Subrosa

The Otolith – Folium Limina Review

The Otolith – Folium Limina Review

“‘I miss SubRosa, and I don’t understand why there’s no other band out there like them,’ lamented a poor, tortured soul beneath a recent review of mine. Well, ask and ye shall receive, as the saying goes. Here I am to present for your entertainment, enjoyment(!), and critical assessment, The Otolith, a band that has risen from the ashes and sports four members of symphonic doom quintet SubRosa.” SunRoses to the faithful.

Vouna – Atropos Review

Vouna – Atropos Review

Vouna was one of my first reviews here at AMG. While I certainly feel dated by the release of Atropos, it also allows me time to reflect. Sole member Yianna Bekris has undoubtedly honed her craft, and I’d like to think that I have as well, even as the morale-boosting beatings continue and the terrifying ape-in-charge keeps staring at me from the dark corner over there. An associate of Wolves in the Throne Room’s Weaver brothers, Bekris took me completely off-guard with Vouna’s self-titled debut in 2018, an effort dubbed “funeral doom” but was anything but the bellowing subterranean lurching we’ve come to know and love. Atropos offers a huge step forward, adding a healthy dose of obscurity and an unrelentingly bleak atmosphere to sink your teeth into.” Bleak houses.

The Ditch and the Delta – The Ditch and the Delta Review

The Ditch and the Delta – The Ditch and the Delta Review

“The furious, enraged opening salvo of “Maimed,” the lead track on The Ditch and the Delta’s eponymous second album, is probably an accurate representation of exactly how nearly all of us feel right now – especially up here in bunghole Alberta, where it simply won’t stop snowing (not that we’re allowed to do fun things outside anyhow), which only adds insult to injury.” Sludge therapy.

Burning Gloom – Amygdala Review

Burning Gloom – Amygdala Review

“I used to dislike female vocalists in general. As I’d mostly been exposed to them through either shitty pop music or shitty Nightwishcore, I simply never felt any emotional connection regardless of their technical skill. The turnaround came from outside of metal with Florence + The Machine, and since then I’ve found a new appreciation for womanly voices, particularly in male-dominated sub-genres, with bands like Madder Mortem and Messa featuring high on my Best Ever lists. Burning Gloom (formerly named My House On Trees) are a doom-sludge band from Milan, and they have female vocals as well, something that may be rarer in sludge than in any other sub-genre sans perhaps thrash.” Women to the front!

Roadburn 2017 Live Review

Roadburn 2017 Live Review

“Every year, something special takes place in my hometown of Tilburg, The Netherlands: the festival of Roadburn. Roadburn isn’t like your average festival. There’s no marquees, no fields of green devolving into mud, and no crowds the size of small towns worshiping the biggest bands. Instead, thousands of people dressed in black gather from every corner of the continent, and some from other continents, to see over 100 doom, stoner and other kinds of acts whose success lies almost entirely in the underground.” Welcome to the dope show.

Lotus Thief – Rervm Review

Lotus Thief – Rervm Review

“I must admit I was pretty excited when I first read about San Francisco’s Lotus Thief, a duo consisting of musicians that are also members of Botanist. The promo blurb and various press snippets mentioned buzzwords like “space metal”, touches of avant-garde, and experimentalism which was enough to tickle my interest. Knowing how great the music from their other project was, I dug into Lotus Thief’s debut Rervm with a lot of expectations.” Expectations are a lot like chocolates. Too many make you die and otherwise ruin shit.

Subrosa – No Help for the Mighty Ones Review

Subrosa – No Help for the Mighty Ones Review

I consider myself a pretty open-minded guy. Sure, I’m angry and a tad dogmatic at times, but I’m certainly not unwilling to engage in new ideas or to follow along with people when they do innovative things. But one trend, or musical movement if I’m going to be polite about it, in the metal underground that I just have never been able to get on board with is sludge or funeral doom. As I’ve said before, I just get bored. My attention span isn’t up for this stuff. There is a mind-numbing simplicity that I think you can only appreciate if you’re really stoned and I, frankly, don’t touch the stuff.