This is the eighth album from US doom metal band Bongripper.
Hell yeah, it’s time to bring the MASSIVE DOOM AGAIN! Empty boasts 67 minutes of gargantuan music that simply crushes flat everything within a mile radius of its imposing bulk. If you only get one doom album this year, then this is going to be the one. Continue reading “Bongripper – Empty (Review)”
Orme are a doom/drone band from the UK and this is their debut album.
Orme, (featuring a member of Everest Queen), play long-form droning doom, and on their debut album they haven’t held back. Orme only has two tracks, but there’s still 96 minutes of music here. Nazarene is 42 minutes long and Onward to Sarnath is 54 minutes long. Either one of these would have sufficed as the band’s debut album, but apparently Orme don’t do things by halves. Continue reading “Orme – Orme (Review)”
This is the second album from Ggu:ll, a blackened doom band from the Netherlands.
Featuring ex-members of Dodecahedron, Ex Est contains 45 minutes of music that’s sharp, bleak, and harsh. With the promo blurb stating that Ex Est is for fans of Mizmor, Bell Witch, Lord Mantis, Bongripper, and Funeral Mist, I couldn’t help but be intrigued. Let’s dive in… Continue reading “Ggu:ll – Ex Est (Review)”
This is the second album from Everest Queen, a sludge metal band from the UK.
I’ve enjoyed following Everest Queen, from their initial self-titled EP in 2016 to their debut album Dead Eden in 2019, so to have a new album appear in the wild is a fine thing. Murmurations boasts 44 minutes of new music, so let’s get stuck in. Continue reading “Everest Queen – Murmurations (Review)”
![[ B O L T ] Morasth - [ B O L T ] vs. Morasth - Split](https://wonderboxmetal.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/b-o-l-t-morasth-b-o-l-t-vs.-morasth-split.jpg)
[ B O L T ] are a drone/doom band and Morasth are a doom/post-metal band, both are from Germany.
[ B O L T ] offer a single track and start us off on this split with the 21-minute [ 0 6 ]. Continue reading “[ B O L T ]/Morasth – [ B O L T ] vs. Morasth – Split (Review)”
Body Void are a doom band from the US and this is their second album.
I love bands that play horrible, nihilistic, pitch-black doom/sludge, and Body Void are my latest discovery in this vein. If you’re a fan of bands such as Primitive Man, Khanate, Bongripper, CHRCH, and Keeper, for example, then this is very definitely for you. Continue reading “Body Void – I Live Inside a Burning House (Review)”
Endname are a Russian progressive doom band and this is their fourth album.
Triatom is a long, involved, and weighty release that spreads out to cover doom, atmospheric, progressive, sludge, and post-metal territories across its playing time of 72 minutes. Continue reading “Endname – Triatom (Review)”
Keeper are from the US and Sea Bastard are from the UK. Both bands play Doom and contribute a single track to this split.
Keeper are up first with 777, clocking in at almost 14 minutes.
777 is crushingly repetitive Sludge Doom with acerbic, toxic screams that tear through the meaty guitars like a serrated blade through flesh.
This is a song that glorifies the heavy riff, slows it down and then makes it even thicker than normal through some form of arcane jiggery-pokery. Yes, that’s the term.
Imagine Khanate if they had the structure of Electric Wizard. Agonizingly delectable.
Uncompromisingly bleak, Keeper show that they mean business and easily have what it takes to join the big leagues of filthy, hateful Doom.
The wonderfully named Sea Bastard are next with Astral Rebirth, which is almost 21 minutes long.
Astral Rebirth is another lumbering behemoth of a song. Long, slow and heavy; Sea Bastard have come to flatten everything.
Imagine Bongripper if they had deep growling/high screaming vocals and you’ll be in the general area.
This is another song that is relentlessly heavy and is crushingly repetitive; flowing tsunamis of heavy guitars seem to repeatedly peak and crash on the listener. The Doom is huge and we love it this way.
Not content with just playing slow, the pace does pick up but the feeling of being compressed down by an immense weight never leaves. Heaviness is in their DNA.
Both bands to an excellent job of their time on this split and if you’re looking for a good introduction to some top quality Doom then look no further.
Highly recommended.
This is the latest EP from US Stoner Doom band Mammoth Salmon.
The riffs are chunky and full of substance; you won’t go hungry for heaviness here as the band have a nice organic sound that shows off their Doom-laden platter and allows all-comers to gorge on their ample treats.
The first song Dark Descent is an instrumental slow burner of monolithic and classic Doom Metal that crushes the listener in grand riffs before devolving into almost space-age noise and bleeps, then suitably recovering itself for the end of the track.
It’s only on the second song In Constant Shadows that we get to hear the vocals; powerful dirty-cleans that are belted out with strength and passion and fit perfectly with the warm, living sound of the rest of the band.
Each of the songs has a vibrant central core, wrapped lovingly in an earthy embrace of colossal riffs and songwriting know-how. Each track sounds lived in and worked on by enthusiastic hands and wise minds. Laid-back and easy going, but heavy and relentless; not a million miles away from what I imagine Bongripper would song like if they had a singer and shorter songs.
At 27 minutes the band have well and truly captured my attention with their considerable skills. A recommended listen for sure, and here’s hopefully to an album in the future.
![[ B O L T ]/Morasth – [ B O L T ] vs. Morasth – Split (Review)](https://wonderboxmetal.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/b-o-l-t-morasth-b-o-l-t-vs.-morasth-split.jpg?w=700)
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