Doom – Page 135 – Wonderbox Metal

Aethyr – Corpus (Review)

This is the second album from Russian Doom band Aethyr.

This is dark and evil music with a Blackened aura to it that accompanies the Doom core like a shroud of malignancy.

The band utilise emotive riffs that play on the negative feelings of the listener and tease them out, bare and vulnerable for all to see. They then take these exposed emotions and weave them into guitar parts that embody them.

In this respect there’s a Post-Metal quality to the guitars as they’re often transcendent and expressive whilst being dragged down into the gloom of Doom.

Mournful hatred and despondent anger seem to simmer just below the surface. If the music is the main receptacle for the miserable aspect of their sound then the vocals are the vehicle for the anger and rage.

The singer alternates between Blackened screams and dark growls. Both are performed well and neither sound entirely human.

Faster sections are included too and the band have a grasp of elegant dynamics. Corpus is a well-paced album with lots of well-written tracks that easily hold attention.

Overall this is an involving and complete listen. Aethyr remind me of a cross between Red Harvest, Zatokrev and some form of primordial Doom Metal.

Aethyr have clear direction in their sound and use the 50 minutes of music here to showcase their abilities with great effect.

Corpus is an impressive album by a talented band. Give them a listen.

Abstracter – Wound Empire (Review)

This is the second album from US Sludge/Doom band Abstracter.

After really enjoying their 2012 debut album Tomb of Feathers, this is a release that has been eagerly awaited in these parts.

The first track, Lightless, seems to slowly writhe up out of a dark pit of urban decay, attempting to smother the land with its malignant spread. It’s an insidious start to the album and before you realise what’s going on you’re trapped in a nightmare landscape of pitch-black smoke and evil.

But oh dear Lord is it good. Rarely has cloying, suffocating Sludge felt so visceral and nastily enticing.

Abstracter are heavy and grim in the best ways that Sludge and Doom can achieve. These songs are essays in crawling malevolence and destructive passion. The band emanate a very raw darkness that you can feel like a physical presence.

I like the combination of nuanced riffing, heavy guitars and brutally gorgeous delivery. Abstracter effortlessly combine the beauty of Post-Metal with the dirty horror of Sludge. Their songwriting skills are such that moments of ugliness and transcendence are merged together. When the shades of light and dark clash there’s only ever going to be one true winner, but even though the menacing and murky atmospheres encase everything, the light isn’t totally consumed; you can feel it pulsing, straining against its captivity by this Hellish beast. This tense undercurrent is what gives Wound Empire its hidden beauty.

There’s a Black Metal influence to their sound that fits flawlessly into what they do. It’s not overbearing and doesn’t detract from the Doom, it just adds a further layer of thickly encrusted grime to songs that are already intimately familiar with all things subterranean.

With each of these titanic monuments to apocalyptic dystopian futures, I think that Abstracter have outdone themselves and actually managed to top their début album. No mean feat.

With true depth of composition and a talent for wrapping the listener up in their vision of all things gloomy and heavy, Abstracter have produced an album that has blown me away.

Fans of Neurosis, Altar of Plagues, Indian, Inter Arma, Amenra, Yob, Wolvhammer, Thou, etc. should perk up and take notice now.

Essential listening.

Keeper/Sea Bastard – Split (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.

Unhold – Towering (Review)

Unhold are a Sludge Metal band from Switzerland and this is their fourth album.

Unhold play Sludge Metal with a good grasp of Space Rock, Doom, Post-Metal and Progressive Metal.

The band boast multiple talented singers and each of them brings something to the table, be that Neurosis-style rough vocals, effortless cleans or powerful female vocals.

This is a diverse selection of tracks that feature shades of light and dark, build and release mechanics, dynamic pacing, rich texture and atmosphere by the bucketload. You can just taste the quality dripping off this album like fat.

A warm sound translates into tracks that feel very organic and natural. These songs sound alive and vibrant.

I love albums that feel like a complete listening experience; where each song seems to have its place and has its own identity. Towering is such an album.

Whether it’s gritty Sludge, colossal Doom, Southern-baked meandering or epic Progressive workouts, Unhold play their songs with style, conviction and depth.

There’s a lot of variety here that’s a pleasure to explore. The band have both the discipline and experience to craft songs that have a large amount of depth and longevity. The tracks are composed in ways that seem effortless and unforced. Ideas from all manner of subgenres and styles are incorporated into their repertoire and it seems that every aspect of musical expression they dabble with comes out a winner.

Unhold have produced an exemplar of Sludge Metal that’s going to be hard to top. Be sure to check them out.

My Shameful – Hollow (Review)

This is the sixth album from Finnish Funeral Doom/Death Metallers My Shameful.

My Shameful craft dark and atmospheric Funeral Doom containing elements of Death Metal that are completely bent and broken to Doom’s single-minded will. Even the faster sections carry an aura of depressive longing and tragic woe that no amount of blast beats can erase.

The songs slowly build in intensity and atmosphere using textured guitars and eerie melodies. The band do a great job of stamping their own identity on the Doom/Death template and although it’s obviously recognisable as the genre it is, My Shameful don’t sound generic or stale at all. Kudos to them.

One of the key things about this band which sets them apart from others in the genre is the guitars; Rather than settle for the ever-familiar heavy rhythms with winding leads approach that so many go for, My Shameful have rhythms and riffs that are more nuanced and subtle than the norm for this style. Add some spectral effects and otherworldly sounds, mix in the expressive vocals and wrap it all up in some quality songwriting and Hollow is an album to savour.

This is haunting, strangely beautiful music that fosters a morbidly oppressive mood. Even the vocals, which are brutally evil growls, add to this feeling of ethereal heaviosity where the band seem to strike the right balance between darkness and light. It’s certainly not an equal balance, probably 85/15, but it’s one that allows them to work their Doom Metal magic.

As far as Doom/Death goes it doesn’t get much better than this.

Doomlord – Black Testament (Review)

Doomlord are from Puerto Rico and play Doom Metal. This is their début album.

After enjoying their first release – Almas Malditas – I was eager to check out Black Testament to see if the band had made good on the promise displayed in that first split. The answer is yes.

Doomlord specialise in Classic Doom Metal inspired by the likes of Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, etc. The personality of the singer and the added organs also speak of a Jon Oliva influence, which adds another level to the band.

The singer has a great set of lungs and the elements of Jon Oliva’s style add a layer of theatricality to the band that is more pronounced on this album than it was on Almas Malditas.

The band have an array of good riffs and the solos are very enjoyable. It’s the whole package here though, as everything works together to create impressive songs that are catchy and full of hooks.

Each of these tracks is a very enjoyable demonstration of just how good Doom Metal can be.

The songs are aided by a strong sound that allows the band the space to show off their skills. It’s a lengthy album at 68 minutes, but it manages to hold interest throughout.

A recommended listen.

Desolate Shrine – The Heart of the Netherworld (Review)

Desolate Shrine are a Death Metal band from Finland. This is their third album.

This is not your standard Death Metal. Oh, all of the features and identifying marks of the genre are present and correct, but this is a more mature, expanded beast than the average.

Desolate Shrine specialise in dark, malevolent Death Metal that’s epic in scope. This is over an hour in length, with some tracks having well over ten minutes duration.

The band complement their Death Metal core with a few Black/Doom influences and overall The Heart of the Netherworld boasts evil atmospheres and gloomy auras.

The songs have a lot of meat to them and there is plenty of variety and interest to be had here. Slower, atmospheric parts, brutal riffs, lighter mood-building sections, rhythmic destruction; Desolate Shrine have it all.

Deep growls are accentuated with the occasional scream. The singer has a powerful voice that lends the songs an inhuman component and brings out their otherworldly side even more than the music already does.

The sound of the album matches the content; it’s strong and clear enough to do the band justice but murky and grim enough to bring out the sense of ritualistic nightmare that the band create.

Three albums into their career and Desolate Shrine have clearly mastered the art of writing involved songs that are wrapped in darkness. Think of a band like Ævangelist only with less of a pure-horror Black Metal viewpoint and more of a powerful Death Metal one.

This is a top quality album of horror Metal if ever there was one. Check out Desolate Shrine today and try not to soil yourself.

Fleshworld/Gazers/Viscera/// – Split (Review)

This split is between Polish band Fleshworld, French band Gazers and Italian band Viscera///. All three bands play variations on Post-Metal/Doom.

Fleshworld kick off the split with 18 minutes of music spread across three tracks. We’ve met Fleshworld before with their début album Like We’re All Equal Again. They play Post-Metal with very harsh vocals that act as a counterpoint to the emotive music. Continue reading “Fleshworld/Gazers/Viscera/// – Split (Review)”

Mudbath – Corrado Zeller (Review)

This is the début album from France’s Sludge/Doom behemoths Mudbath.

The first song opens slow and heavy, just the way we like it. Then the vocals kick in and I’m floored by their harshness. These are screams that sound so ragged that they can’t be human, surely?

It’s like serrated liquid glass has been made into diamond-sharp nails and scraped down the world’s largest blackboard. Couple this with the lumbering, crawling music and I’m in Doom heaven.

The first track keeps up the slow assault for over 10 minutes before introducing a bit of melody at the end and then finally collapsing under the sheer weight of itself. Class.

The second song starts off more upbeat but no less harrowing. It soon descends into apocalyptic Doom territory though and all memories of warmth, light and happiness simply evaporate. It picks up the pace once more near the end and the throat-shredding nature of the vocals goes into overdrive.

The final song is almost 18 minutes of nihilistic venom and heavy Sludge evil.

This is a crushing début. If you love all things slow, Heavy and Doom then Mudbath are not to be missed.

Corecom – Crawling Under The Heavy Foot Of Addiction (Review)

Corecom are a Sludge Metal band from Bulgaria and this is their début album.

Lazy, lost, despondent…the woe and rejection…the struggles of life and everything within…Corecom are here to remind you that negativity can be a physical force.

But there’s more to just Corecom than mere misery and Sludgy Eyehategod worship; they’re also in touch with their inner Hardcore band and their brand of Sludge is infested with semi-upbeat Hardcore-esque sections that seem to be fashioned from the murk of the deepest Sludge. This is more No Anchor than Eyehategod.

Corecom also have groove. I mean big groove. The kind of groove that got people bouncing all over the shop before Nu-Metal made it distinctly uncool. Corecom are reclaiming it and drenching it in Sludge so that no-one else wants to touch it.

Southern riffs, Hardcore-vibes, Doom-workouts and Stoner sections abound, as well as some pseudo-Grunge and Pantera/Crowbar influences. Corecom sound stuck in a timewarp in some ways, as Crawling Under The Heavy Foot Of Addiction sounds like it should have been released around 1999. This is not a bad thing at all, as this was a time when there were lots of innovative and interesting bands rearing their bruised, ugly heads.

Varied and catchy songs are Corecom’s speciality and this release is a very complete one; songs are just that, and each track has a part to play holistically in the overall makeup of the album.

Pain-inflicted vocals with no small amount of variety and character run through the songs like rodents infesting the ruins. The singer has a distinctly non-standard voice and this goes for the music too; it might take a song or two to acclimbatize but once you do Corecom have a lot of character and personality to offer.

This album makes me feel both impressed and nostalgic. It’s definitely one you should have a listen to.