Doom Metal

Vainaja – Verenvalaja Review

By Grymm on May 17, 2016 in 2016, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Finnish Metal, Reviews, Svart Records, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 76 comments

“In 2014, Finnish three-headed beast Vainaja dropped a megaton bomb in the form of Kadotetut, leveling the ears of those who bore witness to their hymns, and placing themselves in a comfortable 3rd place spot on my year-end list with their mix of Celtic Frosty atmospherics and Asphyxiating tremolo doom. The story of a long-lost book of desecrations, sacrificial rites, and other blasphemous acts set to a bone-crushing doom/death backdrop, was both addictive and effective. Two years later, another tome has been unearthed.” Books cause nothing but trouble.

Messa Premieres Promo Video for “Babalon” and You Should Watch It

By Steel Druhm on May 10, 2016 in 2016, Aural Music, Doom Metal, Italian Metal, Doom Metal, 31 comments

“A few weeks back I ranted and raved like a madman over Messa’s debut album, Belfry. Sadly, the Italian doom mavens had little in the way of online music with which to showcase their wares.” And now they’ve corrected this grave injustice.

Phobocosm – Bringer of Drought Review

By Kronos on May 6, 2016 in 2016, Canadian Metal, Dark Descent Records, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 29 comments

“One of the complications of writing about and conceptualizing metal in the past – well, almost a decade – has been the music’s incredible diversity and availability. With bands able to record and distribute music so easily, scenes and trends have become less important and less centralized. Sure, there’s been a huge interest in nostalgia-core – occult rock and retro-thrash albums arrive in AMG’s inbox monthly – but it’s doubtful that in 2026 we’ll think of the first half of the ‘teens as being dominated by musical throwbacks. Metal as a whole lacks a zeitgeist, and in some ways that’s frustrating, because it’s hard to keep up with such a decentralized and broad genre – but death metal, as a smaller and more manageable entity, does indeed seem to have direction.” And that direction is interesting indeed.

Cadaveric Fumes – Dimensions Obscure Review

By Grymm on April 29, 2016 in 2016, Blood Harvest Records, Death Metal, Doom Metal, French Metal, Occult Rock, Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Occult Rock, 15 comments

“I have to get something off my chest here, folks. I’m getting sick and tired of bands hopping on the Retro Wagon of Regurgitated Ideas. There is more to doom metal than following the dragged robes of Ghost everywhere. Likewise, death metal has a beautifully disgusting range outside of the classic Sunlight Studios sound. And there’s more to France than fucked-up angular weirdness. So what’s a new band like France’s Cadaveric Fumes to do when trying to capture a unique sound? Take all three overplayed, over-saturated ideas, and combine them on their first three-song EP, Dimensions Obscure, that’s what! Surely, this is a recipe for disaster?” Let my people retro!

Messa – Belfry Review

By Steel Druhm on April 22, 2016 in 2016, Ambient Metal, Aural Music, Doom Metal, Italian Metal, Reviews, Doom Metal, 66 comments

“Sometimes a band comes out of nowhere and takes a baseball bat to the established way of doing things. Whether that means adding banjos to black metal or incorporating 70s prog into doom/death, it can result in absolute triumph or a total grease fire. It’s those unexpected triumphs in particular that make music such a visceral and exciting medium and when a band pulls off something new and unusual, they deserve respect and admiration. Unknown Italian doomsters Messa want to be the next trend wrecker and to that end they’ve fused dark ambient weirdness and minimalist drone onto old school, traditional doom on their eye-opening debut, Belfry.” No one expected this Italian Inquisition!

Beastwars – The Death of All Things Review

By Saunders on April 20, 2016 in 2016, Destroy Records, Doom Metal, New Zealand Metal, Reviews, Sludge, Doom Metal, Sludge Metal, Stoner Rock, 19 comments

“New Zealand’s Beastwars popped up on my radar with their excellent Blood Becomes Fire album in 2013. They impressed me with their bruising style of doomy sludge metal, combining the heft of Leviathan-era Mastodon and molten riffage of High on Fire before injecting subtle doses of ’90s grunge, prog and classic rock influences into the mix.” Feast on this beast.

The Foreshadowing – Seven Heads Ten Horns Review

By Grymm on April 19, 2016 in 2016, Cyclone Empire, Doom Metal, Gothic Metal, Italian Metal, Reviews, Doom Metal, Gothic Metal, 38 comments

“Imagine, if you will, a world torn asunder by racial and cultural intolerance. Entire countries are erased, and many religions are shunned, their followers persecuted or worse. Now picture, if you can, a united Europe acting as a new Babylon, a holy ground for those seeking shelter from the bitter storms of prejudice and hate, and bustling with diversity, all while impending doom is just looming over the amber horizon. Such a lofty world is given life on Seven Heads Ten Horns, the fourth album by Italian gothic doom sextet, The Foreshadowing.” A concept album about the 2016 American election cycle? That was fast!

October Tide – Winged Waltz Review

By Steel Druhm on April 19, 2016 in Agonia Records, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Gothic Metal, Swedish Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 11 comments

“It’s been a while since a doom/death album graced my overloaded promo bin, and as a tried and true sad-boy, I was quite stoked to see October Tide’s fifth album, Winged Waltz arrive. Formed by Katatonia ex-pats Fredrik Norrman and and Jonas Renkse, the band has long made it their practice to take elements of early Katatonia material like Brave Murder Day and mix it with the classic doom/death of Rapture and early Paradise Lost. This led to some stunning moments and others that were inexplicably less inspiring.” Turn those frowns even further down.

Tombstoned – II Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on April 18, 2016 in 2016, Doom Metal, Finnish Metal, Reviews, Sludge, Svart Records, Doom Metal, Sludge Metal, 19 comments

“With a name like Tombstoned, you can probably gather that these boys love the sweet leaf and the doomy, sludgy sweet life of the ’70s. Warping back to a time once ruled by Black Sabbath and shared by Hawkwind, Tombstoned lather up in the buzzy, dynamic, heaviness of the former, while incorporating the psychedelics of the latter.” The rolling stoned gather no moss.

Goatess – Purgatory Under New Management Review

By Saunders on April 14, 2016 in 2016, Doom Metal, Reviews, Svart Records, Swedish Metal, Doom Metal, 14 comments

“Goats and metal go together like macaroni and cheese or beer and pretzels. These mischievous grass munching fiends have shared a long affiliation with the dark arts, Satan, generalized evil and of course, heavy metal. Plus they have really cool-looking skulls and boast a strong track record of being paired up with various complimentary descriptors in the metal band name stakes. Sweden’s Goatess is another band raising their horns to goats, returning with their second full-length platter, Purgatory Under New Management.” Don’t rock the goat!