Megaton Leviathan are a US psychedelic rock/doom band, and this is their third album.
Now here’s a band that have flowered quite impressively since their already very accomplished 2014 album Past 21: Beyond the Arctic Cell. Boasting new members, new instrumentation, and an enriched direction, Mage is indebted to the band’s past, while being unconstrained by it. Continue reading
Skullcave are a progressive doom band from Australia and this is their debut album.
I was drawn to this album by the enigmatic album cover, and then reeled in by the description of the music – “an ambitious, qualitative blend of thick doom, dreamy instrumentals and layered vocals.” Continue reading
Forming the Void are a progressive stoner/sludge doom band from the US. This is their fourth album.
After enjoying Forming the Void’s split with Pyreship, I was eager to hear more from the band. Thankfully, that desire has been catered to in the form of Rift; 46 minutes of new material for me to wrap my ears around. Continue reading
CHRCH are a doom/sludge band from the US and this is their second album.
My first encounter with CHRCH was on their split with Fister. I think you can safely say that I fell in love with them at that point, so it’s very exciting that their latest full length release is now here with a new 47 minutes of material for me to get lost in. Continue reading
Green Yeti are a Greek psychedelic doom metal band and this is their second album.
It seems like only yesterday that Green Yeti hit the scene with a massive crash with The Yeti Has Landed, but now they’re already back with more killer tunes to wow and entertain us. Continue reading
Ohhms are a doom band from the UK and this is their debut album.
Ohhms made a bit of a splash in the doom metal waters with their debut EP Bloom, and now with their first full-length, that splash could become a tsunami. Continue reading
Queen Elephantine, from the US, treat us to their fourth album of psychedelic experimental Doom.
Straight from the off in first song Veil the band create an experience unlike most, with spaced out psychedelia paving the way. In fact the word experience is an apt one as that’s precisely what this is; a listening experience. There is a lot going on here, even when it sounds on occasion relatively minimalistic.
There is a wide range of instrumentation employed and the clear, organic sound does everything justice. In addition to the standard instruments one would expect we also get slide guitar, tanpura, additional effects/noises and two drummers, which makes for a great and varied collection of songs that have lots of individuality.
The vocals, when they appear, seem to be almost an afterthought. They appear at select points in the songs like ghostly apparitions floating in and out of reality. It all adds to the feeling of space and timelessness that the songs evoke and it’s easy to get lost in the endless hypnotic jam of Queen Elephantine.
I was not expecting to like this as much as I do. Not because I had any expectations of the band being bad or anything, (I had not heard of them before listening to this), but purely because it surprised me with the high quality on display and because it’s just so damn good.
If you’re looking for something a bit different and like to be taken out of reality then I advise you get your hands on this as soon as you can. If you’re in the mood for it then this is just excellent.
