Doom – Page 145 – Wonderbox Metal

Pogrom – This Is What I’ve Always Wanted (Review)

From the darkest reaches of Canada, Pogrom appears like a moving shadow on the horizon.

This Is What I’ve Always Wanted contains one track of the same name that lasts 32 minutes and envelops the listener in a bleak landscape of futility and despair. This is Drone Doom designed to unnerve and disturb through the application of aural stress.

It starts off with a basis of tension and preserves this throughout, adding noises and effects as the track creeps along. The feeling is one of electrified pressure being applied and the corresponding mood evoked is surprisingly effective.

I’m not a massive fan of Drone as usually it just doesn’t do it for me, but I did enjoy this as I like the fraught atmosphere that is both created and sustained. This is like an extended soundtrack to a film scene intent on raising the tension levels and then keeping them there throughout.

It all builds to a head where the release comes through a bass-heavy fuzzed out Black Metal vocal assault to end the track, successfully dissipating the mood and allowing the horror you’ve been expecting to finally appear.

If you’re a fan of Drone then you should love this. If however you’re not usually a fan, then check this out anyway as it’s done well and is all about the atmosphere.

Unexpectedly good.

Temple of Baal – Verses of Fire (Review)

French veterans Temple of Baal offer up their fourth album to the sacrificial gods of Blackened Death Metal.

Having not heard Temple of Baal since their 2003 debut Servants of the Beast, it is an interesting transformation that the band’s sound has undergone. Originally Black Metal; now they give us a combination of both Death and Black Metal with some quite varied sub-styles and influences apparent throughout the 60 minutes on Verses of Fire.

Sometimes brutal, sometimes more laid back, always dark; songs are played at all speeds and tempos, mainly in an attempt to create a gloomy atmosphere for the listener to get absorbed in. For this release the band have emphasised the importance of a good atmosphere and have created one via rich textures of overlapping genres of Extreme Metal.

Moments of Old-School Death Metal are toyed with; elements of discordant Black Metal; Thrash riffs; Doom sections; full-on blasting – a wide sample of extremity is taken and fused into the songs on this album.

Vocals are mainly in a darkened Death Metal style, although screams and yells are used on occasion to add a splash of colour to the sinister emanations of the singer.

Verses of Fire boasts a very well produced sound that shows off everything very organically and gives a very satisfying listen. You could place this next to pretty much any band and not have it sound weak or inferior in quality.

Temple of Baal have taken a risk by changing their style from their Black Metal beginnings, and with risk comes either reward or failure. I think the risk has paid off and they have been rewarded with a much richer and more ambitious sound that will serve them well moving forward from here.

If you weren’t sure about Temple of Baal in the past, or have just been unfamiliar with them, then this is the album for you. An hour long of top quality Extreme Metal.

Upyr – Altars/Tunnels (Review)

This is the first release from Bulgarian band Upyr.

They play Blackened Doom and do this extremely well. The first track Before the Altars of Necrotic Karma starts with towering slow riffing and alternates this with a more mid-paced attack that evokes murky landscapes and a blackness to get lost in.

Vocals alternate between high shrieks a la Black Metal, and deeper growling and vocalisations. These are quality vocals as the deeper ones sound really menacing and the shrieks, (the predominant style), are savage and as sharp as black ice. Neurosis-style clean vocals are also used sparingly and contribute to the grim whole.

I really like the mood that these songs set for the listener. Although it may describe a bleak and inhospitable environment for the average person, for the connoisseur this is the sweetest of delicacies. The combination of monolithic Doom guitars with a scything Black Metal sheen to them is a dark pleasure to savour.

Taking the blueprint of Doom and infecting it with the corrupting influence of Black Metal is yielding great results for bands like Usnea and Battle Path; now we have another name to add to this glowing list of honors – Upyr.

A top quality first release and may there be many more in the future.

Djinn and Miskatonic – Forever in the Realm (Review)

Stylish Doom with a real funeral feel; you can almost touch the misery in every sorrowful chord.

Vocals alternate between mournful, doleful cleans and coarser, Old-School Death Metal-style rough barks.

The music is Doom through and through, but quite varied in that it takes elements of Doom’s various sub-genres, (Doom Metal, Sludge, Death Doom, Stoner, etc.), and packages them neatly into 43 minutes. They’re not afraid to unleash a big box of groove now and again either; Book of the Fallen in particular sports a riff to rock out to that any Black Sabbath fan would be happy to hear.

Vulcan’s Forge appears to be all about alcohol; not only does this successfully recreate a really boozy atmosphere but it also boasts a great bass line and sound.

The crowning glory of the album has to be the final song Weird Tales which is a 17 minute enthralling epic. It starts with a lonely bass line that Reverend Bizarre would be proud to have written, and builds up from there; adding drums first and slowly bringing in everything else.

Forever in the Realm makes its mark on the listener in both the short term and the long term. There are parts of these songs that are instantly memorable, and others that seep into your consciousness over time.

As a début album this is certainly an impressive release and one that holds many treasures for even a seasoned Doom fan.

Get drunk and play loud.

Kongh – Counting Heartbeats (Review)

Swedish band Kongh play a captivating type of Doom/Sludge Metal that is exhilarating and apocalyptic at the same time.

Originally released in 2007; this is Kongh’s début album that’s been recently reissued with a bonus disc featuring their 2006 Demo and their split with Ocean Chief; that’s 2 hours and 15 minutes of music guaranteed to satiate your Sludge hunger.

Taking their cues from the best parts of bands like Neurosis and Isis while also injecting some crusty Metal into this formula, Kongh have produced a corker of an album that is a 100% Grade A prime Sludge classic.

Doom, Stoner, Sludge, Post-Metal, Crust – all these elements and more collide to create Counting Heartbeats and it really is something special. The build up and release; the dynamics employed; the crushing apocalyptic Doom. Songs to get lost in.

As if the original album wasn’t good enough, the inclusion of their demo and split just sweetens the pot of this sumptuous aural feast. The 25 minute Drifting on Waves is especially good.

If you only get one Sludge album in the near future get this one.

Year Of No Light – Tocsin (Review)

French act Year Of No Light have released their new album and it’s brimming with Sludge/Doom/Post-Metal delights.

The band may be instrumental but they never let the interest waver once throughout this 57 minute release.

All band members put in an excellent performance and you can’t fault the musicianship. More than that though the compositions are original and well thought out. Second, (and shortest), track Géhenne is a prime example of this; eerie riffs slip and slide over thundering blastbeats providing a hectic juxtaposition that works wonders to wake you up first thing in the morning.

The heavy riffs are inventive and imaginative; crashing around the listener like waves from an unfathomable ocean. There really are some colossal sounds on these tracks.

Other parts are calmer and more considered, full of crescendos and build/release dynamics that may be a staple of the Post-Metal scene but reach their apotheosis here. Third track Désolation is a 10 minute slow building Doom dirge that captures you and won’t let you go until the song comes to an end and it slowly morphs into the terrible beauty of the next track Stella Rectrix; fully replete with tension and apocalyptic grandeur.

This is a state-of-the-art, sophisticated album that has the potential to appeal to anyone who likes guitar-based music. I fail to see how anyone with an ear for a good melody and an appreciation of atmosphere and mood can not like this.

Over the years Year Of No Light have consistently released top quality albums, and this is no exception. Do your ears a favour and add this to you record collection as soon as you can. Essential listening for the brain.

Favourite Track: The harrowing majesty of Stella Rectrix.

Albatross/Vestal Claret – The Kissing Flies/Black Priest (Review)

A very interesting split between Indian band Albatross and US group Vestal Claret.

Albatross have a good, clear, organic sound and play Heavy Metal with some quirks of character. There’s a freshness to these tracks that is a welcome change; they lack a sense of tiredness and “heard-it-all-before-ness” that can plague some bands.

The vocalist can certainly sing and he puts his voice to good use, occasionally reaching stratospheric heights. Combined with the odd shriek and more raspy and growly vocals there’s plenty of variety on offer.

The songs are long and theatrical without being pompous or overblown. Four tracks in 26 minutes and very enjoyable they are too. Let’s see what they’re capable of on their next release.

Vestal Claret finish off the split with the 17 minute Black Priest. This song is more of a Traditional Doom Metal track than anything by Albatross, and by crikey it’s as good as anything the likes of Black Sabbath or Candlemass have done. Flawless.

This is a worthwhile split with Albatross contributing some very enjoyable songs, and Vestal Claret stealing the show with their Doom hymn.

The Gardnerz – It All Fades (Review)

The Gardnerz are a Swedish Doom/Death Metal band that comfortably straddle both genres, taking the best of both for their nefarious purposes.

As a stylistic starting point; think of the old-school Anathema, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, etc. sound, and for a more modern reference point think bands like Eye of Solitude. Powerful Metal that embraces both the past and the present to deliver a portal into another world where this band stride as giants and lord of their strange world.

The songs immediately suck you into their orbit and transport you to the environment that the band portray.

Vocals are varied and consist of growls, shrieks and clean singing, all used to great effect and helping to cement the atmosphere. The singer is adept at switching styles quickly and effectively, enhancing the feeling of the songs and working with the music to create inspired slabs of Metal that you can’t help but be carried away by.

This EP contains 5 original songs of emotive, darkened Metal and a surprising and very-different cover of Darkthrone’s Transilvanian Hunger.

The Gardnerz have created an EP that is chock full of great tracks and enough talent to put lesser bands to shame. What are you waiting for?

Lvcifyre – Svn Eater (Review)

These UK Black Metallers are releasing their second album and I have been quite looking forward to listening to this. I have not been disappointed.

Things start out unexpectedly creepy and slow. Blackened vocals scrape out of the speakers while the music crawls along at a menacing and disturbing pace. Only about halfway through the first song Night Seas Sorcery do proceedings pick up the pace and the vocals become even darker with the music matching this to precision.

For the most part the rest of the album is less Doom-influenced, but Lvcifyre consistently demonstrate a grasp of mood and atmosphere, be this when they drag themselves slowly through the mire or when they propel themselves towards you all fangs and razors.

Vocals are of both the Black and Death Metal varieties, with each style being mastered and used to better emphasise the chaos and confusion the band wish to sow. In fact although I would say this is predominantly a Black Metal album there is a healthy dose of Death Metal going on as well.

Brutal, passionate, otherworldly and hellish – join the Blackened Death Metal elite.

Relentless – Souls of Charon (Review)

Relentless are from the US and rather than playing Death Metal or Grind as one might imagine from their name, they actually play a very satisfying brand of Traditional Heavy/Doom Metal.

A well-rounded, organic sound greets you as you start the record. Theirs is the sound of a band playing naturally, rather than being overly sanitised and copy-and-pasted. To put it simply; it sounds good.

The vocals are a relaxed, laid-back female croon that does the job nicely and is a great match with the music. The singer has the kind of voice perfect for telling old Metal stories and sagas. The songs wrap their arms around the vocals and nurture them while nourishing them with hard language and harder liquor.

Sounding as if they would be perfectly at home in a smoky back-room in the back of some far-distant obscure speak-easy; this is a great antidote for the more modern, soulless, clinical music out there. This music has soul and wears it proudly on its leather jacket.