“Since 1994 this sadboi doom/death Katatonia spin-off has been spewing sullen tunes to the beat of a depressed march. Originally more in line with a stripped-down presentation of the kind of work that Dance of December Souls started and Brave Murder Day championed, October Tide festered into its own deathly beast, eventually seeing the legendary Jonas Renkse step away to a succession of progressively more vile vocalists.” High? Low? October Tide.
“When we discuss this majesty in metal, common threads lead to Fleshgod Apocalypse and Septicflesh and their ominous orchestras, the strength of battle in the rhythms of Bathory and Amon Amarth, while colossal vastness grants Ahab its weight or Ataraxie its bleakness. Germany’s The Circle utilizes all of the above in its dense and expansive blend of melodic death, doom, and black metal, capped off by symphonic soundscapes and a Gothic vocal style.” Might, majesty, and muscle.
Bloodbath’s ginormous debut full-length is one for the ages. It’s also really olde now. Is the blood still wet? You bet!
El Cuervo and Diabolus in Muzaka made lists and checked them twice. But are their Top Ten(ish) of 2019 naughty or nice?
“Do you remember the first time you heard Swallow the Sun’s The Morning Never Came? How those crushing tones and shattering gutturals hit you like the saddest ton of cement ever and you thought that, indeed, the light would never grace your world again? How the subtle, folky elements added a sense of longing, while the sound of waves crashing made you feel lost in a sea of hopelessness and never being found? And above all, how fucking evocative that feeling was? And how you had to go bask in the sunlight to recover from it? That’s the feeling I had when I popped in Bewailer’s debut album Where My Demise Dwells.” Swallowing more sadness.
“In Cleric’s own words, their second full-length is “Swedish-style death metal that mixes in the elements of doom that [they] used to play. Think Entombed mixed with Asphyx and pepper with a pinch of Candlemass.” If this is the recipe, boy oh boy, is it tasty.” Taste the Cleric.
“It’s been a hot minute since I even remotely touched anything Katatonia-related. That’s not out of complete and utter disownership of a great band, mind you. I’ve just been bombarded with so much doom and black metal that keeping up with them can be a bit difficult. So when word that former members the Brothers Norrman had not only put out a new October Tide album, but also the second full-length album from their prog-rock outfit Thenighttimeproject, I figured a reacquainting/discovery mission was in order.” Night shift.
“Summer is coming slowly to New York, and it seems to rain every day lately, keeping a grey, overcast shroud over the Empire State. That means the time is as right as it will be until October for a new October Tide opus of melancholy melodeath. Album number six In Splendor Below sees Katatonia expats Fredrik and Mattias Norrman sporting a new, more illegible logo, and a bit more of a blackened edge at times, but otherwise it’s business as usual for theses purveyors of gloom. Their output still sounds like a mix of early Katatonia and Rapture, and aims to hit that downcast sadboy sweet spot.” Splendor in the sad grass.
“Week 2 of Madam X Month sees the Huckster taking on one of X’s favorites from years gone by, Décembre Noir. Our esteemed headmistress reviewed their debut back in 2014, and was impressed enough by A Discouraged Believer that she managed to twist the untwistable arm of Steel Druhm and have the album declared a runner up in the May 2014 Record(s) o’ the Month column—not to mention including it in her own Top Ten(ish) list that year. We somehow missed their follow-up, 2016’s Forsaken Earth, but we are not about to make the same mistake with Autumn Kings. The question is, four years on from their debut, what do Décembre Noir bring to the table that they didn’t on their debut?” Season’s feelz beatings.
“This one almost slipped through the cracks into the murky, forbidding depths of the AMG promo sump, never to be seen or heard again. Yet salvaged it was, by me, and I deserve accolades and adoration for rescuing this platter from the cold fate of eternal obscurity. Soliloquium have an awkward name to spell and pronounce, but their music is anything but. They play a sadboy style of progressive doom death that borrows heavily from the likes of Katatonia, Rapture and Anathema, and boy do they know how to bring the depressive thunder.” Contemplate this on the Tree of Woe.
