Doom – Page 95 – Wonderbox Metal

Blackwolfgoat – Drone Maintenance (Review)

This is the third album from Blackwolfgoat who hail from the US.

This is Progressive Doom/Drone. I have enjoyed the previous Blackwolfgoat release Dronolith, and Drone Maintenance continues the core sound only with more variety than previously. Everything is still focused around the electric guitar but now there are added sounds and instruments, including acoustics, percussion and even the odd vocal.

Drone Maintenance is an enjoyably diverse release that comes off almost like one of the more commercial Electronica/Techno releases in the feel of the tracks, how they are made up, what they consist of and the diversity of delivery and expression – the only caveat to this of course is instead of this being delivered in an Electronica/Techno style it’s delivered in a Doom/Drone style. This impression is further increased by the various interludes and samples, etc. that are included on the album. The point is that this is an accomplished release that covers many bases and moods in the 37 minutes playing time.

The semi-concept of the album, (summed up essentially by the title and the lovely artwork), is also a pleasing one.

The musical journey that Drone Maintenance takes the listener on is one of subtle highlights and carefully crafted nuance. Sadly, this album is never going to have a huge audience and will probably be dismissed by the average music fan. This is a huge shame as it’s relatively easy listening and is orders of magnitude better than most of the nonsense that passes as popular music these days.

Blackwolfgoat has a massive amount of potential, most of which will go unrealised in the wider musical scene. Make sure that you don’t miss out though; get listening to this now.

The Haunting Green – The Haunting Green (Review)

The Haunting Green are from Italy and play Doom.

Featuring guitar, drums and electronics, The Haunting Green have an interesting sound that combines Doom, Post-Metal and a touch of Drone to create 28 minutes of dark, emotive music.

The soundscapes the band create are textured and impressively detailed. The added but relatively subtle electronics flesh out their sound in a way that enhances the tracks a great deal.

The vocals sound anguished and tortured which lends them a personality missing from a lot of generic shouters out there.

These are well-written songs that grow and spread the more you listen to them. The merging of Post-Metal and Doom means that we get to enjoy both the introverted subtlety of the one as well as the extroverted heaviness of the other.

I really like this release. It’s a very good example of music taking liberties and experimenting with the basic sound of a subgenre, resulting in something a little different from the average. The quality levels on this are through the roof and it’s a convincing, compelling and complete experience.

Give The Haunting Green some of your time. You won’t be disappointed.

Narrow House – Thanathonaut (Review)

Ukrainian band Narrow House play Progressive Doom and this is their second album.

This is varied and atmospheric Doom, with elements of their Funeral Doom past widened and expanded to included a much larger musical framework.

Playing heavy, dark and slow is still a feature for the band, however, but now they also use additional tools in their toolbox, including non-standard Doom implements such as choirs, saxophone, cello and contrabass, as well as orchestration, piano, keys, etc. that are more typical of the style.

A lot of the songs are more upbeat and have more of a Progressive feel to them. Some tracks such as The Midwife to Sorrows, for example, still have Doom aspects but can also be thought of as Progressive Metal songs with slow parts.

The songs are surprisingly short but still manage to pack a lot in. Narrow House are high on content and depth where they are lacking in length of song. The level of orchestration, effects and additional instrumentation on the tracks mean that each song is densely packed with layer upon layer of musical interest.

The clean vocals are dirge-like and full of depth and authority, whilst the occasional growls are low key but powerful.

This album is a surprise as I wasn’t sure what to expect from the band. From the Progressive Metal-style album cover to the name that gives nothing away, this is an atypical release in many respects. This is a very good thing, as the band have produced an extremely good album that manages to ably differentiate itself from the ravening hordes whilst keeping quality levels high and having a lot of personality and colour.

This will probably be a bit too left of centre for some Doom fans, which is a shame as this is a remarkable release that deserves a wider audience. This is a hugely impressive album that won’t settle for being average and definitely stands out in a sea of mediocrity.

Listen with an open mind and you’ll find that Narrow House have produced quite the corker.

Essential listening.

Ommadon – V (Review)

Ommadon are from the UK and play Doom.

I love Doom. I especially love the kind of crazy-heavy doom with thunderously slow drumming that makes up these two colossal tracks. There’s over 1 hour and 25 minutes of music on this release and all of it is pure agony of the most exquisite variety.

The band play lumbering, slow Doom. It’s wave after wave of noisy guitar assault and deafening barrage. The relentless crashing of the instruments is a thing of down-tempo beauty.

The sustained nature of the riffs and the utter disregard for anything other than massive sonic excess is a form of purity in itself. This is not music for the casual listener; this is for hardcore Doom fans alone and even then this would challenge even the hardened of these. Listening to these two tracks will be a feat of endurance for some and torture for others. A rare subset, however, will find blissful relaxation in the aural assault that Ommadon bring. This is music to hypnotize the Doom devotee to. It’s an experience to get lost in and forget all other forms of music to. This is aural enjoyment of slow extremity at its most clear.

There are no vocals. Guitar and drums is what we get and there is nothing to disturb the trance-like state this music can bring you to if you let it.

I say it again; I love Doom, in all its incarnations and guises. V is like the very distilled essence of Doom, of slowness and crushing heaviness. It’s a love affair that most won’t understand, but who cares? This kind of music is never going to have a mass appeal. It’s never even going to have just a small appeal; less than small in fact. This is for the people who have a real connection with heavy, extreme music and everything that comes along with it.

This is music that’s big, grand, large, in every sense. It’s huge, monolithic, monstrous, gargantuan…it’s an utter beast of devastating intent and purity of purpose. Ommadon have crafted a veritable masterpiece of Doom art.

Horizon – Don’t Let The Time Pass You By (Review)

Horizon is a one-man project from Finland. This is his second EP.

This is a short release containing Ambient soundscapes, Neo-Classical sounds and moments of Shoegaze that are all perfectly suited to night time reflection and introspection.

By its very nature a release such as this will be atmospheric and emotive and Horizon does a good job of playing to the innate strengths of the style.

There is also a good amount of variety of composition and delivery apparent in these 5 songs. We get ambient textures, piano, drums, bass, electronica, guitars and other sounds all used to create a vivid palette of emotional resonance with the listener.

This is strongly written music and creates the right mood of darkness with a hint of light; music for when night is starting to fade and dawn is approaching.

The compositions are mature and although they have elements of melancholy the overall beauty of the tracks doesn’t let this become overly negative.

The slight Electronica influence is subtle enough to have a positive impact on the songs without becoming stifling or overwhelming; rather it’s another string to the artist’s bow that he uses to enhance the songs and give them a modern flavour.

This is a very good EP and my only real criticism, such as it is, is that it’s a very short release. Apparently he’s working on a full album so hopefully this will make an appearance at some point in the future. Keep a close watch for it.

In the meantime, get a hold of this little gem. Sit back, relax and take it all in.

The Manipulated – Neon Messiah (Review)

Hailing from Denmark, The Manipulated are an Instrumental Sludge Band and this is their second release.

Well, I must admit that the album cover immediately puts me off this release. I mean, who wouldn’t be put off by that? But let’s persevere and see what lies within, as ultimately it’s only the music that matters.

It’s immediately apparent that the music is well worth the listen, as interesting and crushing Doom riffs come falling out of the speakers. The music they create is rich and textured in the gloomy-but-devastating arts.

Whether slow and miserable or upbeat and despondent, The Manipulated create an aural tapestry of doubt, wretchedness and recrimination. It’s effective and noteworthy.

The band combine noise and trumpet into their Sludge assault to add extra layers of filth and intrigue into their dismal sound.

It’s not all crushing Doom and Sludge however, as there are plenty of lighter moments too, although these are just as dark as the heavier ones. This aspect of their sound shows a Post-Metal influence and is reminiscent of bands like Isis, only with more shadows and places to hide.

The Manipulated have produced a very enjoyable and solid piece of work with Neon Messiah. It’s bleak and unforgiving but that only adds to its charm in my book.

This is the soundtrack for the malcontent.

Haate – As The Moon Painted Her Grief (Review)

Hailing from Italy, Haate is a one-man project playing Dark Ambient music.

I must confess to being naturally suspicious of releases of this nature as so often they can be excuses for basically doing nothing for minutes on end and I just get bored. However, when done right such as with the latest by Wolves in the Throne Room it can be very good indeed.

Haate immediately impress by actually having changes and progression in the tracks. There are three long songs here, (34 minutes in total), and even a few minutes into the first song there’s a fair bit going on.

Haate specialises in dark atmospheres and gloomy introspection. It’s like someone has really paid attention to all of those musical proto-Classical interludes/intros on 90’s Black Metal albums and decided to create a full album out of it all. This is merely an observation, however, not a criticism, as the resulting work is surprisingly, (to me), good.

There’s a fair bit of substance here, and we even get some low-in-the-mix Black Metal vocals and blastbeats. This is most unexpected but most welcome.

In addition to the synths and keyboards there are other, quasi-industrial sounds and noises accompanying proceedings and these add a level of darkness to the textured music. It sometimes gives the impression of inorganic breathing, which is a vaguely unsettling sound and really enhances the songs.

I’m impressed with this. Cynically I didn’t think it would be very enjoyable and I’m very pleased that I’m wrong. And do you know what? The more I listen to it the more I like it. It’s shockingly good.

For Black Metal fans who don’t always need the Metal part.

John Gallow – Violet Dreams (Review)

John Gallow is from the US and this is an album of Doom Metal.

This is a Doom Metal album that’s full of Doom and has lots of Doom Metal in it. The Doom is strong and the Doom is heavy, with lots of Doom Metal making an appearance and a liberal Doom sprinkling of Doom on the Doom side.

This Doom album is of the Traditional Doom variety with Classic Doom and Old-School Doom also being represented. Black Doom Sabbath are a good Doom starting point as well as other Doom members of the Doom pantheon used as Doom influences.

Doom. Doom. Doom.

Okay, enough of that. You get the idea.

There is just over an hour of music on this album and it’s a pleasure to listen to. The man has a powerful voice and the music has a good amount of variation and interest to it.

The riffs are good, the melodies bold and memorable and the production punchy and crisp. The songs are well-written and there are plenty of interludes, solos, leads, keys, effects and even bass shenanigans to keep the listener enthralled.

John Gallow has produced an album that manages to encapsulate all of what it means to be Traditional Doom Metal whilst managing to actually sound current and relevant at the same time. It may be resolutely Old-School in source material but this is an album that can stand proud in the 21st century as a exemplar of how this kind of music should sound.

Hail!

Astral Winter – Perdition (Review)

Astral Winter are an Australian Black Metal band and this is their second album.

But not this time; normally Astral Winter is Melodic Black Metal, but for this album things have taken an ambient turn and this release is all about dark soundscapes and sombre melancholy.

These tracks are mournful, droning, slow and relaxed. Light guitars, effects, keyboards, piano, strings and all manner of other instruments and sounds make appearances on this impressive album.

The songs presented here are wonderfully emotive and filled with feelings of darkness and hope intermingled. This is not a miserable album, this is one of darkened allure and ambitious scope.

Although this is an album of 8 tracks it could just as easily have been one long song as the tracks flow into each other and the entire album is a night-time journey into the mysterious and sublime.

Normally when bands take left-tuns like this it’s usually a misstep, but this is the work of a talented musician. This is a quality release by someone who knows what Neo-Classical should sound like and how it must progress and remain interesting to not bore the listener.

The sky at night has been shaped into an album of reflective beauty.

Get this.

Erlen Meyer – Erlen Meyer (Review)

Erlen Meyer are from France and play Post-Metal. This is their début.

Featuring a bold and striking album cover, the album itself is the sound of nightmares made musical and given a soundtrack.

This is dark, heavy and cathartic music. The walls of guitars and screaming vocals conjure negativity and rage. The overall effect Continue reading “Erlen Meyer – Erlen Meyer (Review)”