Doom Metal – Page 65 – Wonderbox Metal

Corrosion of Conformity – IX (Review)

Corrosion of Conformity are from the US and this, as the title suggests, is their 9th album and it’s chock full of tasty Southern Metal.

For many though this band need no introduction. This is Southern Metal that combines elements of Heavy Metal, Doom Metal and Punk Rock into the 42 minutes playing time.

The songs exude confidence and walk with a cocky swagger. In some ways you could call this “feelgood Metal”. This is good-time Rock-and-Roll that’s the Metal equivalent of easy listening. Almost.

The album has an organic, earthy feel to it with the sound matching.

There’s a very relaxed vibe to most of these songs, with the band sounding loose, almost like it’s a rehearsal. They sound very much at ease with the material and even the more up tempo songs don’t seem hurried in any way.

The vocals are lazily melodic and have an ease of delivery where it feels like his voice just falls out of the speakers.

Ultimately Corrosion of Conformity have a lot of charisma and the songs are easy to like. IX is a good listen.

Servants of the Mist – Gross Knowledge of Genital Mutilation (Review)

This is the latest EP from US Sludge/Doom Metal band Servants of the Mist.

The EP is 25 minutesin length and after the perfunctory intro we’re into the feedback-drenched first song Undeserving, which at just under 12 minutes serves as the centrepiece of the release.

The music is crushing, monolithic Doom with a corrupted, rotten Sludge veneer and a core of pure hatred.

We get bowel-loosening deep vocals and piercing high-pitched ones, both sound great and complement the music perfectly.

A deep aura of misery pervades these tracks and the band do all they can to punish and obliterate the listener with their steady, slow assault.

This is a really enjoyable form of dank Doom that just won’t give up; the strongly oppressive feeling of the tracks makes for a compelling release that sticks in the mind long after the last foetid chord has faded.

The band have enough talent that whether they are playing agonisingly slow Doom or slightly-more-upbeat Sludge they do it with obvious passion and with riffs to die for.

Negatively emotive and bleakly enticing; Servants of the Mist really know how to write a good Doom tune.

I mean, honestly; if you’re at all into this kind of music what’s not to like here?

Mournful Congregation – Concrescence Of The Sophia (Review)

This is the latest EP from Australia’s Doom kings Mournful Congregation.

This is Funeral Doom played slow and insistent. The band have honed their skills over many a long year and this latest release sees them shaping and unleashing two new tracks on the world.

The first song Concrescence Of The Sophia is a 21:41 minute trawl through all things Funeral; the band having refined their sense of dirge to the point of exquisite melancholy and dampened moods. Here we are taken through a slowly unwinding journey where flowing riffs, acoustic passages and deep, end-of-the-world vocals are your travel companions.

The song plays like a slowed down hymn to all things rotten and weary, and just when things pick up slightly and some semblance of speed emerges, all of a sudden hope is lost and we’re back to the misery of existence once more. Suffice to say, in the context of Doom Metal this is a very good thing.

The second song, Silence Of The Passed, seems rather short at 8:56 minutes after this, although the content more than makes up for it. The riffs are warmer and more melodic than the previous composition, although it’s all relative of course as this still crawls along compared to most songs. Nevertheless, the atmosphere and aura is all encompassing and perfectly matched to the longer, more drawn out first track.

Each song works well as a companion piece to the other; similar enough to be recognisable as part of a whole, but differentiated enough not to repeat itself.

This release is worth the acquisition. Let Mournful Congregation into your life and let the despair run through you.

http://www.mournfulcongregation.com/

Interview with Decembre Noir

Decembre Noir’s début album A Discouraged Believer is a polished Doom/Death Metal release, dripping with raw and bloody emotion. It has that mystery ingredient that lifts a band above the norm into the higher realms. We decided it was important to delve a bit deeper into the background of the album to find out what makes it tick…

Give us a bit of background to Decembre Noir

Hi, I’m Lars, vocalist from Decembre Noir. So I’d like to give you my reply!

We are 5 (nice) guys from East-Germany, from the region round Erfurt, the capital from Thueringia (one of the “states” from Germany). Besides our bandproject our “baby” – almost all of us have a normal life with job and own family.

What are your influences?

Katatonia, Opeth, In Mourning, October Tide, Swallow The Sun, My Dying Bride, Anathema and Paradise Lost! 😉

I characterize the style/sound of the album!

Dark + heavy = Décembre Noir!!! “A Discouraged Believer” is a fucking doom/death monster!

Our sound in the main has become some stronger and the structures of the songs who already has been available have changed to become much more better. More Death and Black metal elements and many melodies gave the songs their final outfit. Last but not least the classical influence from the cello. In private we all listen to different music and so it was used a little bit from all our musical tastes. The good combination is doing his work!

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

Haha, Katatonia’s “Brave Murder Day” ! I LOVE this album! Every song on this record is a Doom-Metal-Diamond! My favorite song on this album is “Brave” !!! Fucking great!!! I love it!!!

What did you want to achieve with your new album?

We want to have a solid mainstay in the metal-scene! 😉

We would like to play on the bigger festivals in summertime, lovely, but unfortunately for that year we haven’t got any acceptances. We hope it is possible next year because it must be a very special experience to play stages like With Full Force, Summer Breeze, Partysan, Hellfest or In Flammen!

Are you happy with how it turned out?

Absolutely!!! We are full of proud and very happy about our first album!!! We love this record!!!

What can you tell us about the lyrics?

So to speak we have a basic concept in our album „A discouraged believer“. You can speak about the classical main idea who you can find inside the album. Nevertheless every song is standing for itself.

It tells about the journey of a young man who is trying to find every day the meaning in his life and way. It seems he has reached a deadlock, only he is looking at the obstacles in his weekday, the typical problems which become more and more and can overtax someone and no idea how to change something, because he is get stuck somehow… So like in “Thorns”.

Our protagonist is searching for that, what we call “God”, but can’t find “Him” or any answers. That’s why he is discouraged, cause he has understood, that he can’t get any help from a “greater power” and he has to go his life way and find the meaning behind that all alone.

For instance in “Stowaway” is the theme suicide to see a chance for a new begin in life (But to forestall any critical readers or regarding this potential concerned or endangered people: Don’t panic, nobody from us will incite anybody for do that!!! Please do not misunderstand!). Much more is the thought what is standing behind that song, bother things who weigh heavily upon our mind to leave behind, finish with them and try to orientate to another direction respectively to find a better way to arrange the life.

On following song “Resurrection” the name is program It reflects the start in a new life.

For myself the album is one of my most personal things, what I have written yet in my life. Have putted lots of time and heart-blood in that album. So many people has fought in life with similar piled up problems, whether in job, relationship, family…and already we all were standing for the question, who is the meaning of all and finally comes to the result if you want life better you have to make a personal breakout and has to change by yourself a lot!

Decembre Noir Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.

Already the songs before sounded really good and varied, but of course because of the teamwork with Ali they became much better! For us all that was an unbelievable experience! We have worked with diverse guest singers and musicians. For example one of my best friends Tele (guitar player of the German Pagan/Black metal band “Hangatyr”), who gave us some clean vocals for the songs “Decembre noir” and “Resurrection”. Alis girlfriend Katharina, who is singing with me in “Escape to the sun” a duet. Not to forget our lady on the cello, Nicole, who has shown her talent by the Darkwave band “Other Day”. Just that records with the Cello have been very interesting, for Ali too, because for him it was the first time to working with such an very nice sounded instrument. Mix a cello in your music and you will get an unbelievable atmosphere. We have experimented with Synthisounds too. You can be exciting about really great moments.

At least we are happy about the result of our job!

Well, we had a very special time and a lot of fun during recording and have to say we grew as musicians and band! We were much more glad, when Eike O. Freese (Dark Age) offered us to mix and master our album together with Ali in Hamburg! On that place a great “Thank you” to both and we hope we can mix and master our next album with Ali and Eike again!
How do you see your position in the wider Doom/Death Metal musical framework/genre?

We are a tiny star on the big metal-heaven! But we want to grow! Latest with the next album! 😉

What’s next for Decembre Noir?

Looking for gigs…Well till then we will use the free time to work on next songs. We have lots of ideas and material. Guess we will start again in autumn – with pleasure!

So you will hear from us – enjoy our album and stay heavy and dark!!!

Regards from Lars!!!

Thanks!

Serpentine Path – Emanations (Review)

This is the second album from US Doom Metal band Serpentine Path.

This is heavy. This is very heavy indeed. End of review.

Just kidding. But seriously…this is one heavy album.

This is Doom-laden Sludge Metal with a healthy Old-School Death Metal influence that recalls the slowest of the Old-School masters at their dirgy best.

The band themselves have been kidnapped from all manner of high profile bands and know their stuff. In this context it’s no surprise that Emanations is such a winner. Considering their pedigree it would be a bigger surprise if this album had fallen flat on its face. As if.

The dark atmosphere and colossal riffs seem to fall from a great height to blanket the landscape and crush everything in sight. The leads and musical refrains are splashes of melodic colour in an otherwise pitch black landscape designed to emphasise the fact that all hope is in fact lost and these glimpses of better times are things that you’ll never have again.

Although these nuances of colour are peripheral concerns in the context of the larger song structure as Serpentine Path specialise in a brutal brand of Sludge/Doom that pummels the listener into submission more than lulling them into despair. The fact that these nuances exist however just gives the band more depth than they might otherwise have without them.

The vocals are pretty deep; they don’t reach the guttural lows of pure Death Metal although they do come close. They fit the music better than cookie-monster vocals would though and have an appropriately atavistic quality to them that goes perfectly with the mood the band create.

The album has a strong sound that isn’t overproduced and brings out the best of the gargantuan riffs. I could listen to this over and over again. And I will. For some time. Surely that’s the very definition of a successful album?

Walk down the Serpentine Path. You might not know where it leads but you’re damn sure in for a good journey.

Sadhak – Sadhak (Review)

Sadhak are from Norway and play Doom Metal. This is their début EP.

This 2 track EP comes to just under 19 minutes in length and is a suitable taster for what Sadhak are capable of as well as holding much promise for what they might offer in the future.

It’s mournful and sorrowful; the emotional content drips from every chord. An emptiness felt deep in the marrow; a feeling of misfortune so profound that nothing can ever set things right.

The vocals are ethereal and timeless, seemingly drifting from some distant world behind a clouded veil. They lovingly caress the music and promise an ocean of despair should they ever fully enter our world. But alas this is never to be. Something, somewhere, is destined to be trapped forever; lost and alone, singing a plaintive song of loss. It is this that Sadhak channel.

Two songs; a lifetime of melancholy. Imagine what they could do with an album.

Wicked Inquisition – Silence Thereafter (Review)

Wicked Inquisition are from the US and play Traditional Heavy Metal.

Here we have some good old-fashioned worship of all things 70’s style Doom, with Black Sabbath, Trouble and Saint Vitus all being good reference points.

This is a short EP, with 4 songs in just under 16 minutes, one of which is an interlude-style track.

This kind of music is instantly familiar as soon as you press play; within the first couple of seconds they’ve already established what they’re all about and what you should expect.

The songs are good and the production warm. The singer fits with the vibe of the band and everything gels nicely into place.

They do what they do well and make for a perfectly enjoyable 16 minutes. You know what to expect with this style, and Wicked Inquisition do it as well as any.

Decembre Noir – A Discouraged Believer (Review)

Decembre Noir are from Germany and play Depressive/Doom/Death Metal.

This is a release dripping with emotion, raw and bloody. The songs are instantly recognisable as carriers for the dark disease of misery and hopelessness.

They take their cues from bands such as early Opeth, Katatonia, Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride. They build on this classic template by injecting their own vital sense of songwriting into the mix and effectively breathe life into a subgenre that can easily become stale and overdone in the wrong hands.

Decembre Noir know what they’re doing though. The crisp and powerful production meshed with the emotive riffs and the highly accomplished growled vocals mean that this is no amateur piece of work.

The tracks summon up their negative energies and deliver them with a strong Metal wrapping that can easily hold its own.

And just when you think you’ve got them down, the last song Escape to the Sun throws up some gorgeous clean male/female vocals in a gloriously luxurious section. It’s brief, and all the more special for it.

The band take the listener on a journey through melancholy conveyed via the medium of Metal, and what a trip it is.

Decembre Noir have that certain special something that the bands mentioned above all have/had in abundance. Get your ears around this one, it’s a keeper.

Pilgrim – II: Void Worship (Review)

Pilgrim play Doom Metal and come from the US. As the name suggests, this is their second album.

The band play a classic form of Black Sabbath-inspired Doom Metal that has a vaguely retro feel, but not overly so like some bands of this ilk.

Pilgrim have an epic feeling to their songs, but not in the same way that Power Metal can be epic, or Black Metal can be; this is more in the form of a terrible majesty and awesome horror, frightening but enlightening to behold. The tracks definitely have that otherworldly feeling.

The vocals are highly accomplished and are stronger than the average for this kind of band; the singer has range, depth and nuance.

The second song Master’s Chamber is the longest and my favourite of the 8 tracks on offer. It is slow and steady; a winding collection of gargantuan riffage that could move mountains with its heaviosity and burn heavens with its occult aura. This isn’t merely Doom, but DOOOOOOOM!

It’s important enough to say again.

DOOOOOOOM!

That’s better.

This album’s a bit of a belter really, the kind of album where the riffs suck you in, slooowly chew you up and slooowly spit you out. Slow isn’t their only speed and they know when to raise the tempo and rock out a bit when the mood is right. And you’d better get out of their way because when they do they mean business.

Pilgrim rule.

Obelyskkh – Hymn To Pan (Review)

This is the third album by Germany’s Obelyskkh and they play Doom that’s crushing and visceral.

They have an extremely full, heavy sound; like they’re about to birth a special kind of monster into the world.

As well as super-heavy Doom they are also adept at adding a bit of melody into the proceedings to further the depth and richness of their sound. I particularly enjoy these moments in The Ravens where it reminds almost of Agalloch.

Take the Pagan side of Agalloch, mix with some Post-Metal Neurosis elements and wrap in some demolishing Doom and you’re close to the Obelyskkh sound.

The vocals are very impressive; powerful, strong, forceful, full of charisma and with good range and variety – not a weak link to be found.

Importantly these are not just collections of riffs they are actual songs, with plenty of hooks to grab the listener and draw them close. They are, dare I say it, catchy in a lot of ways.

Each track is expertly constructed and well thought-out; designed to create a highly impressive collection of Doom that’s damn near essential for anyone with even a passing interest in this genre.

Compared to most bands this is an album that’s on another level entirely. Prepare to meet one of your new favourite bands.