This is the fourth album from Nailed to Obscurity, a melodic doom metal band from Germany.
Nailed to Obscurity play a modernised version of old-school death/doom. Black Frost contains 47 minutes of material that can be roughly characterised as a combination of old Katatonia mixed with elements of Paradise Lost, Insomnium, Opeth, Décembre Noir, and others. The band definitely let their own collective personalities shine through in the music, however. Continue reading
This is the second album from one man death/doom metal band Vanha.
Vanha’s debut album Within the Mist of Sorrow struck me hard, and has stayed with me ever since as a quality exemplar of how to provide a textured and highly atmospheric display of 90s death/doom influences. Delivered as a duo, Vanha is now one man, Melancholia is his latest effort. Continue reading
This is the fifth album from Majestic Downfall, a Mexican death/doom band.
Having enjoyed very much Majestic Downfall’s 2014 split with The Slow Death, a new album of 52-minute duration is well-received. Continue reading
1914 are a Ukrainian blackened death/doom band and this is their second album.
I enjoy 1914’s work a lot, (check out Eschatology of War and their split with Minenwerfer, for example). With an appropriate concept for a band with this name, their latest creation is crushingly heavy and full of monolithic songs that devastate and destroy. Continue reading
Heads for the Dead are an international death metal band and this is their debut album.
Here we have another death metal supergroup of sorts from the always reliable Transcending Obscurity Records. Featuring the vocalist of the very tasty Revel in Flesh and the multi-talented Jonny Pettersson, (Ursinne, Ashcloud, Henry Kane, Just Before Dawn, Wombbath, and others), Serpent’s Curse gives us 36 minutes of horror-themed old-school death metal. Continue reading
This is the debut album from Gravewards, a Greek death metal band.
I have fond recollections of 2017’s Subconscious Lobotomy, so was pleased to see this band’s debut album appear. It’s 43 minutes of old-school death metal that’s influenced by the death metal greats from the 90s, while Continue reading
Doomed is a one man death/doom metal band from Germany, and this is his sixth album.
I have to say I’m a huge fan of Doomed. Our Ruin Silhouettes, Wrath Monolith, and Anna are all stunning examples of how to write and play death/doom; in my experience it’s all too easy for death/doom bands to fall back on the staples of the style and take the easy route when it comes to their music. The artist behind Doomed, however, has a knack for producing music that takes all of the strengths of the style, while avoiding all of its lazy weaknesses, resulting in music that truly adds things that you just don’t really hear other bands do. Continue reading
Self-Hatred are from the Czech Republic and this is their second album. They play death/doom metal.
Hlubiny is the follow up to 2016’s very enjoyable Theia, which I really liked for its contemporary take on the death/doom style. On Hlubiny the band have continued to develop and refine their sound, resulting in 42 minutes of material that sees them at their towering, monolithic best. Continue reading
This is the debut album from Italian death/doom band Assumption.
Get ready to explore the cosmos once more with Assumption. Debut EP The Three Appearances laid out the initial path, but now Absconditus takes us on the full journey. Continue reading
Affasia are a doom band from the US and this is their debut EP.
This EP contains four songs of melodic death/doom metal, spread out across 27 minutes of evocative and engaging music. Continue reading
