PAINTHING are a five piece Death/Doom band form Warsaw, Poland who are debuting with an album "Where Are You Now...?". The members played in other bands together and apparently share a passion for early Death/Doom in the vein of MY DYING BRIDE and early PARADISE LOST and ANATHEMA. Other than a short self-introduction on their Facebook fan-page and an album press release we don't find much information on them online, that's because the band so far only concentrated on writing new material and playing life. It is notable though that their debut is a full LP and that it came out on the Russian label Solitude Productions, that specializes on the Death/Doom and Funeral Doom Metal niche. PAINTHING might be up to something if this label picked them up in other words.

And indeed, these Poles serve up a rather enjoyable platter of old-school Doom/Death that is an obvious nod to the above mentioned "Peaceville Three." It has all the attributes of the British pioneers: somewhat simple but strong melodies, a kind of Gothic vibe, Death growls, and heavy, almost laborious riffs. The influence of MY DYING BRIDE is especially prominent, with the dramatic, almost sentimental keys and violins, as well as similarity in vocal delivery and the lyrical mannerism (weepy texts about dying children etc.), but there are clear PARADISE LOST influences as well. Regardless of what we may feel about the originality of PAINTHING's music, what they do works quite well from a songwriting point of view.

With first song "Between," we are thrown into familiar Death/Doom territory, it opens with a big, emotional hook: a huge riff backed by dramatic synths. The song is part emotional, part angry, part despondent. The album has a strong opening, but I'm not overwhelmed by the second song "Widow and the King," there is no strong riff, the clean singing is a bit boring, and the finale that comes after a tender instrumental mid-section (which I quite like) feels a bit forced. I like the following song "Buzz and Madness" much more. It's a heavy song, but has good melodies in the heavy parts as well as the tender mid-section. As the title suggests "Psychosis" evokes a descent into hell - it is super depressive and even has some mythical overtones (the phrase "why have you forsaken me" was uttered by Jesus before his death and descent into the underworld). "To Live is to Fight" has some nice MY DYING BRIDE melodies and beautiful tender moments - it belongs to the more memorable songs on the album.

Overall, this is a very good debut, not all songs are memorable, and some parts could use some polishing up, but most of the songs are very good and the album has standout moments. For a fan of the Peaceville Three such as myself this album will certainly be enjoyable.