Swamp Witch are a doom/sludge band from the US. This is their debut album.
Sludge heaviness mixes with psychedelic hypnotic grooves to create slow, torturous music that takes the listener on a tour through forgotten swamps, populated by hideous witches, (do you see what I did there?).
Deep growled vocals act as a guide on this foul journey, paving a path through the murk with sheer force of diseased will. Continue reading “Swamp Witch – The Slithering Bog (Review)”
Sadhus “The Smoking Community” are a sludge/doom band and Agnes Vein are a blackened sludge band. Both are from Greece.
Sadhus “The Smoking Community” start us of with their track, Abduction, which is almost six minutes of heaviosity.
This is slow, lazy and heavy, just as sludgy doom should be. It gives a strong impression of the band on stage, heads down, peeling off heavy riffs with stoned concentration and Continue reading “Sadhus “The Smoking Community”/Agnes Vein – Split (Review)”
Svlfvr are an Italian blackened doom metal band. This is their latest album.
What we have here is essentially a doom metal band that have fallen to darkness and embraced black metal as a secondary influence. There are some other influences detectable in their sound too, (old Anathema), and they all converge together quite nicely over these 56 minutes.
The songs on Shamanic Lvnar Cvlt have muscular guitars and plenty of dark presence. The old-school black metal influences make for a darker sound than most doom metal bands, but the traditional doom metal aspect of their sound means that they don’t wander too Continue reading “Svlfvr – Shamanic Lvnar Cvlt (Review)”
Inter Arma are a US post-metal band and this is their third album.
Well, here we have something that has a massive amount of expectation attached to it, at least from me. Their 2014 release The Cavern was a single 45 minute track that came close to attaining perfection. It was, quite simply, the best thing I heard that year, which is why it was my album of the year for 2014.
So, it’s with no pressure, (hehe), that I pressed play on their latest release, and let the band’s involved soundscapes take me away. Continue reading “Inter Arma – Paradise Gallows (Review)”
Slomatics are a sludge/doom band from the UK. This is their fifth album.
A brief overview of Future Echo Returns – doom, sludge, psychedelia, stoner, feedback, atmosphere, synths, heaviness, riffs, leads, solos, metal, songs. More than anything this last one; this album is about songs. Damn good ones too.
In addition to the songs themselves, Slomatics are all about the Continue reading “Slomatics – Future Echo Returns (Review)”
This is the debut release of Nekhen, a blackened doom solo project from Italy.
Even though this is the project’s first journey out into the world, the brains behind the outfit is obviously not lacking in ambition. According to the press blurb – ‘The album is intended as Continue reading “Nekhen – Entering the Gate of the Western Horizon (Review)”
French doom band Monolithe continue to impress with every new release, and latest album Zeta Reticuli is no exception. Guitarist Rémi Brochard explains a bit more about the concept behind the release, and how it fits in with Epsilon Aurigae…
MONOLITHE is a dark/doom metal band. The band was created in 2001 by guitarist/songwriter Sylvain Bégot and has released 6 albums, one compilation and 2 EP.
In the beginnings, that might be British early doom/death bands, some death metal bands and a lot of everything else, really.
Actually, speaking for myself, I listen to prog metal a lot, with greats bands such as Circus Maximus. I also listened to the last Moonsorrow; not their best but still a great album that I highly recommend. I discovered the new Winterhorde album, Maestro, a prog black metal band which kicks ass. Also King, the last Fleshgod Apocalypse album, and a nice discovery: Carpenter Brut, a French electro project, which reminds me the movie Drive’s OST! Continue reading “Interview with Monolithe”
Temple Nightside are a blackened death metal band from Australia and this is their second album.
The first thing that attracted me to this album was the cover. Mysterious and ominous; the music naturally follows from this too. Also like the cover, the music is quite terrifying when you stop, really pay attention to it and let its dark atmospheres seep into you.
This is music that reeks of the bestial underground; the region that’s inhabited by Continue reading “Temple Nightside – The Hecatomb (Review)”
Vow of Thorns are a post-black metal band from Canada, and this is their début album.
This is post-black metal with liberal lashings of the depressive and doom styles, and a taste for the progressive too.
The songs have a depressive black metal feel to them, coming from their general demeanour and the melodies used. Continue reading “Vow of Thorns – Farewell to the Sun (Review)”
Monolithe are a French doom band, and this is their sixth album.
Monolithe are no stranger to this site, having been covered previously here, here and here. This latest album is the second part, a companion release, as it were, to their last one, Epsilon Aurigae, and continues their evolution away from their original funeral doom style into uncharted territories.
Like Epsilon Aurigae, Zeta Reticuli sees the band keeping aspects of funeral doom, but adding increasingly progressive influences to their sound. It also sees them keeping the same format – three songs, 15:00 minutes each, exactly. Continue reading “Monolithe – Zeta Reticuli (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 