Doom – Page 101 – Wonderbox Metal

Dead – Idiots (Review)

Australia’s Dead are an unusual beast, consisting as they do of just a bassist and a drummer. The noise they make is somewhere between Punk and Sludge, with more variety than you might think for only having two instruments.

Starting off creepy and atmospheric; when the bass kicks in you can feel it like a physical presence.

There’s plenty going on in these songs, including vocals from multiple people, to keep things interesting.

As the bass and drums are the only instruments they are left bare and exposed for everyone to see with no opportunity to hide what’s going on behind other instruments; due to this the duo have risen to the challenge and ensured that they are always doing something interesting.

This is a dredge through the darkest recesses of forgotten filth, but in the best possible way. The minimalistic Sludge the band come up with and the variety of ideas and delivery on display is a recipe for success in my book.

Favourite Track: Murder Hollow. Creep-tastic.

Lune Kiri – Demo (Review)

Lune Kiri are a Post-Rock band from the US and this is their first release, containing 4 tracks at 35 minutes in length.

This is winding and exploratory, and pleasantly relaxed. Lune Kiri already seem to have mastered the art of mood and texture, and this EP would be really impressive if it wasn’t their first release, let alone the fact that it is.

Sometimes the meandering, wandering guitars paint a glorious picture and they sound so liquid you can almost imagine the brush sweeping them over the canvas. Other times they play heavier, murky, dirge-ridden riffs that want to suck you into their world. Stockholm contains both types in its 15 minute playing time.

My only real “complaint”, (and it’s not really a complaint), is why they called this a demo. The songs are so accomplished and the sound quality so good that this is essentially just a first EP. Apart from that head-scratcher I would advise anyone who likes bands like Red Sparowes, Pelican, Cloudkicker, etc. to immediately run to get this.

Towers – II (Review)

Towers are a drum/bass duo from the US that play Sludge/Doom.

The band experiment with just these two instruments to create a minimal yet expressive sound that has quite a Prog feeling to some of it that’s refreshing.

The vocals are kind of shouted/spoken for the most part although softer cleans do appear. These are almost incidental to the actual music; almost an afterthought. They serve their purpose though and add texture to the rumbling bass.

There is a hypnotic groove to songs like The Door at the End of the Hall that makes you feel like you’re being carried off to the lunatic asylum in a haze of delirium, while The Chosen is ominously apocalyptic and could be the soundtrack to the End of Times. Bolstered by effects and haunting vocals this track is very impressive.

Overall Towers have their own character and a very individual sound, which is to be appreciated when they’re hitting you over the head with a colossal bass presence that feels like a piece of sheet iron.

See what you think.

71TONMAN – 71TONMAN (Review)

This is the début album from Polish Sludgers 71TONMAN, and they’re as heavy as their name suggests.

Drenched in feedback with rhythmic pounding drums and samples – this is how it starts and I already know it’s going to be good. Then the guitars kick in and the tortured, anguished vocals and you remember why Sludge is just such a damn good genre.

If you cross bands like Eyehategod, Crowbar, Charger and Humanfly then you’d end up with something similar to 71TONMAN. In other words, pure class.

The songs are imbued with a sense of the post-apocalyptic. They weave tales of other worlds and places in with the chunky guitars. It’s all very, very invigorating; take a couple of these songs three times a day and call me in the morning.

The vocals are quite varied, with deeper, higher and almost-cleans all in the mix. It all sounds great.

This is an excellent release from a band with much talent. Make sure you support them and visit their world.

Descend Into Despair – The Bearer Of All Storms (Review)

Romanian band Descend Into Despair have released an epic album in every sense of the word – there is 92 minutes of music here, all piled into 7 songs.

I love a good piece of album artwork, and this one is great. It’s not necessarily any reflection of the music of course, but it did make me excited to listen to this band.

The songs are long and based around slow, atmospheric funeral Doom; each track winding and rolling further down into misery. The singer espouses his existence of suffering and gloom through deep growls and haunted clean vocals.

The guitar-based melodies and riffs are slow and moving, but for me it’s the added keys and effects that are the real emotional drivers. They weave in and around the songs like ghostly dancers swaying to their own tune, adding depth and longevity to music already full of mood and feeling.

Feelings of fragile mortality and heartache infuse this album and every second is spent pulling at the heart-strings and introducing melancholy and sorrow.

This album can hold its head up high and rub shoulders with the best of them; with bands like Eye of Solitude and Descend Into Despair releasing high quality music like this the depressive funeral Doom scene will not want for leaders for some time.

Indian – From All Purity (Review)

Indian are from the US and play Sludge Metal with added Noise; this is their fifth album.

This is Sludge of the most vicious, harshest variety. These six tracks assault the listener with guitars as heavy as icebergs and enough dissonant noises to floor a bear.

The crawling, abrasive sound leeches all of the warmth from the air as the feeling of cold, impersonal, urban bleakness saturates the sound waves.

The onward march of the devastating riffs is relentless and disturbing. Had the band limited itself to this it would be a monumental attack, but with all of the feedback, squeals, pops, crackles and noises that accompany the songs at just the right level of intrusiveness they are transformed into even more unapproachable entities than they would be without these additions.

The vocals match the intensity of the music, coming across as the bastard mutated offspring of a twisted three-way between the singers of At The Gates, Khanate and Iron Monkey. As impressive as it is harsh; the vocals are as unrelenting as the music they screech over.

If you’re tough enough to survive this aural onslaught then there’s no reason not to return to this again and again and again. Crushing.

Culted – Oblique To All Paths (Review)

Culted comprise of members in both Sweden and Canada, (who apparently have never met), and this is their second album of Blackened Doom Metal.

This is an hour of haunting depression and wandering desolation.

This album combines aspects of Doom, Black Metal and Sludge to create a bleak atmosphere and feeling of slow decay. An aural description akin to a gradual slipping away into who knows where; a place of fear to never return from.

You know a band means business when a 19 minute monolith of a song, (Brooding Hex), is their opener. It also works as an abstract for the album as a whole as it surmises all areas that the full album travels to within its forbidding boundaries.

There is no clinical, sterile recording on this release; instead we have a dark and foetid sound, full of shadows that hold spawning grounds for unspeakable strains of mutant bacteria and other unpleasantness.

The rasping vocals are rooted in Black Metal, and they sail the seas of Blackness on the good ship Doom. Continuing the nautical theme, (for no good reason really), this is music to drown to.

The wide range of sounds and instruments used on this album means that this is a diverse and experimental release. It’s an interesting path that the disparate band members have collectively chosen to tread, one which carries great risk but which promises great reward in turn. I heartily invite you to sample the dark delights on offer here. But be warned – there’s a danger you might not come back.

Sunn 0))) & Ulver – Terrestrials (Review)

This is a collaboration between Sunn 0))) and Ulver, both well-respected artists in their own right. This is a worthy collaboration resulting in brilliance.

The first track Let There Be Light starts off slow and minimalistic, with a lone saxophone forlornly reaching out from a fog. It builds up and up until the only real way to describe it is to use words such as epic and cinematic. So there we are – epic and cinematic music.

Second song Western Horn is an ominous journey through dark corridors where the lights have all been smashed by persons unknown, for reasons unknown. It’s an eerie place and even though you suspect that you can sense salvation just on the edge of your hearing the overarching feeling of black despair is weighing down on you. You end up crawling through the maze of abandoned doorways crying to yourself, hoping that someone will save you and fearing that they will not. This song sounds like that.

The third and final track Eternal Return is a lengthy foray into ghostly melodics and features the only vocals on the album. Feeling like a twisted, warped version of Laura Palmer’s Theme by Angelo Badalamenti from the Twin Peaks soundtrack; it evokes similar feelings and drips hypnotic beauty.

An album for lonely nights. An album for sleep’s dark embrace.

Demon Lung – The Hundredth Name (Review)

This is US Doom Metal band Demon Lung with their début album The Hundredth Name.

The band play Traditional Doom with good harmonies, inventive riffing and strong songs.

The first song Binding of the Witch eases us in slowly with gradually-building waves of towering guitars, while Hellish noises play in the background picking at your sanity with needle-like claws. Once the song starts to begin “properly” it’s with a monolithic winding, driving riff that instantly makes me like what’s happening. Indeed there are a plethora of quality Doom riffs on this album.

Showcasing good musicianship and recording; the backbone of the album is in place and then the emphasis is on the songs and the powerful vocals, both of which are no disappointment.

The singer has a generally deep, powerful voice that has both a dreamy and gritty quality, almost like she’s not quite here and instead exists in two worlds – the real and the unreal, where the monsters and witches roam. She shows good range across these songs though and doesn’t suffer from getting stuck in a vocal rut. Her vocals bring the songs to (un)life and add a flicker of unholy fire to the proceedings that elevate this album above a lot of their peers.

The album flows and caresses with its dark touches and is the Doom Metal equivalent of easy listening in some ways; tracks feel natural and unforced, all the while channelling that special black magic that lovers of this genre always want more of.

A very strong first release. If they can keep this up there is a bright future ahead of them. Purely looking at The Hundredth Name however, they have already put out a record to be proud of.

Interview with Upyr

Bulgarian Blackened Doom band Upyr have recently released their very impressive first offering Altars/Tunnels, which is gathering them positive reviews all over the place. I was privileged to be able to grill them on the subject…

For those who are unfamiliar with the band – introduce yourself!

Brodnik: We are five mates who share the same need for expressing ourselves in the most grotesque and depressing ways the music allows.

V.B.: We are what represents the blackest of doom metal in the Bulgarian underground.

What are your influences?

Brodnik: The landscapes of our musical influences are quite vast and the borders kind of fade. If we begin with the ugliest of primitive black metal howls of Hellhammer, Bathory and the first releases of Sodom for example, pass through the mournful mists of Evoken, My Dying Bride and Tiamat, explore the psychedelic dimensions of Sleep and Neurosis and then take it south for a swamp ride with a blast of sludge to break it’s bones – that’s Upyr. The hardest part is to have all that in the bag and still make it sound simple and clear in form.

V.B.: In the cauldron we have mixed the legacy of Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus with the dirtiness of Electric Wizard and Eyehategod. Outside of music we are inspired and provoked by life itself with all its philosophical and everyday aspects.

What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?

Brodnik: From the recently produced albums I really appreciate Alkerdeel, Cough and Windhand. The Autopsy new album is a must! That’s what metal should be for me. Also tons of neofolk and post punk.

V.B.: Watch out! A Bulgarian band – Obsidian Sea with their debut album. Venomous Maximous, early Danzig stuff and the everyday dose of Johnny Cash.

What is the Bulgarian Metal scene like? How do you feel you fit in?

Brodnik: To talk about a strong metal scene in Bulgaria is a bit harsh. There are acts of class and original ideas but they are rather sporadic and they don’t lead to one strong core. We were welcomed very well by now. All our shows were well attended and we found bands that we share the same ideas of creating music with. That’s more than we expected. We will continue with the same passion to try and built those foundations of a scene because the audience here is very well educated, demanding and most of all deserving.

V.B.: Ok, Bulgaria is a former “communist” country and the iron curtain was no shit. The metal and the whole rock scene as a whole were almost forbidden and rather marginal till the early 90’s. That has had it’s effects on the forming of any kind of scene unfortunately. There is enthusiasm but it’s still hard for a Bulgarian band to expand its fanbase outside of the country.

What were your motivations to create this release, and why this style of music?

Brodnik: I’ve dig in almost every extreme and provoking genre of music and I had my share of playing in different bands but since I was a kid I was looking for something specific and with each next album and knowledge I’ve got, it was becoming clearer what it holds. You know that feeling. When I found doom metal, and especially depressive doom metal I felt like home.

V.B.: That’s the genre that unites us in this band, no matter of our different backgrounds. The right moment had come and we recorded, mixed and released the demo in the most natural way.

Brodnik: We released our first songs quite early in our time as a band because we needed a kickstart. Also I believe that releasing music no matter on what format is the most important part of the life of a band. That’s what remains in time, that’s the evidence of what you felt together in a certain period of time.

Altars/Tunnels is an extremely strong first release – how did the songs come about?

Brodnik: They came out almost by themselves, just after a few sessions of playing together. There are no newbies in the band and that also helps to achieve exactly what’s inside you.

V.B.: We never start with the idea of creating a certain type of song. It all begins in the rehearsal room with a riff or idea, then it turns into a jam, till we get the right pulsation of the upcoming song. We let our souls do it instead of our brains.

What can you share about the meanings behind the songs?

V.B.: The lyrics are all written by Brodnik and they are deeply emotional. ”Hymn to Pan” is inspired by the original text of Crowley and I don’t think that’s a big surprise when you listen to our music.

Brodnik: They are profoundly emotional and true to my being. It’s an enormous amount of suffering implemented in the lyrics and the way I express myself through various vocal techniques. I try to create a world within the world, but the epicenter of it is the really messed up mind that I own. “Before the Altars of Necrotic Karma” is about the never-ending feeling that we’re doomed and we’re not meant to reach happiness, freedom or any kind of a conclusion or meaning for our existence. “The tunnels of my Sleep” is about my expanding problems with sleeping, I have insomnia that can last 4/5 days and cycle every second week, It’s really a different state of mind that you get into…

How did the recording process go?

Brodnik: The others recorded the first two songs live in a cheap studio for about a few hours, after that I recorded the vocals and we spent some time in the mixing room so we can get exactly what we wanted from the sound. The bonus song that’s only on the cassette release is a rehearsal jam of the dirtiest kind and sounds more like a demo.

V.B.: We should not forget that it’s a demo release. A friend of the band helped us with the mixing with great dedication and that brought the raw live material to another level without killing its punch.

Are you pleased with the end result of Altars/Tunnels? Would you do anything differently next time?

Brodnik: I’m pleased that we put out the songs in a release quite fast because that’s what matters. I believe that the magic of it is you can’t touch it when it’s out. I’m not a fan of reissues or remastered albums.

V.B.: I’m completely satisfied with the end product. There’s a lot of atmosphere. Nobody knows what it’s going to be next time but for sure the production will serve the music.

What does the future hold for Upyr?

V.B.: 2014 started more than well for us. The cassette release by Serpent Eve Recs. is already sold out in just a month and the guys from the label are working on a second edition due to the big interest. The reviews were really flattering for us and we will give our hearts to have a great 2014 year together.

Brodnik: We have two shows in February with KYLESA (USA) and TURBOCHARGED (SWEDEN), then we will take a short break and we will come back in April with a surprise. We plan some shows outside of the country too. Thank you for your interest!

Thanks!