Doom – Page 143 – Wonderbox Metal

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!

Abstracter – Tomb of Feathers (Review)

This is the debut album from US Sludge/Post-Metal/Doom band Abstracter.

This is a bit of a corker. Heavy, winding, aggressive but also refined when needed.

The harsh vocals are suitably caustic in nature and some slightly unusual cleans add a further layer to the music. The clean vocals offer unorthodox highlights and never take the obvious route with their melodies.

This is Post-Metal drowned in Sludge. The filth and grim disease of a forgotten underworld positively drips off the sound as it raises itself up from the dredges to pull down anyone nearby.

Unlike a lot of Post-Metal the Sludge portion of their sound means there’s very little nicety here. The band kick out the angry jams and boy do they know how to write a good riff.

The sound is earthy, organic and complements the rawness of the band extremely well.

Abstracter are a focused singularity of woe and rage, compressed so tightly that not even light can escape once they have it in their clutches. These songs are engaging and absorbing. How is it that this album wasn’t immediately brought to my attention the moment it was birthed by whatever unspeakable ceremony carried it forth?

This is a work of talented individuals who have made who-knows-what kind of bargains to have the much sought after ability to channel something very special into these three tunes. Each song has its own story and manages to be both a journey and a destination in its own right.

If they’re this good already in their very short career, who knows what they will accomplish next? I can’t wait to find out.

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.

Primitive Man/Hexis – Split (Review)

Primitive Man are from the US and play Sludgy Doom. On this release they have teamed up with Danish Crusty Black Metallers Hexis. Each band contributes one song, each about 8 minutes in length.

This is my first time hearing Primitive Man, but I’ve heard good things about them and am not disappointed.

When Getting High Is Not Enough starts off crushingly slow and heavy with vocals so deep and dark they seem to swallow all light. After a while the bass adopts a crawling pose while the guitars transcend to an almost Post-Metal ethereality before falling back to earth with a weighty riff. This soon breaks out into an unexpected frenzy of speed and the vocals become higher and much more vicious.

The band have this ability to play slow, fast or chuggy-as-hell while still retaining their own identity and a sense of filthy, Sludge-fuelled blackness pervades everything. The song is a victory and I am left wanting to hear more from this impressive band.

Hexis are a band who I am very familiar with as they have produced some very strong material over the years, particularly their recent full length Abalam.

Their track Excrucio is a weighty beast that has their trademark Blackened guitar walls with shredding vocals seemingly buried just underneath the enormous tide of distortion. Hexis manage to write very emotive songs where the guitars are the main stars of the show and the vocals and everything else are their to support them and help to accentuate how rock solid they sound.

Hexis have struck a winning formula with their sound and Excrucio is no exception.

This is a great showcase for two talented bands that offer a lot for the discerning metal fan who wants something a bit more from their listening.

Eyehategod – Eyehategod (Review)

Eyehategod are from the US and this is their fifth album of Sludge.

Okay, so I’m not going to hide it – I absolutely love Eyehategod. Ever since first getting Take as Needed for Pain 20 years ago (!) I’ve been hooked, and they’re one of my all time favourite bands. I say this in the interests of full disclosure, because if you’re looking for a fully objective and impartial review then you’d best move along as I’m so excited about this album it’s ridiculous!

As soon as you press play it’s just so instantly familiar and welcoming, at least to someone who’s comfortable with this style of crawling Metal. Their trademark swampy sound that has spawned literally thousands of imitators is recognisable straight away and it becomes rapidly apparent that the band have lost none of the skill and talent that they’ve had over the course of their long career.

It would be easy to doubt whether this was going to be any good as it’s been a whopping 14 years since their last album, (Confederacy of Ruined Lives), but as any true believer knows these are false doubts, as this album, quite frankly, is fucking brilliant.

The songs are fantastic and the band effortlessly create That Sound that helped spawn and shape the Sludge genre with such ease that each track slides out of the speakers in a haze of murky guitars, Southern-fried riffs, squalling feedback and snarling vocals.

Eyehategod have come to show the pretenders and the wannabes how it’s done.

This is an essential record for any Metal fan. I can’t recommend this enough. Immediately go out and get everything that Eyehategod have ever done. This is important.

Flawless.

0 – Simplifying a Demon (Review)

0 is a Greek one-man experimental Black/Doom Metal project. The aim is to see “how far one man with one voice and a four string bass can go”.

So what do we get? There are 7 tracks and just under 35 minutes of music on this release. As is expected it’s ultra-minimalistic stuff, but surprisingly there actually is more going on here than you might be expecting.

An obvious reference point would be the minimalistic bleak Doom landscapes created by Khanate. 0 don’t have anywhere near the same length in songs though, and if anything 0 are even more minimal as Khanate employed a full band of musicians with various other instruments and sounds rearing their ugly heads in their work. It’s a good starting point for what 0 sound like however, and obviously there’s more of a Black Metal feel to the tracks here as well.

The Blackened Drone displayed on Simplifying a Demon is really well done; at first it may be slightly jarring listening to just bass and shrieking, but you very soon get into the zone and slowly the atmosphere overtakes you and you just start sinking into the riffs and the dirge.

The vocals are a revelation in some ways – unexpectedly rhythmic and, almost, catchy. The pronounced accent to the words works strange wonders with the measured incantations and they seem to pulse with an inner malevolence that has an innate feel for timing and pace.

As time goes on I find this more and more endearing and enjoyable. It really is the very definition of a record that grows on you. Of course I’m aware that it will also be somewhat of an acquired taste for most people, but I enjoy this more than I thought I would so maybe you will to?

Give 0 a listen – you may surprise yourself.

N. Tesla – Lux Manifesto (Review)

This is the début album from Russia’s N. Tesla, and they play Post-Metal.

For a relatively short release, (33 minutes), this is an ambitious and exciting release from an obviously talented band. As soon as the first track Ør-vænn begins it’s clear they trying something a bit different and have the ability to carry it off.

N. Tesla take the basic Post-Metal template of a band like Cult of Luna and make it their own with succinct, dangerous expressions of melancholy and rage.

The dynamics are all there and they add their own character to the compositions, as well as some haunting percussion, electronica and effects, that really help to build atmosphere. The songs here are shorter than the Post-Metal norm and N. Tesla accomplish much in a short period of time.

In fact, if you take Cult of Luna, shorten the songs, add an element of danger via the scathing, shrieking vocals and build in a Progressive Metal edge you’ll have an idea of where N. Tesla are coming from, and also an idea of why they’re so damn good at what they do.

The vocals are highly accomplished no matter the style that are being performed and the music follows suit with flawless delivery of all instruments.

A professional recording and production job rounds things off and all that’s left to say is that this is a hugely talented band that deserves much, much wider recognition. Let’s see what we can do about that now, shall we…?

Nightfell – The Living Ever Mourn (Review)

Nightfell are from the US and play Death/Doom Metal.

This is heavy, very heavy, and darkly melodic. The riffs collide and smash down, like Entombed playing a funeral dirge. A collision of Old-School Death Metal and Crusty, Sludge Doom; this is reminiscent of an older Metal landscape whilst concurrently sounding fresh and invigorating.

The music has a personality about it that recalls Old-School Death/Doom Metal from the likes of Dismember, Sentenced, Paradise Lost, Amon Amarth, My Dying Bride, etc. – bands with character that were leaders rather than followers.

The dual vocals rasp, growl and bark their way across each other and are as harsh and unforgiving as you would expect. Added to these are the odd spoken passage and semi-clean to keep things interesting. The vocals have their own personality and character and are very much in keeping with the rest of the music in this regard.

The Old-School Doom Metal riffs really pile up on each other and the feeling of having stepped back in time is strong. However, none of it comes across as nostalgic; rather Nightfell are merely treading the same ground as many of the greats from yesteryear and are looking to put this style of music back on the map once more.

The songs come with plenty of hooks; you’ll wonder how a song like Altars To Wrath isn’t a cover song, so authentically Swedish and catchy it is. Each song has been poured over with love and passion and a monster has been created.

The band make the most of their dark melodies to create a bleakly rich atmosphere dosed up on Doom and heavy on the Metal.

This is an album that demands to be heard.

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.