Eye of Solitude – Page 2 – Wonderbox Metal

Eye of Solitude – Dear Insanity (Review)

Eye of Solitude are from the UK and this is their latest EP. They play Funeral Doom Metal.

Eye of Solitude are a favourite of mine, and if you haven’t already you should definitely check out their début album Sui Caedere and their devastating follow up Canto III.

Dear Insanity is one single track lasting 51 minutes. As with the latest Inter Arma EP this is essentially a full length album rather than an EP. However, there’s no hard and fast rule for this kind of thing though. Other bands like Luna and Monolithe, for example, make similar releases and call them albums. And of course you have Reverend Bizarre’s famous “EP” Harbinger of Metal which is a whopping 73 minutes in length…

But onto Dear Insanity.

It starts off all ambient with soft and vaguely unsettling drone sounds. This lulls the listener into complacency and when the crushing guitars suddenly come thundering down on you just after 8 minutes it’s almost startling.

After this Eye of Solitude do what they do best; slow, crushing, emotive DOOOOOM! This is relentless and laden with colossal Doom riffs and vocals as deep as night.

At about the 15 minute mark we get a change, with brief respites added in to soften the mood before the misery begins once more; this time with increased atmosphere.

At 22 minutes subdued piano takes centre stage and really brings home the feelings of dejection and forlorn hopelessness. Subtle, soft, crooning vocals can also be heard at this point; like an echo of a ghost in the background. This is a very well-judged change of pace and works perfectly as a mid-album centrepiece that carries real emotional weight.

At 29 minutes the guitars are back like a long lost friend. The mood is one of solemn reflection and sorrowful realisation. The piano can still be heard playing softly alongside the tidal wave of guitars, with the two disparate instruments merging into a cohesive whole.

There’s another change at 33 minutes, with the music noticeably becoming more expansive and expressive. The atmosphere is really starting to build now, slowly and inevitably heading towards crescendo.

Another brief piano interlude happens at 36 minutes, allowing the emotional pressure to build with gentle coercion.

39 minutes in. The Doom riffs start coming on strong now and the guitars take pride of place in the ongoing avalanche of misery. This is the final stretch of the song and things are moving towards their fatal conclusion. The band start to ramp up the intensity, slowly, which brings us to the last few minutes of the song where all of the emotion has been felt, all of the despair has been used up and we’re left with a gentle feeling of hopelessness so soft that we don’t even realise how lost we all are.

I do love it when bands do work like this, and Eye of Solitude have shown that they can do it even better than most.

A colossal landmark of a release by a band who can seemingly do no wrong. Get this now.

Ophis – Abhorrence in Opulence (Review)

This is the third album from Germany’s Ophis. They play Funeral Doom Metal.

For the most part this colossal album is a slow-moving beast of depression and negativity, encapsulated in morbid Doom Metal.

Ophis do have a Death Metal influence, however, which rears its ugly head now and again, most noticeably on the final track Resurrectum.

The songs are long and the mood bleak. There is no light in the world of Ophis, only varying shades of grey and pain.

For reference points think bands such as Monolithe, Eye of Solitude, (old) Anathema, (old) My Dying Bride, etc.

The band boast a crushing production that allows the slowness to unveil at its own pace. The strong drum sound underpins everything whilst the guitars chug and wail. Plaintive melodies and downbeat auras pervade everything, with these being overlain by the deep growls of the vocalist.

This is a long and involving album that lasts the course and doesn’t get boring. The added Death Metal influences mean it doesn’t become stale or one dimensional and the songs have enough top riffs and melodies to satisfy fans of this style.

Ophis have produced an album that may be rooted in everything miserable and depressing but that I, for one, find really enjoyable and worthy.

Check them out.

Majestic Downfall/The Slow Death – Split (Review)

Majestic Downfall are from Mexico and The Slow Death are from Australia. Both play Doom Metal.

This is a much longer split than the norm – 67 minutes in total with each band giving roughly half of that. It also boasts quite a striking album cover. Nice.

Majestic Downfall are first off with a crushingly heavy start to things. They play Doom Metal with a slow Death Metal influence – Death/Doom or Doom/Death, whichever you prefer.

Ready comparisons to newer bands would be the likes of Eye of Solitude and that ilk. For older bands think Paradise Lost/My Dying Bride gone full-on Doom/Death. Majestic Downfall are not a band who are totally mournful and miserable though as a lot of the riffs are more brutal or energetic and they have faster moments too.

The vocals are super-deep and the music is clear and strong. Melodies are a large part of the band’s sound and they make full use of them to produce enjoyable tracks that are largely colossally heavy but also show shading with their use of lighter sections.

With a generally more upbeat take on the genre this is a good listen and makes a decent impression.

After Majestic Downfall’s crisp energetic Doom Metal The Slow Death are like a funeral procession of depressive soundscapes. The Slow Death are a much more mournful proposition and big on proto-Gothic atmosphere.

They can be said to share similar influences and a base sound to Majestic Death but they process it in a different way and the results are therefore different as well. The Slow Death are a lot more downbeat in sound, (although they do still have upbeat moments), and the overall vibe is darker and more negative. Think a band like The Sins of Thy Beloved only with a more subtle Gothic influence.

Melodic guitars draped in misery and rotting dreams are the leading lights in this showcase of loss. The band create dirges that hold interest and have some good riffs in them.

The vocals alternate between clean, ethereal, haunting female singing and deep, dark male growls. It’s a contrast that was done to death years and years ago in the Gothic Metal style but one that’s not so popular these days. I find it makes me a tad nostalgic, even. Regardless, The Slow Death pull it off with style and it sounds almost refreshing to hear the clean female/rough male vocals trading off once again.

A top quality split from two bands who have presented two different takes on a core style. It’s especially worth getting due to the length as each band essentially contribute a mini album’s worth of material to this split.

Be sure to check this out and then track it down.

Necropoli – I (Review)

Necropoli are from Italy and play Funeral Doom. This is their début album.

This is heavy Funeral Doom Metal with a strong Death Metal foundation underpinning everything.

There is background orchestration, keyboards and effects; these are not flowery or ostentations but rather eerie and aura-enhancing.

The long songs slowly unfold with the heavy barrage of slowed down brutality mixing with Dark Ambient sounds and faint glimpses Industrial Electronica.

The colossally deep vocals drive everything forwards like a relentless taskmaster.

Akin to recent releases from the likes of Eye of Solitude, Doom:VS and Decembre Noir, this is just as bleakly emotive and atmospheric but with longer songs and a lot more brutality and harshness on display.

This album reminds of the constant onslaught of a band like Esoteric if they had more Funeral Doom influences and keyboards.

Rich, layered and with a definite gloomy texture, this is an evocative release that mixes the best of the crawling slowness of Doom and the heavy crushing nature of Death Metal.

Nearly an hour of demolishing desolation for your consideration.

Doom:VS – Earthless (Review)

This is the third album from Doom:VS. Coming from Sweden this is a one-man project featuring a guest vocalist.

This is bleak and sombre Death/Doom Metal that’s haunting and beautiful despite, or perhaps because of, the misery and anguish it portrays.

The album slowly unveils under a cloud of desolation and heartbreak. Mournful riffs seem to slide out of hidden openings and colossal growls give a solid and forceful outlet for the emotive music.

The guitars are rich and textured, as one would expect from a release such as this. The music works well to evoke the necessary feelings of woe and despair required from this style of Metal and yet also manages to find beauty in the negativity.

There are no weaknesses with the recording and the songwriting is top notch. In fact, unless you just don’t care for this style of music you’ll be hard pressed to find any real flaws here.

Taking cues from My Dying Bride, as it’s pretty impossible not to do for this type of Metal, they also pay attention to other areas of the Metal globe and have hints of bands like Agalloch in the mix.

One of the best things about this album is that it never gets boring, stale, dull or repetitive, which is no mean feat for a genre that’s essentially slow and melodic. This is a testament to the talent of Doom:VS and the album sails by in a blur of emotive dirges.

Along with bands like Eye of Solitude and Decembre Noir, Doom:VS are one of the very best bands in the Doom/Death genre now.

Immerse yourself in their despair.

Descend Into Despair – The Bearer Of All Storms (Review)

Romanian band Descend Into Despair have released an epic album in every sense of the word – there is 92 minutes of music here, all piled into 7 songs.

I love a good piece of album artwork, and this one is great. It’s not necessarily any reflection of the music of course, but it did make me excited to listen to this band.

The songs are long and based around slow, atmospheric funeral Doom; each track winding and rolling further down into misery. The singer espouses his existence of suffering and gloom through deep growls and haunted clean vocals.

The guitar-based melodies and riffs are slow and moving, but for me it’s the added keys and effects that are the real emotional drivers. They weave in and around the songs like ghostly dancers swaying to their own tune, adding depth and longevity to music already full of mood and feeling.

Feelings of fragile mortality and heartache infuse this album and every second is spent pulling at the heart-strings and introducing melancholy and sorrow.

This album can hold its head up high and rub shoulders with the best of them; with bands like Eye of Solitude and Descend Into Despair releasing high quality music like this the depressive funeral Doom scene will not want for leaders for some time.

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?

Eye of Solitude – Canto III (Review)

And it begins – the start of the apocalypse is soft and gentle; slowly building and eventually giving way to a torrent of Doom so monolithic it’s almost overbearing. The sheer oppressiveness of the deep, deep vocals washing away all resistance to the new world that this depressive, bleak, yet wonderful music heralds.

First comes the Doom, and then comes the blast, but Eye of Solitude even manage to infuse blastbeats with a sense of hopelessness and despair. It may not sound like it, but for this kind of music that’s a compliment. 15 minutes in and the first song has finished. The second starts with no intro; it goes from silence to destruction in the space of a heartbeat. The sense of majesty is terrible to behold.

The nature of Eye of Solitude songs is one of a constant oppressive misery, spiked with the occasional uplifting, hopeful moment, only to have this hope removed and crushed without comment. The songs are long, the emotions deep. There is also a sense of frustration at play here; as if there is a railing and thrashing against the inevitable, before final acceptance takes place.

One of the clever aspects of this album is the simultaneous appearance of uniformity and linearity while at the same time having dynamics that are merely disguised by the highly emotive atmosphere that Eye of Solitude foster. This is a masterful stroke as it adds a layer of depth and complexity to the songs that is not always apparent on first listen – the very definition of discovering something new every time.

Based on the strength of their previous releases this is an album that I have been looking forward to, and I am very pleased to say I am not disappointed. Essential.