“What a gloomy place Finland must be to produce so much doom metal. While you’ve likely encountered the doom giants Lord Vicar, Spiritus Mortis, or Reverend Bizarre in your travels, it is within the murky depths of the Finnish doom underground that you might stumble upon Helsinki-based Cardinals Folly. The band’s press loves to point out their status as an underground band, which feels strange.” Doom for improvement.
Reverend Bizarre
Läjä Äijälä & Albert Witchfinder – Ordeal and Triumph Review
“Läjä Äijälä and Albert Witchfinder are both veterans to the Finnish music scene, the former best known for his time with punk band Terveet Kädet, while the latter is renowned as vocalist/bassist of Reverend Bizarre – although their collaboration has nothing to do with either. Like 2021 debut Centuries of Youth, Ordeal and Triumph offers three tracks and an hour of a polarizing blend of power electronics, industrial, analog noise, dark ambient, and spoken word.” Enter the Ordeal.
Spiritus Mortis – The Great Seal Review
“In the darkness I lurk, watching from a distance for that first glimpse of what I know must eventually arrive. But how long must I languish in this grim limbo? My hunger grows exponentially as weeks stretch into months without succor. In anguish, I raise my fists to the Heavens and cry out. Where oh where are the great doom albums of 2022? Where are the classic doom-inspired platters designed to crush me ‘neath oceans of despair and mammoth riffs? Aside from the winning debut by Early Moods (God, I hate that name), there’s been little to slake my unhealthy doom desires. Thus I pinned a great deal of miserable hope on the return of Finland’s Spiritus Mortis.” High spirits.
Strange Horizon – Beyond the Strange Horizon Review
“As a child of the 80s metal scene, I grew to statuesque manhood marinating in the sounds of Pentagram and Saint Vitus. Those 80s doom titans are still near and dear to me and any act that tries to recapture the sound of that era has me as an ally. Norway’s Strange Horizon are one such band, striving to recapture that classic doom magic on debut Beyond the Strange Horizon.” Dawn of the doom.
Friends of Hell – Friends of Hell Review
“80s style doom metal is as rare these days as an honest person in politics. Bands that did it so well back in the day are all but extinct and even promising younger acts like Pallbearer and Khemmis who teased the rebirth of the style sagged under the weight of it all and drifted off to greener pastures. To this dark tableau come Friends of Hell, the classic doom project spearheaded by members of Reverend Bizarre and Electric Wizard.” With friends like this…
Suum – Cryptomass Review
“It’s a new year and I’m already anxious to uncover 2020s version of Fvneral Fvkk. By that I mean a doom album that comes out of nowhere and hits me like a runaway logging truck, leaving me bloodied, battered but impressed. In search of the next unheralded monolith of massiveness, I took a flyer on unsung Italian doom act Suum. Cryptomass is their second album, and you just have to love that witty title.” Suum of all fears.
Besvärjelsen – Vallmo Review
“Female fronted doom metal is certainly in vogue these days, with an ever expanding list of bands joining the fray. Now you can add Swedish act Besvärjelsen to the roster with their doomy debut, Vallmo.” Swe-doom in da house!
Cardinals Folly – Deranged Pagan Sons Review
“We all know that imitation is supposedly the sincerest form of flattery, but where exactly is that flimsy line, where tribute slips into mimicry and thunders down that Jacob’s ladder, only to greet the ground with a limp thud, uniform and unremarkable. This is a question I find myself pondering whilst meandering through the trails of traditional doom that comprise Deranged Pagan Sons, the fourth release from Finland’s Cardinals Folly.” Ozzy says.
Sibiir – Sibiir Review
“Ah, another week, another black metal hybrid album. I’ve been snatching these up like candy lately, and for good reason: the only albums I’ve awarded a 3.0 or higher thus far have paired the genre’s trademark icy dissonance with a variety of other styles to great effect.” Blackened candy is best served cold.
Spiritus Mortis – The Year is One Review
“This has been a really good year for doom, with Khemmis, Messa and Northern Crown dropping stellar platters of mawkish mopery, and Spiritus Mortis wants to help send 2016 out with even more funereal notes and appropriately bowed heads. This Finnish doom troupe has been around a while and The Year is One is their fourth album, but somehow I’ve slept on them and am just coming to grips with their material.” The Year is Yuge.