Descend into Despair are a Romanian funeral doom band and this is their second album.
2014’s colossal The Bearer of All Storms was a huge, monolithic slab of atmospheric funeral death/doom. With over 90 minutes of material, it was a weighty, substantial listen that matched its quantity with an equal amount of quality. Continue reading “Descend into Despair – Synaptic Veil (Review)”
Soijl are a Swedish death/doom metal band and this is their second album.
Soijl play atmospheric death/doom, heavy on the atmosphere and crushing weight. Continue reading “Soijl – As the Sun Sets on Life (Review)”
This is the latest EP from Swiss post-black metal band Schammasch.
Oh, Schammasch. You never quite know what they’re going to do next. Their last album, the colossal and immense Triangle, was so good it made it to the second position in my best of 2016 list.
Continue reading “Schammasch – The Maldoror Chants: Hermaphrodite (Review)”
Idre are a doom band from the US and this is their second album.
This is the follow up to 2014’s self titled debut, which was an impressive release that provided two tracks of heavily atmospheric and layered music. Continue reading “Idre – Unforgiving Landscapes (Review)”
Buioingola are an atmospheric doom band from Italy and this is their second album.
Il Nuovo Mare is the follow up to the band’s 2013 debut Dopo l’Apnea. This was a release that established Buioingola as a band that were travelling their own way, and a release that firmly stuck in my mind as one of the more memorable ones of that year. Continue reading “Buioingola – Il Nuovo Mare (Review)”
Suffer Yourself are Ukrainian/Swedish and play atmospheric doom/death metal. This is their second album.
This is atmospheric doom/death with an emphasis on long, slow songs that are filled with morbid beauty and hopeless despair.
The pace is torturously slow, but we like it that way. The band take their time to carefully build atmosphere through relentless heavy distortion and lighter, more restrained passages; frequently combined together. Continue reading “Suffer Yourself – Ectoplasm (Review)”
Soothsayer are a doom band from Ireland. This is their latest release.
Soothsayer play atmospheric doom/sludge that thrives on dense, dark emotion and otherworldly atmospheres.
This is slow-building music that wields atmosphere like a wrecking ball, crushing everything around it with the sheer weight of oppressive mood and feeling. Continue reading “Soothsayer – At This Great Depth (Review)”
Doomed is a solo project from Germany and this is his fourth album playing Doom/Death Metal.
Doomed’s third album Our Ruin Silhouettes was a good example of quality Doom/Death that ticked all of the right boxes for the genre. Curiously, this new release has a song on it called Our Ruin Silhouettes yet the actual album named this did not.
So how has Doomed progressed on this new release? Well, it’s still the familiar Doom/Death style that lovers of the sub-genre will be so familiar with, (how could it not be?), although on this latest album this seems a bit more riff-hungry in places, with a little more of the Death Metal side of the Doom/Death equation coming to the fore.
The Funeral Doom marches and depressive moods are still present and correct. Doom/Death is a very specific sub-genre, and once you move too far away from the core of this style you’re not playing it any more. The guy behind Doomed knows exactly what he’s doing though and these compositions milk the most from the emotional misery while at the same time allowing for sufficient variation in writing and pacing so that these 51 minutes don’t feel as agonisingly slow as the music can be.
Guest vocalists add further interest to the songs, and these compliment the main Deathgrowls which are as deep and as enjoyable as they previously were.
Due to the ramping up of the Death Metal influence, the guitars have a bit more energy to them in places and as it’s all wrapped up in a crushing production. The riffs seem to jump out of the speakers like eager puppies. Although admittedly, these are dark, misery-drenched puppies determined to drown you in woe.
Hmmm. Misery puppies?
What the Hell, let’s go with it.
Strong leads, melodies and solos abound. As one of the cornerstones of the style, the forlorn melodies are carried out really well. The songs do a laudable job of manifesting the negativity that sits at the core of the music.
The album showcases the Atmospheric side of the band in addition to the depressive. Synths and keyboards add extra layers to parts of the songs and there’s even a hint of a Progressive Metal slant on some parts of this release. If this is further developed even more on future releases then this would be a valuable addition to the Doomed sound, as it already seems to be becoming.
Wrath Monolith is a very impressive album that’s pretty much at the top of its game. I find Doom/Death to be a sub-genre that can easily become a little stale, so I’m pleased to report that this is not the case here. The music holds the attention easily and this is an album that has a lot to offer. As stated, there’s a surprising amount of variety and interest to be had here and it seems that Doomed’s songwriting is just getting better and better.
Very highly recommended.
This is the second album by US Atmospheric Doom band Secrets of the Sky.
We’ve encountered this impressive band twice before – their début album and their split with Godhunter.
Due to this, Pathway has been somewhat eagerly awaited by yours truly.
The band’s brand of Doom is one that mixes Atmospheric/Progressive Doom and Post-Metal to create an interesting soundscape for the listener to drown in.
On Pathway they have continued to progress their sound. The heavy parts sound bigger and more imposing while the lighter parts sound more nuanced and well-rounded.
The album boasts a particularly vibrant and organic production where all of the instruments sound completely clear and very strong. The drum sound in particular is an impressive one, although in a way it’s unfair to single out any one instrument as they all have a very satisfying finish.
Vocally we continue to get an impressive array of voices, from cleans to screams to shouts to growls. Pretty much all bases are covered and all styles are used according to how they best convey the band’s message.
These songs are gorgeous Post-Metal/Progressive Doom essays that take in multiple textures and rich imagery in their running times. The songs, overall, are slightly shorter in length than Secrets of the Sky’s previous work, but this is not to their detriment; they’re exactly the length they need to be to achieve what they want to do.
Secrets of the Sky have enough talent to dominate at whatever they try, it seems. Whether this be the heavier, the lighter, the progressive, the aggressive, the angelic clean melodies or the Blackened screaming…it’s all an aural treat for jaded ears.
I always like music that seems to take you on a journey and in this regard the album is aptly named. These are superior compositions that should see Secrets of the Sky propelled to the upper echelons of the Progressive/Doom/Post-Whatever pantheon.
Like a canvas painted in sound, this is destined to be a masterpiece.
I can’t think of a single reason you shouldn’t have this in your music collection. Can you?
This is Atmospheric Doom/Sludge from the US. It’s the début release from this solo project.
The intro track Our Fields Are Burning is slow and meandering, and reminds me of Abandon. The singer barks over the first part of it and I like his voice; aggressive, legible and passionate.
June 2, 1910 is the first song proper and also the longest at just under 10 minutes. I’m once again reminded of Abandon, and their combination of Doom and Sludge with a dose of Crust is a path that Old Thunder also adhere to.
Having said that, Old Thunder also have faster sections that put me more in mind of a band like Rorcal with their Blackened Sludge delivery.
The first half of Sinking sounds like it’s stalking prey through a dark wilderness and once more I feel the need to comment on his barking voice; it’s very expressive and sounds really, really good. Nice work that man.
Rainroom has a strong despondent melodic streak running through it that focuses more on the Atmospheric Doom side of the equation, as well as some My Dying Bride/Katatonia influences.
The final track Serpent Sovereign is all about the dirrrggggeeeee.
My favourite parts of this release are the bits where the music slows, the guitars lock into a Doomy repetitive riff and the down-beat melodics come into play.
There’s also the odd moment of Post-Metal thrown into the mix, and even some clean vocals added in to spice things up.
This is a surprisingly diverse mix of Doom-esque sub-genres. All performed well and all, for the most part, sounding naturally mixed and not just cut and pasted together.
Slings & Arrows falls short of being absolutely phenomenal only very marginally. The first reason is the recording; there’s nothing wrong with it as such but I can’t help but feel the songs would benefit from a slightly fuller, warmer sound. The second is the songwriting; although very accomplished, especially for a first release, I feel it could be tightened up a little bit here and there.
Really though, these are very minor quibbles as this is a top quality début. On the basis of Slings & Arrows I fully expect that the next release from Old Thunder will be totally jaw-dropping.
Be sure to check this out.
Wonderbox Metal 