The German album title translates to "The Angels' Melancholy" and Raffaele Galasso refers to his solo project as "funeral doom." Both of these statements could not represent the sound and feel of this four track album "Melancholie der Engel" better. This first release from "Shamael" is the most doomy, nightmarish thing I've heard in a while. The vocals are so demonic and the music is tons heavy and melancholic. This album belongs in a movie about exorcism where the devil wins. The vocals sound like that of a possessed person or something inhuman, and if the genre of music is funeral doom, then it must be God's funeral.

There may only be four songs, but this is definitely a full-length album. The shortest song is nearly seven and a half minutes long, with the longest one being over an intense 13 minutes. And if you're wondering whether or not this is overkill, it is. It may as well be one 40-ish minute song, because it all essentially sounds the same the entire time. The vocals are almost always very deep guttural growls with not much range. The music is all slow and heavy. Things do start to get a little different in "Way of Woe", when Galasso incorporates some whispering in place of growls, giving it an even more eerie feeling. I do really enjoy the piano parts in this song at about 4:40. It's very beautiful without losing any of the nightmarish quality. If I had to pick a favorite track, it would be this one just because of the brief piano part.

I must say that I am impressed that Galasso created this album himself and plays all of the instruments on it. It's quite a feat for anyone, but especially on an album with such long songs. However, musically, there's not much about this that stands out as far as interesting riffs or drum fills or vocals. It's mostly sad and heavy for the sake of being sad and heavy. The final song, "Moonsoon", begins with the sounds of a storm, which is fitting for this album and the song title. I kind of like it because it brings something a little different to the monotony. Come to think of it, Galasso's voice sounds quite a bit like thunder rolling. There's an orchestral part that begins at about 5:38 that's quite pretty in a sad way. Again, I do find it impressive that this is all one man's doing. It says a lot about his musical talent. If you want to feel like the world is ending or if you just want something dramatically melancholic and heavy, this album is the one for you.