CEREMONIC BURYMENT was formed in early 2022 by Malevolus and Morgul Demonic. The project arose when both members expressed a desire to play an atmospheric style of funeral doom metal with vocals akin to those of goregrind and brutal death metal. Funeral doom is a tough subgenre to do well. It either sounds somber and evocative, or dull and monotonous. Unfortunately, "As We Weep Over Life" falls into the latter characterization. TRIGGER WARNING: The following paragraph has references to suicidal ideation.

The first track, "Intro," consists of a sample of an excerpt from a psychiatric evaluation of a female who recently had a suicide attempt. Not only is this in poor taste, but I also found the inclusion to be immature and too "on-the-nose" for my liking. The following track, "Futility Of Everything," starts slow, with sparse drumming and deliberately paced guitar playing. When I heard the first booming, heavy guitar note, I assumed that what came next was a sample of storm winds blowing, to add in some atmosphere. I later realized that the "gusts of wind" were Margul Demonic's vocals. The guttural vocals have no pauses between words and the overall muddy production obscures all of the details. This is true for the vocals and instruments. I understand the point of raw production, but there should be some production value, no matter how raw the music sounds.

The third track, "Life Of Not Our Own," doesn't fare much better. This track has several droning synthesizer notes. The first is a low hum, while the following tones clash with the rest of the instruments and vocals. The haphazardly arranged synth lines make the song nigh unlistenable. In addition, the gusty vocals sound like they were recorded in a bathroom. They have a metallic timbre and are obscured by too much reverb. This song is uncomfortable to listen to not because of the subject matter or atmosphere, but because of the total lack of a coherent melody for the first two-thirds of the song.

The final track, "The Meaning Of Being," ends with another sample, this time of a convicted killer being interviewed. The murderer has an explicit misanthropic dialogue that is supposed to be "a window into the mind of a psychopath." Again, I found it to be immature and included for shock value. Speaking of samples, track four, "Forever Done," features a sample of a man screaming in terror. This comes from out of nowhere and possibly could have sounded better if the vocalist thought to be the one providing said scream.

All in all, "As We Weep Over Life" is a taxing listen. That has nothing to do with the grim, morbid subject matter, and everything to do with all of the misguided and unfortunate decisions made by the band members and album producer. Perhaps the buzzing synth notes clashing with every aspect of the music was done intentionally to evoke an uneasy feeling in the listener, and this album is to be appreciated more than enjoyed, like a MERZBOW release. After hearing this album, I am left with plenty of questions and zero desire to have them answered. Skip this one.