The Doom Metal Thread

So I was bored during this ridiculously long NSW COVID lockdown & thought I'd put together my top ten conventional doom metal releases of all time. I only selected releases where Doom Metal is its most senior genre tag rather than including those that are generally referred to as another subgenre like Stoner Metal or Sludge Metal with Doom Metal being more of a throwaway addition. I also used the common consensus on genre tagging rather than my own personal thoughts on the appropriate subgenre.

01. Pig Destroyer - “Natasha” E.P. (2008)

02. Ufomammut & Lento - "Supernaturals - Record One" (2007)

03. Celtic Frost - "Monotheist" (2006)

04. Warning - "Watching From A Distance" (2006)

05. Cathedral - "Forest Of Equilibrium" (1991)

06. Anathema - "The Silent Enigma" (1995)

07. M.S.W. - "Obliviosus" (2020)

08. The Electric Wizard - "We Live" (2004)

09. My Dying Bride - "The Angel & The Dark River" (1995)

10. The 3rd & the Mortal - "Tears Laid In Earth" (1994)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/128

Feel free to post your own lists here if you feel up to the task along with anything else related to the classic doom metal sound.

Just doing a top 5

5. My Dying Bride - The Angel and the Dark River (1995)

4. Ars Onirica - I: Cold (2019)

3. Anathema - Eternity (1996)

2. 40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room (2011)

1. Swallow the Sun - When a Shadow is Forced Into the Light (2019)

OK, not easy but today it's:

1. Warning - Watching From A Distance (2006)

2. Solstice - New Dark Age (1998)

3. Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus (1986)

4. Reverend Bizarre - In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend (2002)

5. Subrosa - More Constant Than the Gods (2013)

6. Windhand - Soma (2013)

7. Pallbearer - Sorrow and Extinction (2012)

8. Scald - Will of the Gods Is Great Power (1996)

9. Spiritus Mortis - The God Behind the God (2009)

10. Saint Vitus - Mournful Cries (1988)

I've not included any extreme doom such as funeral or death doom, purely conventional doom metal.

Perhaps, Daniel, if the lockdown you're going through feels too long you should put together a funeral doom list - that should make time go quicker!

Updated my list a bit. Decided to grant the Anathema & Pig Destroyer releases qualification after all.

Updated my list a bit. Decided to grant the Anathema & Pig Destroyer releases qualification after all.

Just noticed you've got Electric Wizard's We Live in your top ten. Definitely EW's most underrated album and every bit as good as Dopethrone in my opinion. I think fans got too precious about Bagshaw and Greening leaving and Jus Osborne bringing his girlfriend, Liz Buckingham,  into the band so they turned their collective noses up at it.

Paradise Lost - "Shades of God" (1992)

It’s interesting that, although I regard myself as a big fan of the doom/death metal subgenre in general, I’ve never really counted myself as a huge fan of one of the most seminal & highly regarded artists in England’s Paradise Lost, at least not of their earlier & more influential death metal-infused releases. I did quite like their 1989 “Frozen Illusion” demo tape & their widely celebrated sophomore album “Gothic” but I have to admit that neither of them have received much in the way of return visits after I first discovered them back in the early 1990’s. I only really got onboard the Paradise Lost train with their 1993 fourth album “Icon” (my favourite Paradise Lost release overall) & 1995's highly successful "Draconian Times" record which saw them completing their transition away from doom/death into a more polished & accessible gothic metal sound that would prove to be hugely influential for decades to come. So what of the band’s 1992 third album “Shades of God” then, a transitional release that saw the Halifax five-piece right at the mid-point between their two signature sounds?

Despite not classing myself as an obsessive fan of 1990’s “Lost Paradise” or 1991’s “Gothic” albums, I did pick up “Shades of God” on cassette shortly after it was released. I guess I still held hopes of Paradise Lost taking the promise shown in the stronger “Gothic” material to new & more consistent levels but my first few listens didn’t really deliver the desired outcome. I guess I just found the band’s foot-in-both-camps approach to be a little bit middling to be honest. Admittedly, the tracklisting was slightly more consistent than “Gothic” which possessed a more filler material however there are also nowhere near the quantity of highlights that "Gothic" benefited from with only the doomy “No Forgiveness” meeting equivalent heights for me personally. Some of this can certainly be attributed to my personal taste as the album contains three tracks that highlight the gothic metal sound that Paradise Lost were moving towards & these are generally regarded as the centrepieces of the album. They’re all pretty decent songs in their own right too but I can’t ever say that they ever see me being fully engaged. The dreary doom metal of “Embraced” is the only inclusion that I consider to be a genuine failure though as it sounds noticeably flat & lethargic in comparison to the tracks around it.

There are a couple of general qualms I have with the early Paradise Lost work to be honest & “Shades of God” is a pretty decent example. Firstly, Nick Holmes’ vocals take a both-ways bet on whether they want to be clean or harsh & end up sounding somewhat awkward as a result. Nick’s death growl was one of the most imposing in the early death metal scene so I recall initially finding myself to be more than a little disappointed with his direction on "Shades of God". The other thing that grinds my gears is lead guitarist Gregor Mackintosh’s lack of theoretical understanding as we regularly see him selecting notes that are out of key. In fact, his note selection & phrasing is still really basic at this point & I struggle with that given my musical background. The best moments come when the band get their doom on though with Gregor exceling at providing attractive melodic accompaniments. Actually, I have to say that there’s bugger all genuine doom/death on this record. It's mostly built on more conventional doom metal with gothic metal playing a notable secondary role in the final product. Some of the doomy riffs even possess the groovier feel of the traditional doom metal sound of the 1980’s. The tracks that veer away from doom towards gothic metal generally see more up-tempo & chuggy metal riffs being employed in a way that results in an outcome that’s not dissimilar to Sisters of Mercy.

“Shades of God” is far from a failure but it’s easy to see why it’s not talked about anywhere near as much as the albums either side of it given it’s transitional nature. Fans of My Dying Bride, Anathema & Draconian will likely find enough quality material to keep them interested but I’d be surprised if many regard it as one of Paradise Lost’s best works.

3.5/5

Oh my god.  Oh my literal god.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of "Idolum" & Ufomammut in general. If you ever get the chance to see them play live then you should definitely do that too as you won't forget it in a hurry.

OK, so I think I've got my sludge standards re-evaluated, but after having heard several Ufomammut albums, I feel the need to recheck my doom standards again, so I'm going to go over some of my older favorites in the genre, starting with my number 1: The Dreadful Hours.  Hard to believe its title opener lasts nine minutes.  That's how you know the song hits you: overcoming its length, and this did so by constantly mixing that one song up by switching between post, goth, doom and death like it was nothing.

Cathedral - "In Memoriam" demo (1990)

God damn, I love me some early Cathedral & their 1990 demo tape is just about the very definition of pure doom for mine. I sought it out back in the mid-90's after purchasing their groovier 1993 sophomore record "The Ethereal Mirror" & realising that Cathedral may never be the same again. If you can't get enough of their debut album "Forest of Equilibrium" then this should be essential listening.

4.5/5

Here's my adjusted Top Ten Conventional Doom Metal Releases of All Time list:

01. Pig Destroyer - “Natasha” E.P. (2008)

02. Ufomammut & Lento - "Supernaturals - Record One" (2007)

03. Celtic Frost - "Monotheist" (2006)

04. Warning - "Watching From A Distance" (2006)

05. Cathedral - "Forest Of Equilibrium" (1991)

06. Anathema - "The Silent Enigma" (1995)

07. M.S.W. - "Obliviosus" (2020)

08. The Electric Wizard - "We Live" (2004)

09. Cathedral - "In Memoriam" demo (1990)

10. My Dying Bride - "The Angel & The Dark River" (1995)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/128

Warning (GBR) - The Strength to Dream (1999)

With my perpetual touting of "Watching From A Distance" as the greatest album of all-time (and don't bother debating me on this, your piteous cries of protest will fall on deaf ears), I suppose it's time to write a few lines about Warning's "other" album, their debut from 1999, The Strength to Dream. It is obvious that this is nowhere near as well-regarded as their classic and chances are that the majority of doomsters haven't even listened to it. This is not exactly without reason, as it is nowhere near as accomplished as the sophomore and is more of an example of a band learning their trade and honing both their technical and songwriting skills than it is a band emerging fully-formed and proficient.

One of the distinctive features of Watching From A Distance is the emotional and heartfelt vocal performance of Patrick Walker and that is a major factor in it being considered (certainly by me anyway) to be one of the most affecting metal albums ever committed to record. Yet here, a mere seven years earlier, Patrick's singing is, to put it kindly, not the best. The performance is weak and he really seems to be struggling to stay in tune at times. The difference between these two performances is striking and is testament to how hard Patrick must have worked on his singing between the two releases. Secondly, the production isn't particulary good for a doom metal release, being little better than decent demo quality, robbing the riffs of a lot of their depth and heft, leaving it lacking the crushing and smothering weight that great doom metal thrives on.

It's not all bad news though, drummer Stuart Springthorpe still sounds exceedingly authoritative throughout the album, with his fill-heavy style working just as well here as on the later release and there are some pretty decent Reverend Bizarre-like riffs, especially on my favourite track, How Can It Happen, which is a track I would really like to have heard re-recorded or maybe even played live, because I rate it very highly as a straight-up doom anthem. In fact, I think the whole album would sound massively different with the technical improvements and production of the later album, because this is actually a solid set of songs.

I think Strength To Dream would always have struggled to escape the shadow of it's more illustrious younger sibling, but the glaring deficiencies in both production and PW's vocal performance exacerbate the situation, leaving it gaining a reputation, with more than a little justification, as nothing more than a warm-up for the main event of Warning's career. It's worth a listen because you can hear the germ of what would later be a classic album, but it is also an object lesson in patience and illustrates that sometimes a band needs to work on perfecting their craft before committing to releasing their best material.

3.5/5

Hands of Orlac - Hebetudo Mentis (2023)

I was quite the fan of Hands of Orlac's debut album, even scoring myself a vinyl copy. Their split album with The Wandering Midget was pretty good too. However, I was intially a bit reticent about their new release. The production sounds washed-out and it robs it of any heft or weight to a degree, with Ginevra's vocals particularly sounding quite weak. The early tracks are a bit lukewarm songwriting-wise too, lacking any speacial kind of hook or particularly interesting idea and ultimately failing to grab my attention.

Things take an upward turn after the short instrumental title track at the midpoint, however, with Malenka sounding much more like the sort of thing I have come to expect from the Italians. Frostbite is a much more interesting track too, with the flute adding some nice variation and giving it more of a paganistic, Blood Ceremony vibe. The lengthy closer Ex Officio Domini (The Executioner of Rome) weighs in at just under fifteen minutes length and is a bit of a proggy, psychedelic doom epic where we get to hear some nice soloing at last.

Overall a step down from their earlier material for me, let down by weak production and two or three formulaic and uninteresting tracks early on. I am glad I persevered though, because the last three tracks are very good and make the album overall a worthwhile listen.

3/5

Godthrymm - Distortions (2023)

Godthrymm were formed by vocalist and guitarist Hamish Glencross who, along with drummer Shaun Taylor-Steels, was a member of My Dying Bride for some of their most iconic albums. Unsurprising then that they sound heavily influenced by the Yorkshire gothic death doom pioneers. The lineup is completed with Sasquatch Bob Crolla on bass and Glencross' wife Catherine was brought in as keyboard player and full-time female singer in 2022, after guesting as vocalist on a couple of tracks on the debut.

Although the MDB influence is apparent, this is nothing like as sorrow-ridden and mournful-sounding as the seminal Peaceville acolytes. The riffs aren't universally crushing and although they do carry sufficient weight, there is also an intangible airiness concealed within them that allows the tracks to breathe rather than being stultifyingly uncompromising. This effect is also enhanced by the concentration on clean vocals, not just Catherine's female vocals, but also Hamish's cleans seem to soar rather than bear the listener down. The rhythm section of Bob's bass and Shaun's drumming also keep things driving forward and are relatively busy for a doom album, providing further variation within the overall doom aesthetic.

The album as a whole and the individual tracks themselves are longer than on Reflections and so allow for more development and atmosphere-building with the songwriting seeming to have received an upgrade in the interim between albums. Overall, I would say that this is an album that takes a classic doom metal template and weaves lighter melodies within the riffing whilst harnessing a gothic aesthetic to produce an album that still manages to remain quite heavy, whilst delivering a refreshing and expansive atmosphere. It may not appeal to everyone, but I think it provides something a little bit different whilst not departing enormously fom what doom metal afficianados would be justified in expecting.

4/5

Cathedral - "Forest of Equilibrium" (1991)

I can still recall the first time I heard about English doom/stoner metal legends Cathedral. I was reading a Terrorizer magazine interview with Napalm Death that was conducted while they were out on tour back in 1991. The band were questioned on what they'd been listening to on their tour bus which saw one of the guys admitting that Death's "Human" had been the popular choice until they'd received a copy of their former vocalist Lee Dorrian's first full-length with his new doom metal band Cathedral, a release sporting the trippy title of "Forest of Equilibrium". I was very surprised to read that Cathedral's record had overtaken "Human" as the new bus favourite, particularly given that "Human" had already become somewhat of an obsession for me. I subsequently made a point of seeking out "Forest of Equilibrium", purchasing it on cassette shortly afterwards.

The sound & aesthetic of Cathedral's debut can be quite confronting upon first listen. The cover artwork is nothing short of stunning with its strong psychedelic focus being perfectly suited to the retro vibe Cathedral were going for. The production job took me a little more getting used to though as it sat well outside of my metal comfort zone with the fuzzy, bass-heavy timbre recounting 1970's progressive rock & heavy psych as much as it does early Black Sabbath, the prog rock component being further hinted at through the use of a couple of brilliantly effective flute solos that afford additional colour to the release. After a couple of attentive listens I found myself becoming captivated by this sound & committed more & more time to indulging in the material.

"Forest of Equilibrium" is renowned as being easily Cathedral's doomiest album & I'd also suggest that it was their best by a pretty wide margin too. The dedicated focus to making their particular brand of doom metal the slowest, heaviest & most melancholic ever recorded was a rousing success in my opinion & I still find myself turning to this record when chasing some truly depressing doom metal atmosphere to this very day. It's not a perfect album by any means though. The occasional hints at the stoner metal sound the band would quickly progress towards over their next couple of releases do taint otherwise strong & muscular efforts like opener "Commiserating the Celebration" a bit while I also find the sporadic use of chuggy heavy metal riffs to be more of a distraction than it is a refreshing change of pace. Then we have the ever-popular & super-groovy stoner metal single "Soul Sacrifice" to contend with too, a track that I've always found to interrupt the flow of an otherwise extremely strong tracklisting. Thankfully though, the highlights are nothing short of devastating with doom monster "Ebony Tears" (also the highlight of 1990's "In Memoriam" demo) & closing funeral doom precursor "Reaching Happiness, Touching Pain" being absolute master strokes & the outstanding "Serpent Eve" & "Equilibrium" not being too far behind.

At this point I probably should address the elephant in the room as it becomes pretty damn obvious as soon as any Cathredral virgins enter into their first listen. Lee Dorrian (also of drone metallers Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine & doomsters With The Dead) wasn't the most capable of singers while he was leading Napalm Death but here we see him sporting a delivery that is the very definition of an acquired taste. Some punters simply won't be able to come to terms with Dorrian's miserable howl & I can't deny that he can even annoy me too but it's almost impossible to deny that this music seems to be tailor-made for his depressive wallowing. The heavily down-tuned & harmonized doom melodies of former Acid Reign guitarists Gaz Jennings (also of English heavy/doom metallers Death Penalty) & Adam Lehan more than make up for any discomfort experienced due to the vocals though as there are some absolutely crushing doom riffs on display here. In fact, I'd suggest that I've rarely heard anything heavier in all my days which has seen "Forest of Equilibrium" sitting in elite company for the more than three decades since it was first released. The fuzzed-out lead licks are produced in an interesting way that sees them flying out from unexpected places in the mix &, in doing so, gently massaging your cranial cortex in a similar way to the greats of 1970's heavy psych. The spectacular success of these elements has no doubt contributed to the long-time frustration I've held around Cathedral given that they'd never again touch upon such a transcendent sound, often making a conscious effort to steer away from it & even hinting that they may have recorded another album in this style that was simply rotting away in someone's basement. 2013's "The Last Spire" swansong would finally see Lee & co. attempting a purist doom record again, & with some very solid results too it has to be said, but I can't say that it reaches the same dizzying heights (or should I say soul-crushing lows?) as this wonderful release managed to.

"Forest of Equilibrium" is a marvelous debut & should certainly be essential listening for any doomster worth their salt. It proved to be the perfect gateway between the traditional doom metal of the 70's & 80's (e.g. Black Sabbath & Trouble) & the more modern doom sound of the 90's that saw all peripherals & external influences being cast aside in the name of a more focused & pure doom sound (e.g. Electric Wizard). The "In Memoriam" demo is possibly even more heavily focused on undiluted doom & I've been surprised to find myself giving it a slight edge over "Forest of Equilibrium" in recent times but I can't deny my affection for this record which easily overcomes its shortcomings by taking its craft to the ultimate extreme &, in doing so, achieving genre-defining results.

4.5/5

Here's my adjusted Top Ten Conventional Doom Metal Releases of All Time list after revisiting "Cathedral's "Forest of Equilibrium" this week:

01. Pig Destroyer - “Natasha” E.P. (2008)

02. Ufomammut & Lento - "Supernaturals - Record One" (2007)

03. Celtic Frost - "Monotheist" (2006)

04. Warning - "Watching From A Distance" (2006)

05. Anathema - "The Silent Enigma" (1995)

06. M.S.W. - "Obliviosus" (2020)

07. The Electric Wizard - "We Live" (2004)

08. Cathedral - "In Memoriam" demo (1990)

09. My Dying Bride - "The Angel & The Dark River" (1995)

10. Cathedral - "Forest Of Equilibrium" (1991)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/128

Acid Mammoth - Supersonic Megafauna Collision (2024)

Released 5th April 2024 on Heavy Psych Sounds

A band called Acid Mammoth and an album titled Supersonic Megafauna Collision will probably hold very few surprises for anyone who has even remotely been paying attention to the metal scene over the last few years. Yes, predictably enough, these Greeks play super-heavy stoner doom metal with psych-inflected guitar solos and washed-out vocals. Their adherence to the cliches of the genre will, I'm sure, have people asking, "well how many Acid Mammoth albums does anyone actually need?" In truth, if you aren't too sold on this style of doom then one is probably sufficient, but as someone who has always embraced psychedelia and stoner culture, I genuinely enjoy Acid Mammoth's unpretentious approach to the genre and usually snap up anything they issue.

Guitarist / vocalist Chris Babalis Jr. has a quite high-pitched, nasal singing style which sounds like a mix of Never Say Die-era Ozzy and Tobias Forge of Ghost and as such may not be to everyone's taste I suppose, but for me it is perfectly adequate and suits this style of psych-stoner doom well enough. The riffs are thick and fuzzy, groove-laden monsters with plenty of "oomph" that instill a stoned-out hypnoticism via repetition and provide the framework upon which the vocals and guitar solos hang. The rhythm section provide solid support for the riffs with solid, capable and decidedly unflashy work. Song titles like Fuzzorgasm (Keep On Screaming), Atomic Shaman and Tusko's Last Trip further illustrate where the band are coming from, with drugs, the occult and outer space providing the lyrical content for all the stoned-out madness.

It really is very simple, if you dislike bands like Electric Wizard and Cathedral then chances are you won't connect with Acid Mammoth either, but the converse is also true, so you pays your money and you makes your choice. Me, I'm all in with the tripping pachyderm.

4/5

Hamferð - Men guðs hond er sterk (2024)

Hamferð are a six-piece doom metal band from The Faroe Islands. They have been in existence since 2008, but this is only their third full-length release in all that time, their debut having seen the light of day back in 2013 after winning the Wacken Metal Battle competition at the Wacken Open Air festival in 2012 and it's follow-up hitting the shelves in 2018. I must admit, I have only recently got on board with these guys myself during a dive into exploring more obscure doom metal bands, but I found much to enjoy in both of their earlier releases.

The new album's title translates as "But God's hand is strong" and the lyrics are sung in Hamferð's native Faroese, relating the tragic tale of fourteen faroese whalers who lost their lives at sea in 1915, with the album's title being a quote from one of the survivors upon his rescue. Musically they play strongly melodic death doom with both growled and clean vocals provided by singer Jón Aldará (also of Iotunn and Barren Earth) who switches between styles, to good effect, often within the same track. The band as a whole are very proficient with a nice clean sound that perfectly suits their more melodic approach to death doom. This melodic approach doesn't seek to crush the listener under waves of heavy riffing, but rather  attempts to affect them more subtly with sorrowful airs that worm their way into the consciousness, effecting a deeper sensation of melancholy than a merely bludgeoning approach would achieve. Occasionally they become very light of touch indeed, verging almost on the balladic, which may have come off as a bit corny, were it not for the consummate ability of Aldará who, vocally, never descends into overt melodrama, but who maintains a subtle earnestness throughout, for which he deserves great credit.

I may have given the impression that this is a lightweight album and even though it does like to paint it's sonic landscape with lighter shades, there are certainly heavy moments present. Opener Ábær kicks things off and drags the listener in with a suitably heavy, but also melodic main riff and penultimate track, Hvølja, is the album's heaviest with a monster riff that poses a real risk of crushing the air out of the lungs of the unprepared listener who may have been lulled into a comfort zone by some of the preceeding lighter moments. Elsewhere, second track Rikin features a scarily bellowing Aldará threatening to peel the paintwork with his growls on top of a thundering main riff that you feel at gut level.

Although Men guðs hond er sterk is a concept album, thankfully the music is always pre-eminent over the concept, so none of the tracks feel forced, with the possible exception of the final spoken-word piece, although it isn't at all jarring, especially as it is the final track. The overall impression I get from the album is similar in feel to some of Enslaved's later work, such as RIITIIR or In Times, only within a doom metal framework rather than black metal. I don't wish to downplay the others' contributions, but ultimately it is the astonishing vocal talent of Jón Aldará that strikes me more than any other aspect of the album and on the evidence of this he is one of the absolute best vocalists working in the doom metal field and his performance alone is worth the entry fee.

4/5

Yith - dread (2016)

Yith is a solo artist playing a hybrid of black and doom metal and "dread" was the project's debut full-length album (the album title should properly be all in lower case). Blackened doom metal has become more prevalent in the last decade or so, but a number of it's practitioners, such as The Flight of Sleipnir, are really doom metal bands using certain tropes from black metal, such as shrieking vocals and the odd temolo riff, while others will play a black metal section, then a slower, doom metal section and essentially alternate between the two, whereas Yith produce a genuine seamless melding of black and doom metal. This manifests as tracks that, in the main, follow doom metal pacing, although faster, blastbeat-driven sections rear their heads from time to time with a more significant bottom end than is present in most black metal, with the bass in particular having a decided prominence in the mix. on top of this a lot, in fact most, of the guitar work consists of tremolo riffs, even during the predominant doom sections and the vocals are strictly black metal derived howls and shrieks. This makes for a particularly bleak atmosphere with the melancholy of doom metal being accentuated by the icy frostiness of the black metal component, indeed "dread" is well-named.

The opener, "time and loss" is probably the most recognisably black metal track, opening up with a withering blackened onslaught, before hinting at things to come with a slower doom-laden middle section. For me, the duo of tracks that is the title track and "centuries of horror" are really where it's at with "dread". Following another trope common in black metal, a short, folky interlude called "remembrance", the title track oozes it's way into your concsciousness with an epic and ominous main riff that calls on all the decayed monumental majesty that doom metal atmospherics can muster. When this is coupled with Yith's demonic snarls then a special atmosphere is created that would certainly be at home as the backdrop to one of Lovecraft's tales of existential dread. Great though "dread" is, the next track "centuries of horror" is even better for my money. With a most epically monumental riff and ritualistic drumming it reaches back into primal depths and ancestral fears of the horrors of the unknown and the majesty and dangers of the natural world and is a towering paeon to man's deepest-seated fears.

The songs in general are well-constructed with a nice flow to the songwriting and Yith demonstrates a more than capable grasp of his instrumentation, at least to my uneducated ears. Overall, "dread" is a well put together and mature amalgamation of two distinct styles of metal from which Yith has fashioned an identity of his own and should appeal to anyone looking for a fresh fix of quality extreme doom that yet yearns for something a little different by someone who inherently understands the genre.

4.5/5

My Dying Bride - A Line of Deathless Kings (2006)

I have a bit of an up and down relationship with the Yorkshire gothic doom crew which I have touched on many times previously. They are a band within whose albums I usually find plenty to enjoy, but they are prone to annoying me with an overly pretentious theatricality that, I personally think, demeans them and diminishes their work. To put it more succinctly MDB are a band I often like, but hardly ever love. Well, maybe that is about to change, because it appears that with A Line of Deathless Kings they finally shed the aspects of their persona that grate on me and accentuated the aspects that appeal. They had done the same to a lesser degree on 2001's The Dreadful Hours which, up until now, had been my favourite MDB album, but here they strip back the overtly gothic schtick even further and rely on their doom metal credentials instead to generate the mournful and melancholy atmosphere, being much the better for it, in my opinion. This approach also allows for some seriously heavy moments to thrust their monumental heads above the tragic atmospherics, the killer riffs of "Love's Intolerable Pain" and "One of Beauty's Daughters" (even with the synths) being such examples that reveal a Line of Deathless Kings to be a high tide mark of heaviness for the band.

The stripping away of the keys (for the most part), strings and Aaron Stainthorpe's ham-fisted, vampiric overacting seems to have given the band a fresh sense of direction and focus and produced an album that I find it much easier to identify with. They still manage to generate a mournful sense of longing, but it feels somehow more honest because it comes directly from the songwriting and not from the addition of layers of atmospherics, making the emotional heft feel more visceral and vital. Along with the atmospherics, the Yorkshiremen have also shed any remaining death metal influence on their sound resulting in their most pure doom metal album to date. The production, of course, is terrific with a clear, yet weighty feel that serves all of the members very well indeed, allowing all their contributions to be appreciated in full.

By the time of this ninth full-length it seems My Dying Bride had gained enough confidence in their own abilities to stop hiding behind the atmospherics and production and lay it all out in the open. I, for one, am absolutely ecstatic because A Line of Deathless Kings shows MDB to genuinely be the band I had always hoped they were capable of being. Sometimes a bit less is a lot more.

4.5/5

Slomatics - Estron (2014)

Slomatics are a little-known doom metal three-piece from Belfast in Northern Ireland who formed in 2004. As well as their seven full-length albums they have featured on a slew of splits with the likes of Conan and MWWB, so have certainly been around the block a few times, despite making little impact outside of the hardcore doom metal fraternity. Estron was the band's fourth full-length, released in 2014 and, for me, still ranks as their best.

The album is a concise affair, it's seven tracks clocking in at 37 minutes, which is fairly brief for this style of doom metal. It kicks off with a great one-two punch of Troglorite and Tunnel Dragger the former of which runs straight into the latter, denying any respite from the looming, thunderous riffs. It is worth pointing out at this point that the trio has two guitarists and no bassist, yet despite this there is still a huge depth to the distorted riffs and the lack of a bassist is not readily apparent. The vocals are provided by drummer Martin Harvey and are quite thin and reedy, pushed down in the mix to give that distant, heard-on-the-wind kind of feeling that is quite popular in some corners of the doom world and of which I am quite a fan, actually. Harvey's drumming is also very good, with some busy fills and crashing cymbals aplenty, his work on "Futurian" illustrating this best. A feature that sets the band apart from most of their contemporaries is their sci-fi aesthetic which they express through the inclusion of spacey synths both within the tracks generally and in interlude, a trope that puts them more in-line with a band like Ufomammut than Monolord, despite being straight-up doomheads rather than stoners.

Side A, ie the first four tracks, continues in the relentlessly punishing mode of the two openers, providing little relief from it's menacing, booming riffs, other than a short synth-led breather during Tunnel Dragger. Side B is a bit different, featuring two longer tracks, bridged by a brief space ambient interlude called "Red Dawn", which is actually quite a soothing touch after all the sonic bombardment that had gone before it. Red Dawn's ambience leaks into the beginning of the album's longest track, the closer "The Carpenter" which I have seen touted as being about film director John Carpenter, which I would say is a good shout, because those first few minutes of the track come across very much like a John Carpenter soundtrack, which always had a very distinctive feel. Then, four minutes in, a huge, hulking riff kicks in and things get seriously heavy as the riff morph into a very close approximation to the famous riff from the track "Black Sabbath" with Harvey even begging "No, no,no..."

I love this album, I love the huge riffs, the distant-sounding vocals and the cosmic flourishes that lend it something a little different. It is eregiously heavy, yet still manages to turn in some nice melodies within the riffs that stop it becoming relentlessly monolithic. It manages to do something a little bit different whilst still sitting comfortably within the conventional doom metal template and, being quite short, it is never in danger of outstaying it's welcome.

4.5/5

Windhand - Windhand (2011)

I have never made any secret of the fact that Windhand are my favourite female-fronted metal band and are also one of my favourite stoner doom bands, full-stop. My introduction to them actually began with their sophomore, the excellent Soma, and it wasn't until a year or two later that I tuned this, their debut in, finaly scoring a CD copy from Bandcamp after hearing Winter Sun on the band's Live at Roadburn album. Released in 2012, the debut followed a two-track practice space demo from 2010, which contained my two favourites from the debut, which also bookend the album, the opener "Black Candles" and closer and the previously mentioned, "Winter Sun".

From the very earliest days, it seems that Windhand were a band who knew exactly what they were about and the sort of sound that they were looking for. That sound is characterised by plodding, dirge-like, distorted riffs that still contain a melodic sensibility, psychedelia-tinged solos, distant, soaring female vocals that seem as if heard on the wind or in a dream and an esoteric and occult vibe. These traits are certainly in evidence here in spades on their first official release and provide the foundation and launchpad for a climb to the summit of the stoner doom mountain. Each of the five tracks on Windhand begin in a very similar manner, with a crawling bassline which is then joined by the heavily distorted main riff and hard-hitting drumbeats, followed shortly after by Dorthea Cottrell's ethereal, ghost-like vocals.

Despite the heaviness that the band generate, Windhand are still very melodic, with both the riffs and Dorthea's vocal lines being really memorable, in a still-humming-it-several-hours-later kind of way. Being a child of the late-60's and 70's I really love the retro guitar solos from guitarists Garrett Morris and ex-Alabam Thunderpussy six-string slinger, Asechiah Bogdan, both of whose swirling leadwork is heavily tinged with psychedelic tendencies. The rhythm work of bassist Nathan Hilbish and drummer Ryan Wolfe, who was previously drummer with sludge / hardcore crew, Facedowninshit, is the slow-drying glue that holds everything together, anchoring the ponderous doom-laden atmosphere that allows the guitarists to take off on their sonic flights of fancy without trading-in any of the album's inate heaviness and providing the counter to Dorthea's light and airy vocals.

Sure, this style of female-led occult doom has now become a little bit old hat now, with a seeming small army of such bands abounding, but Windhand were one of those who first took the psychedelic occult vibe of early-70's acts like Coven or Black Widow and marrying it to the punishing, dirge-like riffs of Sleep or Electric Wizard to produce this modern occult doom sound. That, and they do it so much better than everyone else. Need proof? Two words - "Winter Sun".

5/5

Year of the Cobra - ...In the Shadows Below (2016)

I first encountered this Seattle-based doom duo via their "The Black Sun" debut ep in 2015 and I have been quite the fan ever since. Comprising husband and wife team of bassist and vocalist Amy Tung and drummer, Jon Barrysmith, Year of the Cobra are a unique voice in the world of doom metal. Of course they are influenced by the usual suspects, such as Saint Vitus, Sabbath et al, but they eschew the use of guitars, relying on Amy's bass riffs to power the songs. Her bass playing reminds me quite often of Geezer Butler's classic Sabbath style, which oftentimes lends it a psychedelic and bluesy edge, planting Year of the Cobra firmly in the stoner doom camp. Vocally, she mainly uses a languid and breathy style that is laid-back and seductive like a nightclub jazz songstress, check out opener "Lion and the Unicorn" for a prime example. That isn't her only play, however, and she can also project more force when the need arises.

There are a number of pitfalls with having such a bare bones set-up of course, the tendency to fall into repetitive and hypnotic trance-like pieces for one, or just producing very basic, lo-fi garage metal with a heavy punk influence is another scenario. YotC fall into neither of these traps, however, thanks to an ability to write really nice doomy bass riffs which enable them to produce actual songs rather than just drawn-out jams, which are at once melodic and reasonably memorable, with an admirable variation in tempos and styles, from the longer, hulking, conventional doom tracks, through the psych-inflected catchiness of "Spider and the Fly", the punky vitality and urgency of "Persephone" and doom'n'roll of "Temple of Apollo" to bluesy jams such as closer "Electric Warrior". I think the bass lines are multi-tracked quite often, which also allows Amy's playing to become more expansive. Drummer Johannes is every bit as important to the success of the duo, his impeccable timekeeping obviously underpinning the tracks, but also his busy, jazzy style, again referencing Sabbath and drummer Bill Ward's love of jazz drummers, provides plenty to hold the the listener's attention and to engage with.

In conclusion, I think "...in the Shadows Below" is a great example of how much can be accomplished in the doom and stoner sphere by creative minds, even with the most basic of set-ups. Considering that, apart from a bit of multi-tracking, this is truly just drum, bass, and voice, the resulting variety, melodicism and memorability is an impressive feat of artistic endeavour.

4/5