Un are a Doom band from the US. This is their début album.
This is an impressive and ambitious release that takes elements of Doom, Funeral Doom, Sludge and Post-Metal into its miserable embrace and crushes them all into a murky paste. Continue reading “Un – The Tomb of All Things (Review)”
The Nepalese Temple Ball are a UK Post-Metal band and this is their début album.
Combining elements of bands such as Neurosis, Light Bearer, (who they share a member with), Isis, Converge and No Anchor, The Nepalese Temple Ball have created over an hour’s worth of exploratory, expansive music on Arbor.
This is a diverse album that’s full of different influences and styles, all collected under the widely variable Post-Metal umbrella. Doom, Progressive Metal, Hardcore/Post-Hardcore, Sludge, Psychedelia…even a hint of Black Metal…these are all gathered by the band and melted down to form the songs on Arbor. They have a wealth of skill at doing this, it seems, and Arbor is much more accomplished than it probably should be for a début album.
Lots of different moods and feelings are covered, but the overall impression for me is one of a strange apocalyptic landscape where the world is drowning a chaotic, messy death.
This is music that’s non-standard, atypical and not afraid at all to do its own thing. The band are clearly walking the path that they want to and should be commended for doing this and exploring such rich musical possibilities. This has resulted in a quality album full of interesting areas to explore, with plenty of diversity and depth to attract and hook the listener. This is assuming you like challenging, interesting music of course. If all you’re after is more of the same, then move along now.
Highly recommended.
This is the second album from The Fifth Alliance, who are a Post-Metal/Sludge band from the Netherlands.
Dark, gloomy Post-Metal meets harsh Sludge. Sounds good? It sure does. This is one for fans of bands like Obscure Sphinx, Light Bearer and Year of No Light. Death Poems lives up to these lofty comparisons.
These tracks are exploratory and Doom-filled, featuring the kind of negatively-charged, highly emotive atmospheres that a lot of bands would kill for. The Post-Metal build/release mechanic is used well here, but this is tempered by a more melancholic influence that keeps the tracks evened out, regardless of whether this is done via subtle, reflective sections or heavier ones that sound as if tidal waves are crashing down.
The singer’s screams are of the throat-shredding variety, full of unrequited feelings and anger. Her cleans are rare, but when they appear they’re full of loss and woe, all done in an ethereal-yet-substantial way; plaintive and loaded with real emotion.
This is music that manages to combine the soft caress of despair with the hammer of aggressive catharsis. It’s definitely a recommended listen and one for all fans of interesting, Doom-laden music.
Nyx are a Black Metal band from Germany and this is their début album.
Featuring only two members, Nyx make an impressive début that would do justice to a full band.
The music on this 45 minute album is quite varied and features elements of different sub-genres as well as the core of Black Metal that they play so well.
A few Classic Metal licks appear here and there, as well as a decent Post-Metal influence, especially in some of the guitar melodies. There’s enough of this ethereal, transcendental influence to label this Post-Black Metal, although the icy, frozen core of the pure style is still here, corrupting it so that it’s projected out through the prism of urban decay.
The singer’s screamed vocals are ridiculously strong; her voice is blood-curdling and powerful in the best tradition of Black Metal shrieking. Cleaner vocalisations are also used and these add emotional content and a rather ritualistic, sinister aura on occasion. These too are powerful and have real presence. Occasionally they even add in a bit of a more traditional clean singing style, and these parts sound just as good as everything else.
The songs are barbed, twisted and full of unexpected subtlety and shading. There’s a lot of ideas on display throughout these 9 tracks and the band have produced an album that has both immediate impact and lasting depth. The production is sharp and serrated, allowing the music to showcase its dangerous edge.
This is not a run-of-the-mill release, this is sophisticated Black Metal Art.
Very impressive.
Mammoth Storm are from Sweden. This is their début album and they play Doom.
Thick, heavy guitars, groove the size of tsunamis and colossal riffs? It can only be Mammoth Storm’s first album. This is heavy, ponderous Doom with a juicy Stoner streak running deep through it.
Charismatic vocals extend out over the songs, animated just above a drawl to provide focus and character to the gargantuan riffs and huge beats.
The guitars are a definite selling point of this music, as the heavy rhythms are meaty as Hell, while the more fragile leads almost have a Post-Metal transcendental quality to them. These are anchored in place by the more earthy guitars so that they remain firmly a part of the music.
The combination of the droning, repetitive nature of the rhythms and the exploratory, unbounded leads make for songs that form a soundscape of textures, writ large in Doom. The vocals cement the idea of a journey through this soundscape, guided by the album art and propelled endlessly forward by the understated-yet-essential drums.
Atmospheric layers are built with ease, immersing the listener in the moods and feelings that the band wish to evoke. It’s extremely effective; it’s easy to slip into these songs and lose yourself in the band’s emotive performance.
This is a substantial début in more ways than one, with the band creating a conceptual storyline to accompany the weighty music. At 55 minutes in length there is a lot of content here to enjoy.
I think this album is pretty much a must-get for any fan of Doom Metal. Check it out.
This is the third album from Swedish Atmospheric Sludge/Post-Hardcore band Moloken.
This is Cult of Luna/Isis-inspired Post-Metal that has been combined with Converge-style Post-Hardcore to create individualistic songs that are sharp, nasty and boiling with heated darkness.
Caustic, throat-shredding screamed vocals provide a brutally simple focal point to the apocalyptic music. The band are here to sow darkness and reap pain. Their music is a dense, claustrophobic affair, ripe with urban decay and full of disturbed interest for the observer to become upset by.
Varied and nuanced, there are a lot of good ideas on display throughout these 29 minutes and Moloken make the most of the relatively short playing time by filling the album with bleak sounds that captivate and enthral.
Equal parts Sludge, Hardcore and dark atmosphere, All Is Left to See is enjoyable and recommended.
Dead to a Dying World are a Blackened Doom band from the US and this is their second album.
Featuring a wealth of instruments and influences, this is an epic album that lasts 73 minutes and takes the listener on a tour of all of the dark places.
The bedrock of the band’s sound is grim, murky Black Metal; this immediately differentiates them from some other Blackened Doom bands as usually the style is predominantly Doom with added Blackness; here it’s a good mix of two, probably leaning towards the Black Metal side of the equation a little more overall. There’s plenty of serrated Blackened parts to keep the blood pumping.
Elements of Crust, Post-Metal and pure Doom work their magic in among the blood-fed trees of the Black Metal forest in which the music grows. Litany is powerful, wonderful, ambitious and terrifying in equal measure. Taking aspects of bands like Hope Drone, Neurosis, Wolves in the Throne Room, Myrkur, Usnea, Nux Vomica, Bergthron, Lycus and a whole host of others, this is an impressive body of music that brings something different to the table with each track, all within the established framework of the band.
Sharp Blackened screams are juxtaposed with softer cleans, both male and female. Dark growls populate the undergrowth and harsh, rolling shouting stabs in like spikes. Guest vocals appear throughout the album, making the entire performance varied and interesting for the listener.
The overall feeling is one of a refined, sombre misery. Viola and other instruments give the music an additional air of sophistication and Dead to a Dying World are nothing if not accomplished at the spells they weave; the band are adept at creating thick atmospheres and dark moods.
The recording has a sickly, unnatural warmth to it, like something alive that shouldn’t be. It’s soft when it needs to be and roiling, churning and destructive at other times.
This is a long, involving and emotive listen that builds, crests and waves through the six tracks like a dark tsunami, crushing and destroying yet followed by calm and retrospection, reflecting on all that has been lost.
A very special album.
This is the début album from Italian Depressive Post-Black Metal band Eyelessight.
Eyelessight give us 72 minutes of music across 7 tracks. This is Depressive Black Metal mixed with Post-Black Metal intricacies that bring out the subtle side of misery and melancholy.
The album starts with a lonesome piano to set the scene. Once the first song proper starts, we begin with a bit of Post-Metal before slowly building with mournful Blackened melodies and Post-Black Metal riffs.
Depressive Post-Black Metal is a new one to me, but it makes sense, with the emotional fragility of both sub-genres working well together and feeding off each other to produce these long songs.
Intense, screamed vocals stop just short of tumbling completely into insanity and spend their time shrieking and howling into the aether. They work almost as an addendum to the instrumentality of the music. Additional female cleans add real power and presence to the track Consumami, making me wish they appeared on more of the songs. Male cleans appear on occasion too, also adding to the atmospheres.
This is the kind of album that works best when listened to holistically, letting the moods and atmospheres wash over you and getting carried away by the despair.
Have a listen and see if they scratch your Depressive itch.
Wilt are a Canadian Black Metal band and this is their début album.
Wilt play Atmospheric Black Metal that takes its time, fleshing out its expansive vision with Doom-drenched splendour and releasing negative vibes for all to feel and react to.
Despondent and glorious, Wilt play music that doesn’t lack for bite or venom, despite the fact that they know how to foster mood and atmosphere. Here, the two go hand in hand with a Blackened spite that seems to coast along the seas of guitars like a predator looking for prey.
The main bulk of this album is taken up by three long songs that are textured soundscapes writ large in considered, resplendent Black Metal. The riffs and melodies used are subtle and overpowering at the same time, creating songs that know when to use a splash of colour, and when to use shades of darkness.
Blast beats appear on occasion, underscoring the band’s Blackened core, but the majority of the material is slower and devoted to dark auras. Mind you, this is not too different a situation when the drums are going fast, as the main intention is not one of brutality, merely a dramatic emphasis on the shadowy feelings that the band evoke.
A Post-Metal influence can be heard in some of the guitar melodies, although this is only an aspect of their songwriting and is subsumed by the general Blackness and atmosphere of the music; Wilt can’t really be described as a Post-Black Metal band.
And the vocals? Despairing screams that stop short of the Depressive style, but not by much. Needless to say, you can’t go wrong with vocals like this and the singer’s performance works as a focal point for the ever-expanding atmospheres of the music. Creeping whispers also appear on The Elder, working gently to soothe the listener before the darkness closes in once more.
In the spirit of Epic Black Metal and the Cascadian style, Wilt have crafted a worthy addition to the sub-genre for anyone who likes this kind of music.
This is the third album from US Sludge Metal band Kowloon Walled City.
As a fan of their previous work, this is one I was looking forward to listening to.
Slowly expanding their Sludge Metal sound over the years to incorporate more elements of Post-Metal/Post-Hardcore, the Kowloon Walled City of 2015 is a lean, hungry beast that produces slow, heavy songs that pulse with an underlying energy.
Like a lot of their album covers, including this new one, their music speaks of an urban minimalism and decay. Haunting melodies and and riffs are covered in a modern veneer that’s showing the age of what lies just underneath. Rather than being a bad thing as one might assume, this allows the band an air of instant authority and gravitas, as if their music is older than it actually is.
The songs explore this broken down landscape with the relentless inevitability of something that knows what it’s going to find so can therefore take its time in getting there.
The vocals have a little less sharpness to them on this release and sound a little smoother, more liquid and malleable in delivery. The singer still has a quirkiness to his delivery though, and if anything this side of his voice is more apparent on Grievances than on previous releases.
Kowloon Walled City have returned with another slab of melancholic, dystopian Doom-Sludge, and I’m all the happier for it.
As the singer shouts out on the title-track – “Celebrate”!
Wonderbox Metal 