“As Angry Metal Guy’s resident funeral doom metal kitty, it’s usually my responsibility to clench my grubby murder mittens on all things slow and murky. Lately, though, due to forces outside my control, all the good stuff is usually grabbed by the time I even get to our promo sump. This time around, Vama Marga, the third album by German funeral doom quintet Adversvm, was staring me in the face with no takers! Funeral doom… with the keyboardist of Evoken, no less!” Morose opportunities.
“Has it really been 11 years since Saturnus last surfaced to drop a crushing doom album upon our bare naked toes? Though these perpetually depressed Danes were not part of the Peaceville movement in the early 90s spearheaded by My Dying Bride, Anathema, and Paradise Lost, they were right behind them, effectively covering much the same ground on albums like Paradise Belongs to You and Martyre. Talented but unproductive, they managed just three albums between 1997 and 2006 before taking 6 long years to drop 2012s Saturn in Ascension. More than a decade later, I’d written off the prospect of getting another Saturnus opus.” Reborn in the storm.
“Grief is both intensely personal, and a commonality between us all. This admixture of the private and the relatable can make music through which it is channeled incredibly powerful. In a genre like doom, already associated with the melancholy and the morose, these emotions fit naturally and reinforce both the sense of sadness and the potency of the music itself. The recent output of Swallow the Sun initially springs to mind. Death of Giants is another such act.” Giant feelz.
“There seems to be a wellspring of gothic doom in the promo hopper in early 2023, and I’m okay with that. Coming off a heated love affair with Tribunal, I eagerly scooped up the debut by U.K. doomsters, Elderseer and hoped for a similar love connection. Their full-length debut adopts a style in the vein of My Dying Bride, Celestial Season, and early Paradise Lost, with long, winding songs telling tales of great misery and woe. And at a mammoth 68-minute runtime, Drown in the Shallowness delivers more than your fair share of sadcakes and grief biscuits.” Seer me MMXXIII.
“The new year brings a fresh fervor to search out and seize interesting things from the ghastly promo sump. Having heard a bit of low-level buzz surrounding the debut by Vancouver-based gothic doom act Tribunal, I was interested to see what the fuss might be about. The promo sheet name drops My Dying Bride and boasts the presence of a classically trained cellist, and so I dove into The Weight of Remembrance hoping for something a bit more interesting than a MDB clone. And boy did I hit the goddamn motherload!” And justice for all.
“After taking some 20 years off, Dutch gothic doom-death act Celestial Season roared back in 2020 with a startingly ambitious comeback album called The Secret Teachings, then followed up in April of this year with Mysterium I. Now just a scant 7 months later they’re back with the second part of a planned trilogy, dropping Mysterium II in time for Christmas stocking stuffing.” Eggnog and seasonal mysteries.
“MMXX is a very short name for a band, but it still says a lot about its story. During periods of isolation and lockdown in the titular year, Andrea Chiodetti (ex-The Foreshadowing), Jesse Haff (Daylight Dies), and Egan O’Rourke (Daylight Dies) formed something of a doom metal supergroup, based in the United States and Italy, and began writing music inspired by the events happening around them. From there, the project has grown ambitiously—now signed with Candlelight Records, the band brought on guest musician after guest musician to form something of a dark Avantasia-like project.” Sacred cargo or suspicious package?
“As autumn attempts to blow its crisp, leaf-scented breeze through the still-humid, still-swamp-assy climes of Northeastern Florida, I can’t help but reach for my own aural equivalent of a pumpkin spice latte, a sound so comfortable that it’s akin to slipping on a well-worn hoodie that’s seen better days. Kiddos, it’s time to revisit the sounds of early 90s doom/death. I’m talking about reminiscing of days both Brave and Murderous, of paradise being lost, and of flowers withering.” Old dooms.
“Amaurot is a four-piece gothic death doom band hailing from Sweden and fronted, and co-founded, by German vocalist Lisa Rieger (also of Hydra). And this review of their full-length debut, … To Tread the Ancient Waters, is woefully late. I make no apologies for that but know that there are Reasons. Valid Reasons. Rieger founded the band in 2019 with guitarist Peter Svensson (ex-Goatess, among others), who also handles keyboards.” Late to the grave.
“There are few things in life that get me salivating like Pavlov’s puppy whenever someone rings anything that makes a bell-like noise. Asian horror flicks, RPGs with great stories, and immersive Metroidvania games all effortlessly grasp my attention. In terms of metal, the words “doom” and “British” do the trick just fine, and The Land That Brought Us the Peaceville Three has yet another band to lay claim to the crestfallen throne. Norwich’s Consecration have been around the death/doom block since 2010, but Cinis is only their third full-length.” Doom of the Isles.
