This is the second album from Irish doom metal band Dread Sovereign.
2014’s All Hell’s Martyrs was an absolute stormer of an album, and definitely one of my favourites from the doom metal genre. After catching them live at last year’s Damnation Festival, I was very excited to eventually hear some new material from the band. Finally, the wait is over. Continue reading “Dread Sovereign – For Doom the Bell Tolls (Review)”
Lucifer’s Fall are an Australian doom metal band and this is their second album.
We know Lucifer’s Fall from their 2014 debut album Lucifer’s Fall and their 2015 EP, (the title track of which also appears on this latest album). Continue reading “Lucifer’s Fall – II: Cursed & Damned (Review)”
Headless Kross are a doom band from the UK.
Headless Kross don’t play nice music. They do, however, play heavy music, and this is what we like.
The vocals are unhinged screams. They seem Continue reading “Headless Kross – Projections 1 (Review)”
This is the debut album from Jagged Mouth, a sludge/doom metal band from the US.
With the kind of scathingly high-pitched vocals that can strip skin at 100 paces, Jagged Mouth don’t mess around. This is slow and heavy sludge/doom that doesn’t care for being nice or pleasant in any way. Continue reading “Jagged Mouth – Louring (Review)”
This is the debut album from US doom metal band Northern Crown.
I thoroughly enjoyed Northern Crown’s first EP In the Hands of the Betrayer, so when their debut album popped up, I was keen to give it a listen.
The band play traditional doom metal with a good smattering of heavy metal throughout, although it should also be noted that they have started to branch out from this, here and there, marking an increased confidence and comfortableness with how they approach their material. Continue reading “Northern Crown – The Others (Review)”
This is the second album from US doom metal band Khemmis.
Khemmis’ debut album, Absolution, was one of my favourite releases of 2015, and has continued to be a firm-favourite of mine ever since first hearing it.
Continuing on with their style of combining traditional doom metal with sludge metal, the songs on Hunted are a tad longer, allowing the band more room to explore and expand on their core style.
The singer puts in a sterling performance once more. Continue reading “Khemmis – Hunted (Review)”
This is the debut album of Italian symphonic metal band Oniricide.
Oniricide ostensibly play Nightwish-inspired symphonic metal, but there’s more than just this going on here. The music here has a nice, earthy feel to it that reminds me of some doom metal bands as much as symphonic/melodic ones.
The Nightwish influence is only a starting point, as Continue reading “Oniricide – Revenge of Souls (Review)”
This is the debut album from Spirit Adrift, a one-man doom metal band from the US.
Chained to Oblivion has got some very tasty riffs on it. Oh yes. It’s a right old riff-fest, actually. The fact that these riffs combine to form songs that hit the mark with a lot of accuracy, is even better.
With a warm, heavy sound, these five tracks impress from the start, and seem to go from strength to Continue reading “Spirit Adrift – Chained to Oblivion (Review)”
This is the fourth album from UK Doom Metal band Camel of Doom.
This unusually named band play experimental Doom Metal that contains elements of Progressive Rock, psychedelia and a bit of Sludge Metal alongside the usual genre trappings. Continue reading “Camel of Doom – Terrestrial (Review)”
This is the fifth album from Swedish Doom/Psychedelic Rock band Witchcraft.
Playing the easy-listening proto-Metal Doom Rock so beloved in the 1970s, while also incorporating wider sounds from 60s psychedelia, Witchcraft have the retro vibe fully sewn up. It would be sickening if it wasn’t so damn good.
That’s the real central point about a band like this; they really are just that good. There’s a lot of music on Nucleus, but all of it is stamped with pure quality and it soars high over the heads of most bands that try their hand at this kind of thing.
Another interesting aspect of Nucleus is that even though it positively wallows in the past, and the production embraces this, it still sounds solid, professional and tight, despite an unashamedly old-school sound in many ways. Put simply, they manage to sound huge and polished without actually being overtly so. Impressive.
I like that there’s an exploratory sound to their music, influenced by the more progressive aspects of the 70s in some ways; it feels like the band are taking you along on their own personal journey and you’re not quite sure what you’re going to see. Which is another reason why they’re so good – this isn’t just your normal Trad-Doom-by-numbers release, as there’s a lot more going on here, hidden in plain sight.
There’s a wide range of song lengths on this release, from the short to the very long. Lighter, rockier moments share space with Doomier ones and the overall impression is of a well-thought-out album that has all of its bases covered for what it wants to achieve.
The singer’s voice is charismatic and easily-likeable. His performance is first-rate and speaks of a confidence of delivery honed through experience.
Very nice. Very enjoyable.
Wonderbox Metal 