's murky sludge. This works in stark contrast to the throaty growls and densely layered guitars. One might say they're "companions," and that would describe many of the sounds on this album. Sonically, Companion is all about working together, even when things look to be at odds - how to construct a scene with bleak grimness, ethereal hope, and an aural veil to cover all in between. Skepticism does a very good job of keeping the listener engaged, and even their doomy, slow tempo cannot crack the intrigue of the sounds on display.

An elegy fit for a king, Companion offers up all the despair and hope (yes!) that funeral doom has to offer. Unfolding more and more with consecutive spins, Skepticism's latest takes time to grown on the listener. Dense and worth the exploration, this is an album perfectly fit for the upcoming cold nights.