Doom Metal

Servants to the Tide – Servants to the Tide Review

By Steel Druhm on March 31, 2021 in Reviews, Doom Metal, 30 comments

“As a trve, epic sort of gentleman, I feel there’s a disturbing lack of quality epic doom in today’s metal scene. Atlantean Kodex can’t release a monstrous magnum opus every year, and with While Heaven Wept out of action, the scene is screaming in the night for wengeance and a love bite that almost never arrives. Attempting to fill this epic gap comes Germanic tribe, Servants of the Tide with their self-titled debut platter. Proudly name dropping both the aforementioned acts as major inspirations, the band dives into the deep end of the trve pool, also borrowing from Candlemass and Sorcerer as they labor to spin grand tales of great deeds.” Something to Tide you over.

Byron – The Omega Evangelion Review

By Huck N Roll on March 24, 2021 in 2021, Reviews, Doom Metal, Epic Metal, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, 12 comments

“Ah, the random promo pick. It worked well for Gardenstale, who wrote some fancy algorithm that randomly assigned him a Record O’ The Month in Iotunn. Hoping for lighting to strike twice, Yours Truly dug into his hope chest and unearthed his multi-sided dice set. A quick throw of the d30 yielded The Omega Evangelion, the debut album from Finnish upstarts Byron. What started out as a solo project by ex-Church of Void drummer Johannes Lahti.” Dragons, dice, destiny.

Thunder Horse – Chosen One Review

By Huck N Roll on March 19, 2021 in Reviews, Doom Metal, 20 comments

“Thunder Horse was a pleasant surprise ending to 2018, dropping a solid platter of sludgy doom on our doorstep that December. It was strong enough to attract the attention of renowned stoner/doom/psych label Ripple Music, and here we are now with Chosen One, the band’s follow-up. Like their namesake, this quartet brings thunder to the masses in typically larger-than-life Texas fashion, with anthemic, grandiose doom replete with crushing drums and epic guitar solos. Although not even remotely close musically, the title of an old Dave Edmunds album comes to mind when listening to Thunder Horse. This music is as Subtle as a Flying Mallet.” Horse-corps.

Rise to the Sky – Let Me Drown with You Review

By Twelve on March 15, 2021 in Reviews, Doom Metal, 10 comments

“Since I discovered Rise to the Sky last year with their tremendous EP In the Grave of a Forgotten Soul, Sergio G., the one man behind the one-man-band has put out a second EP and sophomore full-length album, A Cold Embrace from Life and Death Will Not Keep Us Apart respectively. So the fact that I’m now sitting down to review his third full-length, Let Me Drown with You, less than a year after that initial encounter, is staggering. Rise to the Sky, is nothing if not consistent, melding doom metal together with slices of funeral and death metal atop thick layers of crushing sorrow.” Stop the world and drown with you.

Myopic & At The Graves – A Cold Sweat of Quiet Dread Review

By Akerblogger on March 15, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Post-Metal, Sludge Metal, 7 comments

“Collaborations between artists are usually a tantalizing prospect. In recent years we’ve had a handful of high-quality collaborations: Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas, Thou and Emma Ruth Rundle, and Spectral Lore and Mare Cognitum the cream of the recent crop. Collaborations can be tricky, especially in the age of the supervirus and restricted travel. Communication of ideas is vital. A collaboration can either sound like a blissful mesh of an artist’s best traits or a haphazard collision of distant sound. Ben Price, the sole member of doom/sludge project At The Graves, has buried himself in a casket with the sludge/black/death/you-name-it three piece Myopic. A Cold Sweat of Quiet Dread is their first collaborative full-length.” Blood, sweat, graves, and bad eyesight.

Yer Metal is Olde: Corrosion of Conformity – Blind

By Grymm on March 10, 2021 in Blog Posts, Yer Metal Is Olde, Doom Metal, Hardcore, Punk, Sludge, 22 comments

“Blind, Corrosion of Conformity‘s third album, was an odd duckling for various reasons when it dropped in 1991. It remains the only album to not feature longtime bassist/vocalist Mike Dean in any capacity, but also the only album to feature his replacements, vocalist Karl Agell and bassist Phil Swisher. It also debuted guitarist/vocalist Pepper Keenan, who only sang lead on the album’s hit single, “Vote With a Bullet.” Above all else, Blind saw the band at a crossroads of sorts, with one foot planted in the band’s seminal punk/hardcore history, while planting the other foot into Sabbath-drenched doom/sludge territory. The end result captured lightning in a bottle and today, Blind joins the ranks of the Hallowed and the Olde.” Blind but farseeing.

Snaer – Frozen Alchemy Review

By Dear Hollow on March 9, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Progressive Metal, Thrash Metal, Viking Metal, 22 comments

“From Pittsfield, Maine, Snaer is a quartet founded in 2015, having released a 2019 EP entitled Do It Yourself, a title that conveys their aesthetic and work ethic. Featuring a thrash- and doom-infused style that feels icy and brutal in equal measure, debut full-length Frozen Alchemy effectively balances mystical and punishing. Raw spiraling riffs conveyed through Viking metal-esque chord progressions, blackened rasps, complex percussion, and a nice progressive edge all greet the ears with frigid bite.” Lead to gold or lead to goat?

Wolvennest – Temple Review

By Dear Hollow on March 5, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, Doom Metal, 27 comments

“Belgium is a weird place. Maybe it’s the chocolate or waffles, but any country that offers groups like Neptunian Maximalism, Emptiness, or Amenra & Co. needs to have its cholesterol checked. Spewing out bizarre organic atmosphere with haunting repetition, artists like these have strangely minimalist tendencies that end up feeling bigger than the individual parts suggest. While spanning a broad range of metallic subgenres, it comes across as otherworldly, surreal, and fiercely dark. To add their two cents to these Belgian shenanigans is Wolvennest.” Temple of Weird.

Acid Mammoth – Caravan Review

By TheKenWord on March 2, 2021 in Reviews, Doom Metal, Stoner Metal, 41 comments

“Stoner doom. Cool, now that two-thirds of the readers have scurried away, let’s get down to brass tacks. This genre is fucking plagued. To find prime specimens in this genre is a rare feat indeed, and as I write this I realize even I only have one or two, maybe three records to offer as modern examples of such. Everything else sounds like a litter of indistinguishable duplicates to me. Greek quartet Acid Mammoth should be able to break that mold, though, right? First of all, they’ve got one of the best metal logos in recent times. Second of all, they occupy the darker side of the stoner doom spectrum.” Diamonds and tusk.

Culted – Nous Review

By Akerblogger on March 1, 2021 in Reviews, Doom Metal, Post-Metal, Sludge, 12 comments

“Some of the most dense and horrible sounding music is beautiful. There’s beauty in the expression of extreme emotions, a vulnerability perhaps. It’s strangely alluring when a singer screams their lungs out without a care in the world. We all hold close to our hearts those special tracks that feature a riff or transition that pummels you to the ground for no good reason. These moments in music are special. For me, they often appear during records that carry a hefty sense of despair. Up steps the Canadian-Swedish outfit Culted. Despair is their game and Nous is their third full-length.” CultedER.