“Birmingham-based Alunah returns with their fourth album—Strange Machine—and second since the departure of founding members Sophie and David Day. As originally formulated, Alunah played straightforward—albeit folk-tinged—doom metal. Perhaps the biggest difference from doom in the vein of Saint Vitus is Alunah’s penchant for the bounce and swing of early Black Sabbath’s heavy blues.” Rage against the Strange Machine.
“Those more tenured readers may recall that I was rather taken with Alunah’s Awakening the Forest, a folksy, beforested homage to Black Sabbath featuring exemplary female vocals to carry its tunes. 2017’s Solennial fared less well as I queried the limitations of the style and less memorable song-writing. 2019 has rolled around and with it the succeeding album called Violet Hour. Violet Hour is the first Alunah full-length release (following last year’s EP called Amber & Gold) without founding member and singer Sophie Day. Their sound is hardly one challenging boundaries or progressing its scene but this shake-up to a core component had the potential to change the band more widely. Has it?” Going through changes.
“Stoner doom can frequently be heard in the House of Cherd. I enjoy it in my rotation, being, as I am, of Doom. Mrs. Cherd, however, takes particular delight in it. Whenever we’re doing housework to one of her playlists, it’s not uncommon for three Windhand songs from different albums to be followed by Bongzilla, then Electric Wizard, all while she promises that there are other genres in there and the next song probably won’t be stoner doom.” Family friendly doom.
“Pop quiz, motherfathers: What has the voice of an apathetic angel, Sabbathian wings o’ doom, and slowly circles the skies with Alunah in its claws and Italian fire in its heart? If you didn’t guess Haunted, either the review title got fucked up or you’re just one of the masses. Haunted aren’t exactly cavehold names in the doom community, but Dayburner sees the quintet looking to change that.” Doom in Venice.
“Here we are, once again, gathered together under the metaphoric roof of the Angry Metal Hall. Our ranks comprise fans of all walks of metal, no two tastes are identical and yet we all convene here to bang our heads as one. What joins us disparate degenerates as children of the Jørn? What fantastic force unites the photometers, hamsters, and screaming boxes that plague our comment section? The answer holds as trve now as in those dark days preceding the internet: it’s the riffs, stupid. This obvious answer in turn poses an obvious question: “What does this have to do with Octopus’ Supernatural Alliance?”” What a big tent you have.
“Splits are great ways to expand your musical repertoire when familiar with one of the bands collaborating. A level of mutual respect is presumed between the two: surely a favored artist will have good tastes themselves? And surely the twinned groups will offer something similar but sufficiently distanced for a neatly conjoined listening experience? Such conclusions seem logical.” Slashed by Occam’s razor.
“The life of the unpaid, overworked metal reviewer is not an easy one. Cascading promos, unreasonable deadlines, draconian editors and the unwashed metal mobs – it makes for a swirling maelstrom of music and madness. In all that tumult, errors are bound to happen and sometimes our initial impression of an album may not be completely accurate. With time and distance comes wisdom, and so we’ve decided to pull back the confessional curtain and reveal our biggest blunders, missteps, oversights and ratings face-plants. Consider this our sincere AMGea culpa. Redemption is retroactive, forgiveness is mandatory.” El Cuervo has something he needs to get off his chest.
“I’m wary of praising bands in overpopulated genres but I believe Birmingham’s Alunah to be one of the best retro-doom bands operating. Beyond the nostalgic warmth and simplistic riffs offered by their peers, these guys boast a stand-out vocalist, a cracking tone and a fervor for folklore which lends a certain charming mysticism.” Wicked mystics.
“Here at Angry Metal Guy Dictatorship Services Ltd., we strive for self-parody. That’s why we continue to push the Record(s) o’ the Month further and further back. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it’s not even worth posting Record(s) o’ the Month until regular readers begin whining in the comments of reviews they don’t care about that there isn’t a Record o’ the Month post for whatever month. This is usually followed by one going up and then said persons complaining that their favorite record isn’t included, but that’s irrelevant! The point is that we live to fulfill such functions and to fight to lose all the credibility and dependability we’ve continued to build in spite of all our best efforts!” What got Record o’ the Month? Click and find out, good sir or madam!
“There was a huge weight on Alunah’s shoulders at the advent of their career. Hailing from Birmingham, the illustrious home to heavy metal, it would have been all to easy to fly under the radar. Fortunately, their début captivated doomsters with its crushing riffs and entrancing female vocals, and the follow-up White Hoarhound miraculously eluded the sophomore slump by boldly expanding their sound to epic levels and progressing their song-writing prowess. Now, Awakening The Forest has arrived and blows them out of the water.” The year of quality doom keeps a rolling!
