Doom – Page 147 – Wonderbox Metal

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.

Sol Negro – Dawn of a New Sun (Review)

This is one Hell of a Death Metal album. Sorry, I mean Black Metal. Oops, I mean Doom Metal. Hang on, I mean Progressive Metal…

Sol Negro have a very curious sound that will have people who enjoy pigeon-holing bands running for the hills in fear. They have aspects of Black, old-school Death and Doom in their sound and yet somehow manage to sound independent of each genre, creating something that effortlessly takes aspects of different sources and melds them together into an album that really is a bit different and a bit damn special. The closest vibe I can think of I suppose is a Celtic Frost-esque one.

The songs have an instant timeless feel to them as if you’ve always known them, yet you can tell that it is not an album to tire of easily. Repeated plays bear this out; there is depth and longevity here. The songs contain straightforward easily-accessible passages, but can quickly turn more progressive and emotive at the drop of a plectrum. No easy feat.

The vocals are accomplished and tread a fine line between Black Metal and old-school Death Metal. The old-school vibe permeates the music as well, with the riffs and bass reminding of Death at points before venturing into more Black/Doom/Prog territory on others. Regardless of what they’re playing and how, the overwhelming feeling is that yes; you are indeed listening to a Metal album through and through, and one to be proud of.

These tracks are even strong enough to stand side-to-side with a Paradise Lost cover, which is performed to a very high standard and sits more than comfortably with the original material. This band know their stuff; just listen to the start of They Came From Darkness for example. Phew!

An extremely top-rate album that I’ll be listening to for some considerable time to come. Do yourself a favour and pick this one up.

Mania – Revel (Review)

Seeping out of the US; Mania play underground Black metal with added elements of, well, pretty much every other filthy, blood-caked underground Metal genre there is.

This is a very varied release, yet none of it sounds out of place and it all fits within the murky template of Black Metal. Combining everything from blackened Grind, to (grim) Post-Metal, to blasting Black, to blackened Doom, to mid-paced attack to…they manage to cover it all and do all of it well. The song Mirror is a great example of this. Within its 8 minutes we have softly-softly Post-Metal, whispered Doom, blasting screaming Black Metal and angelic high vocals. Perfect.

Variety for the sake of it can be a catastrophe but Mania are skilled enough to pull it off effectively. Combining the best of rough-and-ready underground Black with the souring epic melodic atmosphere of Cascadian Black, I find it hard to say enough good things about this album. The atmosphere conjured up on this release is just awe-inspiring. In fact, the only thing I can find to complain about is the length – next time I want more!

One of the best, most accomplished Black metal releases I have heard this year. There is nothing to not like here.

Favourite Track: Portals.

Interview with Funeral Circle

Funeral Circle play Epic Doom Metal and have recently released their rather excellent début album Funeral Circle, the review of which you can read here. I’ve had the pleasure to ask the band a few questions, the results of which you can see below.

For people who haven’t encountered you before, how would you introduce your band?

Hello, Pilgrim here. Thanks for the interview.

To answer your question – We’re a bunch of guys from Canada playing Epic Doom Metal.

Your début album is incredibly well-developed for a first release – how did the writing of the songs come about?

Thank you, I’m glad you think so! As for the song writing itself… Some of the songs were written exclusively for the album, others were written when we first formed back in 2006 and refined over time. We write songs through different means, there’s no set formula. Either a band mate will have something partially or completely written and then we’ll go from there, or we’ll just build something together from scratch during rehearsal.

What are your main influences for the band?

Off the top of my head I would say quite a diverse range of classic sounding metal bands like Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Mercyful Fate Isole, Solitude Aeturnus, Candlemass, Pagan Altar, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Solstice. Those were the bands that really helped us go in the Epic Doom direction when we first started off back in high school. Since then we’ve incorporated influences from more great bands and traditional folk forms of music over the years.

What are you listening to now and would like to recommend?

I’m all over the map right now, always listening to the metal classics and lots of progressive rock. Too much to recommend!

However, quite a few albums and EPs from this year are in heavy rotation as of right now. Here’s what I’m digging as of the moment – highly recommended and great records!

Procession’s To Reap the Heavens Apart, Atlantean Kodex’s The White Goddess, Argus’ Beyond the Martyrs, Borrowed Time’s debut, Gatekeeper’s Prophecy and Judgement, Cromlech’s Ave Mortis, In Solitude’s Sister, Tribulation’s The Formulas of Death, Bolzer’s Aura, Grave Miasma’s Odori Sepulcrorum, Blood Ceremony’s The Eldritch Dark, Dread Sovereign’s Pray to the Devil in Man… I’m really straining myself here, there are so many more. An insane year for heavy metal music across all genres.

Do you pay much attention to what is happening in the rest of the Doom scene?

I really try to as well as the rest of the metal scene(s) as well, but not as much as I used to. Life is particularly busy right, and right now I seem to be spending a lot more time catching up with my responsibilities to boring stuff like work when I really want to be writing music or catching up on this huge pile of records that doesn’t seem to stop growing.

But! People need to pay attention to Canadian comrades Gatekeeper and Cromlech when it comes to epic heavy and doom metal! Outstanding bands.

What does the future hold for Funeral Circle?

New releases is for certain, but we also have some plans we are going to announce in the near future… follow us on our facebook page http://www.facebook.com/funeralcircle and we’ll divulge everything in the near future!

Finally….Ozzy Osbourne or Ronnie James Dio?

It’s very close, Heaven & Hell is one of my favorite albums of all time, but the first 6 Black Sabbath albums for me are just untouchable… I’ll need a few eons to think about this.

Thanks!

Cheers and thank you once again.

Ilsa – Intoxicantations (Review)

Well, isn’t this the proverbial hidden gem. Filthy, dirty sludge Metal with elements of thrash and death ‘n’ roll mixed in. Quite simply this is brilliant.

The overall feelings and structures of the songs are composed in such a way that this is a very complete album. Each song easily identifiable from the rest and together forming one of the most enjoyable albums I’ve listened to in a while. I haven’t been able to stop listening to this the last few days.

Very insipid; the riffs crawl their way into your subconscious and refuse to dislodge. The production miraculously manages to sound both dirty and clear at the same time. The guitar tone in particular is strong and powerful. Crushing in fact.

Each track has its own character and personality, comprising of top-shelf riffs and attitude. There is no filler here; each song is its own entity and more than capable of standing on its own merits.

Snarling, vicious vocals accompany the metallic mayhem and perfectly suit the musical vision of the rest of the band. As a reference point they are sometimes reminiscent of the Darkest Hour vocalist and have the same level of passion and legibility. The singer of Ilsa gives an excellent performance in all ways.

This album is first-rate. If you are a fan of metallic sludge and like plenty of depth and longevity in your music then this will certainly be a must for you. So far, alongside the first album by Morality Crisis, this is a very strong contender for album of the year as far as I’m concerned.

Dotzauer – Deep (Review)

Italian Post-Metal band Dotzauer have released their first full length album Deep, which is a concept album about drowning. Viewed in this light the music can be seen to have a watery-feel, from a light tide to a full-on tsunami roar.

The songs ebb and flow, like waves crashing into each other before cancelling each other out and returning to calm in the aftermath. The subtleties of light and shade – the meat and veg of Post-Metal – are used to great effect by the band to create the watery soundscape that describes the last moments of someone being taken to the depths to their final resting place. Water Buries the Skyline is a good example of this where the mellow sections in particular give the impression of idling, waiting for the inevitable to happen; while the more muscular, heavy parts are more of a wild thrashing against the inevitable.

Vocals are predominantly shouted, with the singer having a good quality bellow on him. However there are also the occasional clean/cleaner vocals as well, which add a bit of variety and depth to the music.

Favourite track: Air Hunger. Starting off gentle with clean vocals the track gets progressively harsher and more frantic as time goes on, mimicking the lack of air and the desperation that this brings.

A quality album from a little known band. Time to get to know them better.

Maeth – Oceans Into Ashes (Review)

Doom? Stoner? Post-Metal? Progressive? All of the above? How are we to label Oceans Into Ashes? Ultimately all that matters is that Maeth have attempted a very ambitious undertaking here, and they have succeeded.

The songs mix all of the aforementioned genres into an intelligent and well-written whole. Long songs, short songs, all have their place contributing to a very diverse album full of ideas and depth.

Vocals are sparse and infrequent, used when necessary to highlight one part or another and then fading away once more to keep the focus on the music that Maeth so very passionately play.

Guitars are very melodic, but also not afraid to become abrasive and harsh as the song demands. Frequently changing from stoner riffs to Doom to Post-Metal, you can’t help but be drawn into their world.

Diverse, eccentric and very well-constructed. Given a chance Maeth could go very far indeed. I think we have a strong contender to fill that Isis-shaped hole in Post-Metal.