The Fallen

Hi Ben, could you add the following please:

Warcoe - doom / trad doom Italy

Bastard Lord - doom / stoner USA [Their S/T is listed on RYM as a demo, but it had a proper release on CD on Twin Earth Records three months after its Bandcamp release and metal-archives lists it as an official EP].

Caskets Open - doom / trad doom Finland

August 2026

1. Age of Taurus - "The Bull and the Bear" (from "Desperate Souls of Tortured Times", 2013) [submitted by Sonny]

2. Khemmis – “Carrion King” (from “Khemmis”, 2026) [submitted by dk]

3. Kal-El - "Juno" (from "Astral Voyager Vol. 2", 2026) [submitted by Sonny]

4. Godthrymm - "Endure My Skin" (from "Projections", 2026) [submitted by Vinny]

5. Black Sheep Wall – “Nihility” (from “I am God Songs”, 2008) [submitted by dk]

6. Solystalgia - "Conflagration" (from "Solystalgia", 2026)

7. Monolord - "Iodine" (from "Neverending", 2026) [submitted by Vinny]

8. Crypt Sermon - "Christ is Dead" (from "The Ruins of Fading Light", 2019)

9. Crowbar - "Planets Collide" (from "Oddfellows Rest", 1998) [submitted by Vinny]

10. The Old Dead Tree - "It Can't Be!" (from "The Nameless Disease", 2003)

11. Dauðaró & Pantheïst - "Iron Dominion" (from "Af holdi og málmi", (2026) [submitted by Sonny]

12. WitchSorrow – “Hades Chains” (from “Hades Chains” single, 2026) [submitted by dk]

13. Flame, Dear Flame - "The Millennial Heartbeat Part I" (from "Aegis", 2021) [submitted by Vinny]

14. IAN – “Manuel” (from “Come on Everybody, Let's Do Nothing!”, 2025) [submitted by dk]

15. Melvins - "Queen" (from "Stoner Witch", 1994) [submitted by Vinny]

16. Ablaze in Hatred - "A Walk Through the Silence" (from "The Quietude Plains", 2009)

17. Messa - "Thicker Blood" (from "The Spin", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]

18. Khanate - "No Joy" (from "Khanate", 2001) [submitted by Sonny]

There is currently an obvious leader in the race for The Fallen award with Neurosis' "An Undying Love for a Burning World" having both the highest site rating (4.5) and the most number of ratings (as well as sitting at #11 on the all-time charts at the minute). I haven't checked it out myself yet, but expect to pretty soon.

1. Neurosis - An Undying Love for a Burning World [4.50]

2= Ennui - Qroba 3 [4.33]

2= Fires in the Distance - Circadian Promise [4.33]

2= Warning - Rituals of Shame [4.33]

5. Draconian - In Somnolent Ruin [3.80]

6. Ruins of Beverast - Tempelschlaf [3.60]

7. Urne - Setting Fire to the Sky [3.38]

8. Exxûl - Sealed Into None [3.17]

9. Temple of Void - The Crawl [3.17]

10. Lone Wanderer Exequiae [3.00]

My personal recommendations so far would be Ennui, Warning, Temple of Void and Lone Wanderer, but I have a whole lot of catching up to do as I haven't given new releases as much attention as they deserve so far this year.

Midryasi - Corridors (2009)

Midryasi are an italian doom metal crew from Lombardy and they take their name from a condition which results in excessive dilation of the pupils, ususally from disease or chronic drug use and the music they produce tends to suggest they are referencing the latter cause rather than the former. "Corridors" is their sophomore full-length, although the self-titled debut is often cited as a demo rather than an official debut album. They take Sabbathian traditional doom metal and infuse it with a heavy late-60s / 1970s psychedelic vibe for a very trippy take on doom metal. This is achieved chiefly through a liberal layering of Sixties' Hammond-like keyboards and loose jam-style guitar solos alongside some pretty funky riffs. The band quite often choose to employ layered gang vocals which does feel quite anachronistic in music that is attempting to recreate the atmosphere of the late Sixties. The psychedelia-infused leads and often pretty groovy riffs give "Corridors" more of a positive atmosphere than we would normally expect to hear on a doom metal record and, as such, it may well appeal more to stoners than to dyed-in-the-wool doomheads. That is until the mightily filthy riff of closing track "Another Hell Within (Space Suite Version)" kicks in and causes the ears of those with darker preferences to prick up. There is still a psychedelic edge to the track, but this feels like the dark underbelly of psychedelia summed up by Altamont and Manson, not the Woodstock and Sgt, Pepper of the rest of the album. Its fourteen minutes is a dark, hallucinatory jam through the inner workings of a mind trapped in its own personal hell and, for me, is a clear standout and a great way to end the album and send the listener away with a sobering reality check. "Corridors" isn't a perfect album by any means and the two tracks immediately before the titanic closer feel like filler, but the two longest tracks that bookend the album, the title track and "Another Hell Within" certainly make it worth checking out if you are partial to a bit of drug-induced trippiness in your doom metal.

4/5 [82/100]

Hour of 13 - "Hour of 13" (2007)

Formed in 2003 by multi-instrumentalist Chad Davis, Hour of 13 also featured veteran doom metal vocalist Phil Swanson on the first three albums, although he seemed to be in and out of the lineup fairly regularly. This debut full-length sees Davis taking on nearly all the instrumental duties, although the album's recording engineer Corey Leonard contributes leads on a couple of tracks, whilst Swanson handles vocal duties. Musically, Hour of 13 is pretty conservative, its traditional doom metal very much stressing the traditional with fuzzed-up, Sabbathian riffs and Swanson having a fairly high pitch and rough edge to his vocals in the vein of Ozzy with a similar intonation and delivery that suggests Phil very much modelled his vocal style on Birmingham's Prince of Darkness.

The production very much emphasises the riffs with the bass and, in particular, the drums sitting low in the mix and taking a back seat to the guitars and vocals. Obviously guitar and vocals are most often the focus but, especially in doom metal, the rhythm section usually has a deeper and more foundational feel than is present here and it would have been nice to hear a bit more depth and richness of tone in the backing track. There isn't a lot of focus on solos here either with Davis only really letting rip on "Grim Reality" and Leonard handling the solos on "Submissive to Evil" and "Allowance of Sin". I don't know whether Davis' reluctance to take on the leads is down to a lack of confidence on his part or it just being something he was less interested in than riffing his balls off. All that aside, those riffs are generally pretty damn good and although there isn't anything new or challenging, they deliver exactly what you would expect from a fundamentalist trad doom act and should satisfy any adherent of the style looking for a new fix. Phil Swanson's vocals suit the instrumentation exceedingly well and his doom metal credentials would have given the band a leg up in the doom scene that Davis would not have reasonably expected with a less well-known vocalist. Lyrically, once more the duo stick to the well-trodden occult path that is a feature / plague of trad doom lyricists since Ozzy intoned his words of doom on their eponymous opener, oh so many years ago.

Overall, I would have to admit that "Hour of 13" is unlikely to garner much attention outside of hardcore trad doom fanatics, but, despite a couple of reservations, I actually think this is a quite endearing example of the genre that is worthy of your time if trad doom is your bag and you just can't get enough Pentagram, Saint Vitus or Trouble. If you constantly need to be challenged or seek musical innovation, however, you should probably move along as there is nothing for you here.

4/5 [82/100]

IAN were reommended to me by someone over on RYM, I do love this atmospheric sludge/post-metal type stuff and recently there has been a few bands that have stood out to me. I think there was a tendency at one time that there were too many copies of bands like Neurosis, Isis and Cult of Luna, but I really enjoy some of these newer releases. I think I have another one lined up in next months playlist.

Quoted dk

Cheers, David. I agree with you that atmospheric sludge / post-metal has now moved beyond the blatant copyism that plagued it for so long and a number of the recent bands are a lot more interesing as a result. I love CoL, Neurosis and Isis as much as anyone, but those guys have nailed that style down and new bands aping them have got to be something really special to even come close, so those doing something a bit different with it are developing the genre whilst forging themselves a more interesting path for the listener.

Bearing in mind the above conversation, relistening to this for the first time in a little while I think I am feeling it even more than I did originally. I believe my review from the time still holds and I feel no necessity to increase my 4 star rating, it is just hitting harder this time around, which may or may not be down to mood. Anyway here is my original review:

I stumbled across Crawl and their third full-length whilst compiling the Fallen playlist and was pretty damn impressed by what I heard. Crawl is apparently the work of a single individual, Michael A. Engle who doesn't just record all the instruments separately, but, remarkably, performs bass, drums, vocals and samples simultaneously, both live and in a studio setting for a genuine one-man band experience. Damned was recorded by Hell mainman MSW twiddling the knobs and it is easy to see why he was drawn to working with Crawl as the latter has the same bleak, nihilistic vibe going on as Hell.

Musically, Damned is a mix of drone metal, black ambient and a sludgy kind of doom metal that spans four tracks with a total 37 minutes runtime. Opener, Renaissance Of Worthlessness, acts as an intro with a droning bass sound and a black ambient soundscape that conjures images of some godsforsaken charnel house setting with water running down the walls and blood pooling on the floor and where unspeakable acts of cruelty occur. After this six minutes of unsettling ambience we get into the meat of matters, ...This Lesser Form comes oozing out of the speakers with droning, heavily distorted guitar and langorous piano chords combined with chant-like samples over which Engle shrieks his fury like a banshee howling into a gale, a desperate voice facing off against an implacable force. The atmosphere produced by Crawl is one of utter darkness, very similar to the effect that MSW himself often achieves under his Hell monicker and even though the music is quite sparsely produced, it still feels impenetrably dense and crushing.

10,000 Polehammers follows a similar template, but feels even more dense than the preceeding track, the drums here being pushed quite far forward and taking a prominent position in the mix, each snare hit seemingly increasing the protagonist's suffering as he wails and howls his protestations impotently into the darkness. The cover of Damned is a black and white drawing of a medieval knight, seemingly defeated and broken down by the horrors he has witnessed rather than the enemies he has defeated and, I must admit, that is a perfect metaphor for the sound of the closing track, Poisoned and Shadowmad which is as bleak a piece of metal as you are likely to hear this year.

Damned is filthy-sounding, impenetrable, unremittingly bleak and a pretty damn great illustration of what extreme doom drone should sound like.

4/5 [80/100]

Thanks, guys. 

Lone Wanderer - Exequiae (2026)

Despite having formed in 2014, only now have Lone Wanderer attracted my doom-hungry gaze. To date the german four-piece have released an album-length EP and three official full-lengths, with "Exequiae" being their latest and, at 72 minutes, longest. Kicking off with the almost twenty-five minute, "To Rest Eternally", Lone Wanderer set out their stall from the outset. The opener displays a quite clean version of funeral doom metal that, at times, almost feels like it strays into post-metal territiory. It doesn't always possess the sheer crushing immensity of an Esoteric or Ahab, but rather it utilises melodic guitar leads to provide some lightness to contrast with the churning morass of sluggish riffs and plodding percussion in order to present a more emotionally charged atmosphere. This doesn't mean that this is lightweight stuff, by any means, it is still fundamentally funeral doom after all, but it does feel like the band want to tug at your heartstrings whilst they smother and envelop you in their wall of sound. The foundation from which the guitar leads soar is further bolstered by the impressive rumble issuing from the throat of vocalist/guitarist Bruno Schotten who has got the archetypal funeral doom abyssal growl down pat. The songwriting is also of a high standard and, despite its length, "To Rest Eternally", doesn't get stuck in any particular rut and manages to keep itself sounding interesting and engaging with nuanced changes in melody and tempo, even calming to a gentle, spoken word section at one point from which it builds to its apotheosis.

This mighty opener is followed by the albums two shortest tracks, "Existence Nullified" and "Life's Lost Vanity" both of which sound quantifiably heavier and while their leads are still fairrly melodic in nature, they aren't as light or as airy as those on "To Rest Eternally", consequently reinforcing the depth of darkness of both tracks' tone rather than providing contrast to it. "Anhedonie" marks a return to the slightly lighter tone of the opener, but it doesn't quite hold together as well for me and does feel like it gets bogged down a little in the middle. It isn't a bad track by any means, but it doesn't resonate with me as much as the first couple of tracks, Closer "Epistemology of the Passed" is another lengthy affair, clocking in at over 16 minutes and is once more a trade-off between both light and dark musical motifs, the interplay and contrast between the two opposing forces ultimately being the core of the album and the engine which drives it pretty much from start to finish.

Overall I am an enthusiastic convert and whilst I do love me some really heavy and crushingly dark funeral doom, Lone Wanderer have managed to captivate me with their more contrasted style, chiefly because it is written and performed so damn well. I am certainly going to have to have a dig into the band's earlier releases, but for now this is destined to find its way onto my favourite funeral doom metal list and is sure to feature in my year end list too.

4.5/5 [86/100]

In my review of Saint Vitus’ self-titled debut album, I called out my enjoyment of Scott Reager’s vocals, highlighting their deranged style being a perfect fit for Chandler’s guitar sound. Just as with the debut album, Reager’s performance is front and centre on Die Healing also, yet this is never at the detriment of anything else on the record. For a guy who had straight up gone to ground for a decade, he appears to have just walked back into the studio like he had just nipped out for ten minutes to get a packet of cigarettes and some bourbon. There is no scenario in any parallel universe whereby Saint Vitus records this album with any other vocalist, and it works at all. He’s creepy to the point of having a skin-crawling effect. Tracks like ‘Dark World’, ‘Let the End Begin’ and ‘In the Asylum’ are perhaps unrivalled within my doom listening experience to date in terms of that true force being formed by this perfect marriage of the vocals and guitar.

Listen to the psychedelic musings on ‘Trail of Pestilence’ and just try and keep your jaw off the floor. Die Healing is a real all round band record though. For all the waxing lyrical I am doing about the vocals and guitar the album would not be anywhere near as successful without the drums of the late Armando Acosta and the bass of the also sadly departed Mark Adams. ‘Sloth’ might be one of the most appropriately named doom tracks in the history of the genre, it is so oppressively heavy it reaches the point of suffocation. It is albums like this that are the reason why I switched from The Guardians into The Fallen clan. The atmospheres here are so wonderfully threatening in such an effective yet completely inoffensive way; they are a genuine by product of the instrumentation, just so unforced sounding and organic in nature.

My only real criticism of the album is the lacklustre closing track. They should have closed the album with ‘In the Asylum’ in all honesty as anything trying to follow that was going to be struggling. ‘Just Another Notch’ is primetime filler unfortunately which even Reager’s vocals can’t save. Oddly, he sounds the tamest of all on this track in comparison to the others. Final track aside, there is much to be celebrated on Die Healing even if it marks the end of the band for at least a decade.

4/5

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2rSh9MnfQo9HmPLo2W5MBa

1. House of Capricorn - "Ashlands" (from “Morning Star Rise", 2014) (submitted by Sonny)

2. Konvent - "Puritan Masochism" (from "Puritan Masochism", 2020) (submitted by Vinny)

3. High on Fire – “Lambsbread” (from “Cometh the Storm”, 2024) (submitted by dk)

4. Rorcal - "Extinguished Innocence" (from "Silence", 2023) (submitted by Vinny)

5. Candlemass – “Destroyer” (from “King of the Grey Islands”, 2007) (submitted by dk)

6. Devil Electric - "Jill & Jack Shit" (from "Tahlia", 2026) (submitted by Vinny)

7. Shades of Deep Water - "Death's Threshold Part 1" (from "Death's Threshold", 2019) (submitted by Sonny)

8. Crouch - "Hatchets and Hammers" (from "Breaking the Catatonic State", 2026) (submitted by Vinny)

9. Gorge - "Smoke Signals" (from "Village Raid", 2021) (submitted by Sonny)

10. Katla - "Satan" (from "Katla EP", 2018)

11. Body Void – “Human Greenhouse” (from “Atrocity Machine”, 2023) (submitted by dk)

12. Thorr's Hammer - "Norge" (from "Dommedagsnatt", 1998) (submitted by Vinny)

13. Khemmis - "The Bereaved" (from "Absolution", 2015) (submitted by Sonny)

14. Ritual Arcana - "Subtle Fruits" (from "Ritual Arcana", 2026) (submitted by Vinny)

15. Serpentcult - "Screams from the Deep" (from "Weight of Light", 2008) (submitted by Sonny)

16. Pyrithe – “Glioblastoma” (from “Monuments to Impermanence”, 2022) (submitted by dk)

17. Reverend Bizarre - "Strange Horizon" (from "Harbinger of Metal", 2003)

Khemmis - "Absolution" (2015)

I have been a casual fan of Khemmis since first coming across their sophomore "Hunted" back in 2016 shortly after its release. Consequently I checked out the debut and, at that time, I wasn't particularly knocked-out by it I must admit. So, a decade later and with a new album on the shelves, I figured time was ripe for a revisit.

Firstly it must be mentioned that this is much more doom metal oriented than their later material, with Pallbearer most often being justifiably cited as a touchstone. "Absolution" maintains a significant percentage of traditional heavy metal in its doom metal DNA, pushing it into epic doom metal territiory. The production and guitar sound is very much in the doom metal milieu however, with a deep and resonant fuzziness that is typical of traditional doom metal and with a certain bluesy feeling to the riffs. The guitar solos sound cleaner and clearer than the riffs and are enthusiastically deployed with an exuberant relish that hints that this is where the guitarists Ben Hutcherson and Phil Pendergast really get their kicks, giving off a Brian Robertson / Scott Gorham, Thin Lizzy vibe. The two also share vocal duties and this is probably the album's weakest point as they alternate between reasonable cleans and frankly unconvincing deathly growling bellows. The rhythm section of bassist Daniel Beiers and drummer Zach Coleman are solid enough, although they seem to be playing well within themselves and keeping it pretty simple.

I must admit that I found myself enjoying this better this time around than I did back then, although I still have reservations. Sometimes the soloing sounds divorced from the meat of the track itself and too often feels shoehorned in whilst I feel the clean vocals are strong enough to carry the material without resorting to the unnecessary and unconvincing death growls. The riffs are generally pretty cool though and when the guitarists do hit a sweet spot between riffs and solos, such as on "Burden of Sin" it is pretty engaging stuff. They saved the best until last and close the album out with the longest and best track, "The Bereaved", which is where the previously mentioned Pallbearer comparison is most apparent. Ukltimately this is a solid but flawed debut, but the band would get better next time around.

78/100

Finally, here it is:

Warning - "Rituals of Shame" (2026)

I have never made any secret of the fact that Warning's masterpiece, "Watching From A Distance" is my all-time favourite album, so I can probably be forgiven for going into "Rituals of Shame" with inflated expectations, although I must add that those expectations were tempered by equal parts trepidation that the band may drop the ball and turn in an album that sees them just going through the motions like so many acts returning after a long period away and so sullying their legacy. So now I have the beautiful oxblood red vinyl platter on my turntable the obvious first question must be, "do I think it is as good as WFAD?" Well, the answer to that is not so simple because it is impossible to compare an album that has been so meaningful to me for two decades with one that has been out mere days. So am I at all disappointed with this third Warning full-length then? Absolutely not and while it hasn't initially hit me on as deeply an emotional and personal level as its predecessor this is still an amazing piece of doom metal melancholy. Patrick Walker just 'gets' doom metal in a way that few others are able to. It isn't just about leaden pacing and towering riffs, Walker doesn't merely write songs that are sad and sorrowful, but also dig deeply into his emotional vulnerability, laying bare his soul in a way which will either resonate with the listener or it won't. If it does then a connection with the material is possible that transcends mere grooves on a plastic disc and if it doesn't it may be dismissed as overly sentimental.

The most striking thing about "Rituals of Shame" is that it doesn't at all feel like an album released two decades after its illustrious predecessor by a band that had been on hiatus for most of the intervening years whilst Patrick Walker concentrated on his 40 Watt Sun project. There is such a remarkable consistency of material between the two albums that you would be forgiven for thinking that it had been recorded in 2010 and only just seen the light of day. In fact the debut "Strength To Dream" is further removed artistically from "Watching From A Distance" than "Rituals of Shame" is, despite there only being a third as much time between the two. The really great thing, though, is that the latest isn't merely a lazy rehash of the former. Despite the similarities, "Rituals of Shame" isn't merely WFAD part two, it has its own character and feeling. Inevitably such a monumental album will cast a long shadow over its younger sibling, but I am convinced that in time it will emerge from that shadow and stand tall in its own right.

WFAD had an indefinably wistful quality despite the huge, doom-laden chords and foundational stolidity of the rhythm section, whereas RoS feels a little less ethereally affecting. This is partly down to the heavier-handed production and increased compression, but it is also due to the inclusion of second guitarist Wayne Taylor who has played live shows with the band since 2016, appearing on the 2021 Roadburn Live album, whose second guitar adds depth and rounds out the sound, making it feel more down-to-earth. Of course, the absolute core of Warning is Patrick Walker's vocal performances and this is where "Rituals of Shame" may even outdo its predecessor because, as I alluded to when reviewing the "WFAD Live at Roadburn" album, Patrick's voice seems to have got even better with time. His vocals sound more varied and expressive now in middle-age than they did as a young twenty-something and his ability to wring genuine emotion from the receptive listener with a mere twist of his voice is undiminished.

I have to say that I am more than happy with this new offering and it has rarely been off my turntable since it arrived. Whilst it is consistent with its predecessor it is undeniably an evolution rather than a rehash and in time I think it may take on a life of its own maybe being a new generation of doomheads' introduction to the band and becoming as significant to them as WFAD has been to me. So whilst "Rituals of Shame" has not deposed "Watching From A Distance" at the pinnacle of my top albums of all-time list, it has certainly pushed a large number of worthy contenders down another slot and has livened up a year that wasn't appearing too great on the doom metal front prior to its release.

96/100

Khanate - "Khanate" (2001)

Stephen O'Malley is a name that is written large over the history of drone metal. Making a name for himself with legendary extreme doom outfit, Burning Witch and short-lived death doom project Thorr's Hammer, he also formed Sunn O))) alongside long-time collaborator Greg Anderson. Khanate was formed in 2000 after O'Malley met avant-garde musician and member of O.L.D. James Plotkin at an Isis gig. Plotkin recruited O.L.D. bandmate Alan Dubin to perform vocals for the new project with the four-piece being completed by drummer Tim Wyskida.

Well, when you dive down this rabbit hole, you'd better not be expecting Wonderland because here be monsters. From the off Khanate set out their stall to be a genuinely disturbing listen, taking the blueprint of Burning Witch's psychotic doom metal and stretching it further with increased repetition, glacially slow tempos, seismic rumblings and squeals of feedback that act as the backdrop to the outpourings of Durbin's troubled and troubling vocal protagonist whose screeching screams worm their way into your brain and sit there eating away at your sanity. Instrumentally quiet and gentle sections where his vocals are mere creepy-sounding whispers, are akin to the murmured secret exhortations to violence I imagine schizophrenic killers hear from the imaginary voices in their heads. A couple of lines from "No Joy", for example, read "No joy precious joy no joy, Eat that smile right off a face, your face, No joy only only eat stuff that grin down, down your neck no more eat no more, Breathe breathe don’t breathe please don’t breathe". I mean, what the fuck? This truly is a trip to the dark side of the human psyche and a disconcerting listen that leaves you with the impression that you have been witness to the outpourings of a genuinely troubled mind, like the innumerable notebooks that Mills and Somerset find in the room of the psycho in Se7en. Sure, Khanate aren't the only band that deal in disturbing lyrical imagery, but here there is no release with a catchy riff or a shredding guitar solo, all there is is the grindingly slow, dissonant throb of bleak inevitability unrelieved by any kind of positivity or hope.

I hate real world violence and horror, but there is a deeply primal and subliminal part of the human mind that is attracted to darkness in art, hence the enduring popularity of horror movies and true crime series. Obviously, drone metal is very much a niche sub-genre in the wider metal world, certainly when it is as disquieting as Khanate, so it obviously isn't for everyone, especially the impatient listener, but if you have a penchant for the darker and more uncomfortable reaches of extreme metal then Khanate are absolutely a required listen.

4.5/5

Dystopia - "Human = Garbage" compilation (1994)

While I've never been able to get into the 2018 self-titled comeback album from these legendary Oakland sludge metallers (3/5), I've always really dug a couple of their 1990's E.P.'s in 1994's "Human = Garbage" (4/5) & 1999's "The Aftermath" (4/5). After recently discovering & thoroughly enjoying the extended compilation release of Grief's "Dismal", I found myself in the mood to continue indulging in some oppressive American sludge metal so found myself reaching for this similarly laid out compilation release that draws together the previously-mentioned "Human = Garbage" E.P. with the Dystopia contributions to their 1993 split album with English crust punkers Embittered & their 1993 split single with Boston's Grief. All of that extra material was recorded in 1992 & you can easily see the development that's taken place between those tracks & the ones taken from 1994's "Human = Garbage" E.P. In fact, there's a noticeable gap between them if I'm being honest, even if I do find myself receiving mild enjoyment from the majority of the extra inclusions. Overall though, I think I'll be sticking to the traditional "Human = Garbage" E.P. in future as the extra material included on this compilation only detracts from the very solid quality of that release.

For fans of Grief, Sea of Deprivation & Skaven.

3.5/5

Grief/Dystopia - "Lifeless/Sleep" split single (1993)

This three-song split single is a beauty, although its appeal is strongly weighted towards the Grief material for me personally with opener "Lifeless" being a truly classic sludge metal anthem & "Fucked Upstairs" also being very solid. The Dystopia track "Sleep" isn't too bad either but they would definitely produce much better in the future. I can see myself reaching for this release from time to time.

For fans of Eyehategod, Noothgrush & Iron Monkey.

4/5

Ethereal Tomb – standout track. Nasty sludge goodness.

Fortunate that I spotted that Sonny originally had the wrong song included I guess.

Another great playlist Sonny, ending on the customary funeral doom note. I need to listen to some more Slow (not sure I have heard all the albums).

Graves at Sea are a strange one for me, sometimes the vocals are a bit to much for me.

Both Smote albums from 2025 are really good, and that's another great track selection.

Other picks added to the further listening list: Opium Lord, Ophis, Wildspeaker  and Eternal Rot.

Oh and I'll wait for the album release before another Warning listen. Be good to listen again in the context of the full album, the track here bodes well.

When you are guilty of the unpunishable crime of producing one of the most moving and memorable albums of a particular year, an artist must mine the very depths of their creativity to provide a follow up of any worthy repute. When Messa dropped Close in 2022, they were already two records into their career - two records which I have not heard to date incidentally – and produced an album that topped many AOTY polls and lists, my own included. Unafraid of boundaries and unwilling to accept much in the way of limitations on their sound, the Italians showed us all just how extensive their range was. Making it all sound so damn cool whilst putting this authentic exploration of their musical palate was just the icing on the cake really. Inadvertently, this set up the challenge of one day having to follow Close up and upon my first few listens to The Spin my opinion was that they had hit the exact wall that I feared they would.

The gothic tropes of the bands 2025 record were the first hurdle for me. Musically such a style does not sit all that well with me and, initially at least, this more sombre edge to proceedings seemed to rob the record of the same level of passion that its predecessor was awash with. It felt like between records, some alignment process had been undertaken in Messa’s life meaning that they were now drifting away from the wonderful connection we had once shared. I could hear the lead work of Piccolo clearly enough, but the feeling that had emanated from them so plentifully on Close seemed numbed somehow. After a few listens, I stepped away from The Spin altogether, resolute that my enjoyment of Messa was going to be limited, for now at least, to that one record.

Curiosity may have allegedly killed the cat but it sure as hell is the saviour of many album reviewers, I am sure when it comes to giving records a second chance. And so, I came back to The Spin recently. Reviews I had caught elsewhere still talked about the merit of the record. It did take a couple of super-critical listens, but this time it finally clicked. It is not as good as Close, I doubt they will ever top that record if I am totally honest. Yet those shades of grey that are applied this time around do not hinder the expression of the record anywhere near as much as I initially thought. It feels eclectic enough still, despite their being a more accessible if not all that mainstream vibe to it. Emotions are never quite at the point of being super-charged like they were on the previous album, yet they are not lost by any means. If anything, Messa are just showing that bit of maturity I mentioned earlier, losing some child like view of the wonder of their own soul in the process perhaps.

It is still well written, far too well written in fact for anyone to be unimpressed I would say. The musicianship is top-notch and the vocal delivery of Sara is perhaps the only element in here that I sense is dialled back a little from last time. If you look at The Spin as a standalone record, then it is no doubt going to hit the higher end of the scoresheet and in some ways, it is criminal to drop points off my final number based on a comparison of a previous record. Talented individuals when brought together in the right environment make great records and that’s what Messa have managed here, regardless.

4.5/5

I'm a big fan of Elder & of the "Lore" album which is my second favourite of the four Elder records I've heard behind "Reflections of a Floating World". I don't think any of the three full-length albums I've experienced from them are metal though. The "Spires Burn/Release" E.P. is probably the only one of the four releases that I'd suggest is metal enough to qualify & it's still kinda 50/50. They're a great stoner rock band though & I'm glad you're enjoying them Rex.

They've certainly proven themselves to be consistent.  I'm on Innate Passage right now and the opener is flat-out one of the best stoner rock songs I've ever heard.  This one ain't metal, tho.

Finland’s Convocation are not exactly new to me, nor are they an artist that I have invested a lot of time with either. I recall trying them once and quickly finding myself distracted and off elsewhere on my to do list soon enough. Not that they necessarily did anything wrong, I usually find that aside from mood as an obvious influence over my enjoyment of a record, some music simply must be listened to from a critical perspective. No Dawn for Caliginous Night Is not background music and nor does it impose itself on the listener intentionally. Simply put, it is so well written, performed and arranged that to attempt to listen to it casually is very near to being an insult to Convocation.

I am a fan of both funeral and death/doom and to date, I do not recall that I have encountered an album that successfully combines the two sub-genres so eloquently. It is rare for the chug of the guitar that we get treated to around the six-minute and forty-second mark of album opener, ‘Graveless yet Dead’ to be present amongst such desolate sadness. Likewise, the poignancy of the melancholy of instrumental track ‘Between Aether and Land’ is uncharted territory across such a blended style of extreme metal.

 If I recall correctly, one of the guys involved in Convocation was (maybe still is) in Desolate Shrine, and I get snippets of their sound throughout this record. The definitively gloomy sound of Finnish funeral and death/doom permeates the record as you would expect. Finland has a proud heritage already in this field and No Dawn for Caliginous Night carries on that fine lineage. With such a well-produced album it is great to hear the rumble of the low end with just as much clarity as the slow-picked guitar notes, with even the harsh vocals receiving a great airing. Listen closely to ‘Lepers and Derelicts’ and appreciate the busy nature of the track as the guitars appear to chime a tune within the track. I have already lost track of how many times I have listened to this album now. Each time I do, I discover or notice something new. As if I needed any excuse to keep coming back, constant discovery is an added boon.

4/5

Dusk - "...Majestic Thou in Ruin" (1995)

It's easy to forget just how good the debut album from this Wisconsin-based doom/death outfit is because no one has tended to talk about it much over the years but this really is one of the great examples of the genre in my opinion. Perhaps it's not the most original of releases as it clearly borrows from the template created by Aussie superstars Disembowelment but does it a little differently with a more decipherable death growl & a lack of grindcore influence. You'll find similar atmospherics here though & I've always found huge appeal in them too, particularly given that I'm one of the biggest Disembowelment fans on the planet. There is a basicness to the riff structures which won't challenge too many guitarists in the technique department but that's not really what this type of music is about now, is it? The first & last of the four lengthy songs included are both very solid but it's the one-two punch of "Paled" (my personal favourite) into "Thy Bitter Woe" that are the real gold here. Don't miss out on this one guys.

For fans of Morgion, Ceremonium & Disembowelment.

4.5/5

The "obscure" bands still work best for me though Sonny so keep them coming.

Will do. 

I am becoming increasingly frustrated by the fact that so many aren't available on Spotify though. I will have to try a bit harder to promote some of them via reviews etc.

A quick question: do you enjoy me picking more obscure bands that may not have had too much exposure (I have hundreds), or would you prefer to hear better established acts?

The former, every time.

The “boxes” argument used to come up quite a lot back on the old Terrorizer forum days. Any member trying to conveniently place anything even slightly eclectic into a specific genre, sub-genre, niche, thimble or mere tag usually found themselves suffering the ire of one or more of the regulars on that board. For a forum that was associated with the extreme metal and was billed as the” world’s most dangerous music magazine”, there was a surprisingly open-minded group of regulars present there and as such an album like this month’s The Fallen feature release would have proved to be a divisive discussion point.

Smote don’t have any recognition on Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives. To be honest, I can almost understand why. As much as there is a heavy streak to Songs from the Free House, there is a lot of other elements for the listener to contend with. Drone, psych, folk and doom all occupy the forty-minute space in front of the listener. To my ear this record embraces a very similar sound to that of Wolvserpent, a band who despite my tendency to avoid drone metal, get regular revisits each year. When I pick up such reference points, I do wonder if it is just that Smote have simply not been put forward for submission at The Metal Archives as opposed to being outright rejected. Clearly, these tracks are not always arranged with the heavier elements in sharp focus; the chaos of psych often disrupts any sense of outright doom metal from topping the charts of influences driving the bus. You may easily find then that Songs from the Free House is a little too rarified a listen if there are no albums by Hawkwind in your collection.

At the same time, I do not think that you must be a fan of the output by Sunn O))), Earth or Boris to enjoy this release. The drone elements here possess an atmosphere I have rarely been able to pick up with the above artist’s releases that I have ventured into. The haunting pipes of ‘Chamber’ and those dense, droning keys and vocals create a real sense of immersion around me as I listen. But above all else, in comparison to other albums I have experienced across these multiple genres/sub-genres, there is still a sense of very definite start and end points to tracks. There is no blurring of all tracks into one and as such tracks are permitted a good expanse of individual identity.

I could use the word ‘enchanting’ to describe this record. It has a sultry, brooding appeal to it that lures me in; perhaps at this early stage of listening even without me being able to fully understand why it connects with me so well. There is something primal about the tribal percussion that is on display. The uncertainty of the deep drones and bass lines only seem to add to the allure of proceedings as opposed to alienating me from them. And so, it eventually comes back to the fact that there is no “box” to put this record in, which is sort of why I like it so much.

4/5

Funeral doom does seem to be well-suited for closing tracks on the playlists and it sometimes feels out of place when buried in the middle as it can result in a bit of a flat spot, whereas it gives a suitably mournful atmosphere with which to end when used as a closer.

I am happy to see some love for Ea, as they are one of my favourite funeral doom bands. They are a mysterious bunch though and have never revealed their identities. They sing in a dead Babylonian language that has been recreated by linguistic archaeology and variously claim to be from St. Petersburg in Russia, Wyoming and even Antarctica!

As I listen to Gravity, I sense that there is a history of music represented here that I am not all that close too. The heavy-psych elements to Saturnalia Temple’s sound suggest to me at least one foot in the heady days of the 70’s and beyond, but at the same time I get a lot of modern Darkthrone in the sound as well. Add to this, aesthetic the creeping darkness of black metal that seeps into the occasional track and before I knew it, I was completely in love with this month’s feature release for The Fallen clan. In my weed smoking days (long, long since done with), I would have enjoyed Gravity on a whole different level, I am sure. It feels like a record that can, with the right tools deployed, unlock outer dimensions of the listener’s inner consciousness, if you know what I mean.

This transcendental potential is by no means wasted when listened to in an entirely clean and sober headspace mind. Using simple repetition and atmospheres, alongside a near-constant menacing rumble of bottom-end loaded bass, Saturnalia Temple make for an otherworldly experience without the need for chemical assistance. The whole album sounds a bit clunky to me, but this is part of its natural charm and is what helps keep it in the higher echelons of the appeal stakes. I can listen to the damaged soundtrack to a thousand sci-fi horror movies that is Elyzian Fields all day long, and the droning indulgence of Between the Worlds right after it help make the mid-point of the record particularly strong for me.

Although Gravity has many recognisable traits to it, I cannot help but feel that the album feels like an introduction to something new. Even though many if not all its roots are found in the past, somehow there is still an element of there being an aberration present in many regards. As the tracks pass by, they carve sigil like etchings into my brain, meaning the memorability factor is high. High enough in fact for me to be able to enjoy the record as both background music as well as a more critical listening session. Great find.

4.5/5

Gates of Slumber took a while to land with me. The vocals of Karl Simon were by far the biggest hurdle following my “pay what you like” Bandcamp download of Conqueror in 2008. By the time I got around to the self-titled debut album by Wretch, the band that got put together after the initial hiatus being called on GoS, eight years had passed and I was by this stage much more in tune with Karl’s Winoisms. Wretch and I hit it off from the first listen and it is an album that gets a couple of plays each year nowadays still.

For a doom metal record, it is surprisingly catchy. In addition to this it has a rich vein of the blues running through it. Those early Sabbath riffs, sat alongside the obvious Saint Vitus and The Obsessed influences show a band with some firm roots in the founding fathers of the genre and the debut album from Wretch really does sound like it comes from the soul of everyone involved. The Judas Priest cover works well, even given the full hazy doom treatment.

The band even manage to shine on the two instrumentals that are present here. I did roll my eyes at the prospect of two tracks without vocals at first but they are so well played, it is hard not to get onboard with them. The brooding bass of ‘Bloodfinger’ is a wonderfully psychedelic experience set against the bluesy noodling of the guitar. Not that I have heard all the GoS albums and notwitwstanding the style is perhaps different overall, but I would say that Wretch is my preferred output above even the might of Karl in GoS. It is a shame that we only got one record out of the project, but at least it is a killer.

4/5

Thanks for the votes of confidence guys.

I am in agreement as regards "Tempelschlaf". It is perfectly fine for what it is, but it doesn't feel like classic Ruins of Beverast and I would take earlier albums such as "Exuvia" or "Rain Upon the Impure" over it every time.

Let Me Dream - "My Dear Succubus" (1995)

This relatively unknown debut album from obscure Finnish band Let Me Dream is one of the rare releases that I bought completely blind during the mid-90's. My purchase of the CD was based purely on a rapturous review I'd read in Terrorizer magazine which made this record sound like it would be right up my alley. I was sorely disappointed though as "My Dear Succubus" is generally pretty amateurish & lacking in any sort of class, despite possessing a noticeably underground cult vibe that would no doubt have pleased the purists out there. I'd describe Let Me Dream's sound as being blackened gothic doom metal which isn't a description you see too often & they admittedly have a pretty original sound that's highlighted by the regular use of cheap synthesizers playing simply single-note accompaniments. My main issue is with the clean male vocals though as they are completely incompetent & take a great deal away from the blackened snarls that make up more of the run time. The instrumentation is very basic too although the guitar tone will no doubt draw comparisons to Celtic Frost's early works. At the end of the day there are metal releases that simply aren't worth exploring & this is definitely one of them. Where do I claim my hard-earned $30 back?

For fans of Cultus Sanguine, Moonspell & Celtic Frost.

2.5/5

Like its predecessor, Lead and Aether has proven a great accompaniment on winter walks this weekend as the northwest of England sees its first snow of the season. That is not to say that this is a cold sounding record by any means, in fact I find the exact opposite experience to the record. To me this is the sickening warmth of a hug from the arms of death itself. It is comforting to witness, how I imagine the release of all worry, stress and adversity of life would feel at the very moment of conscious expiry of one’s existence. Far from finding the funereal keys and monolithic melodies oppressive, I take a great solace from this album, therefore.

This record plays as an instrumental in my head, the vocals are so low in the mix, consciously so I would guess, that I am almost ignorant them for much of the album. Normally I would find this as a negative point, a key missing feature almost, but here I think it works perfectly. Good funeral doom to me is about letting the music build the aesthetic and atmospheres, the vocals are just a complementary element in comparison. Equally, I think Skepticism got the placement of the drums correct here. Whilst not as absent from my mind as the vocals are, the drums provide the very definition of a subtle supporting role here. How many bands can say that they have successfully used drums o create space and atmosphere on a record?

There is always a danger that with such a minimalist approach to music, particularly extreme genres like this, that the recording can end up sounding amateur. I would argue that the opposite is in fact true here. This sounds like a thoroughly professional album, composed with care and thought for overall arrangement. Maintaining that gloomy warmth for me over the entire album duration is a real win here, but there are a couple of moments where tracks seem to end up a little disjointed (album closer, ‘Aether’ stands out for this) which just takes the perfect score aware from an otherwise brilliant release.

4.5/5

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2rSh9MnfQo9HmPLo2W5MBa

A happy new year to all the Fallen playlist listeners. May doom and gloom reside only in your listening habits during the coming year.

1. My Dying Bride – “Your River” (from “Turn Loose the Swans”, 1993) [submitted by dk]

2. Khemmis - "Bloodletting" (from "Desolation", 2018)

3. Sleep - "Marijuanaut's" (from "The Sciences", 2018) [submitted by Vinny]

4. Wren - "Scorched Hinds" (from "Black Rain Falls", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]

5. Chrch - "Portals" (from "Light Will Consume Us All", 2018) [submitted by Sonny]

6. Primitve Man - "Devotion" (from "Observance", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]

7. Paul Chain Violet Theatre - "17 Day" (from "Detaching From Satan", 1984) [submitted by Sonny]

8. Black Sheep Wall – “Ren” (from “Songs for the Enamel Queen”, 2021) [submitted by dk]

9. Heteropsy - "Memento Mori" (from "Embalming", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]

10. Age of Taurus – “Sinking City” (from “Desperate Souls of Tortured Times”, 2013) [submitted by dk]

11. The Answer Lies in the Black Void - "Sine Morbo" (from "Transcendental", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]

12. Salome - "White Tides" (from "Salome", 2008) [submitted by dk]

13. BlackLab - "Monochrome Rainbow" (from "In a Bizarre Dream", 2022)

14. Atavist - "Loss" (from "III: Absolution", 2020) [submitted by Sonny]

An absolutely devastating sludgy start to this post-sludge adventure:

Forgot to post my review from a few months ago:

My enjoyment of Hexvessel’s last offering, Polar Veil was based on the clever combinations that weaved through each song. This tapestry of mysterious atmospheres, doomy aesthetics and blackened leanings has not only been retained on Nocturne, but the intensity of these elements has been increased. Hexvessel pick up on album number six right from where they left off last time. It is a stronger sounding record from the off, exhibiting a boldness about the brevity of the songwriting as we immediately roll into two eight-minute plus length tracks following a succinct intro track. It is also obvious from the beginning of the record that the blackened edges are more present than I recall them being on Polar Veil. This creeping iciness tempers the more brazen elements of the record. Where we get a little too folk-laden (‘A Dark & Graceful Wilderness’) or dreamy even (‘Phoebus’), the are some black metal droplets that drop into the stillness of the water and immediately disperse with a subtle yet audible disruption.

The band achieve atmospheric black metal heights during ‘A Dark & Graceful Wilderness’, those chiming keys overlayed atop the grim riffs hit with maximum effect. Their ability to combine seemingly opposing elements is borne out by the plethora of instruments utilised that are arranged to work so well together. The piano that opens Nocturne has no place once the raging tide of ‘Sapphire Zephyrs’ kicks in. Yet the slow of pace the track takes for the chorus sees the scathing riffage no less offensive in delivery, just well-tempered by the delicate vocals and background piano keys. Acoustically serene strings give us a further chapter to this song. Creating such a triumphant track so early in the record whets the appetite for what comes next on the record.

Bristling with spiritual transcendence and possessing a soothing and calming capacity to act as a balm to the more aggressive sections, Nocturne is a real exploratory record that all feels well anchored to the central theme that runs through the record of a connection to nature and our surroundings in general. Lavished with choral elements like on ‘Inward Landscapes’ there is a sense of a near-constant evolving to the record as these new parameters are set, and ethereal elements are introduced. The songwriting seems to suggest that although it is a nebulous concept, the world around us, our immediate earthly surroundings, offer opportunity to connect to a more mystical and basic form of existence.

Hexvessel sound committed to this record and the themes it explores. There is obvious passion behind the music which is well played throughout. Without being able to describe the guitars as luscious exactly, there is a moreish quality to them still. I never want the beauty of ‘Spirit Masked Wolf’ to end as it rises to seemingly unfathomable heights of serenity. The doomier elements of the album are delivered thoughtfully, applying a cloak of subtle atmosphere and more sluggish pacing when deployed. I am struggling to find fault overall with Nocturne and my reticence to give it a full five star rating is more due to the feeling to need to spend more time with it, as opposed to any individual fault I can place my finger on.

4.5/5

I've listened to a couple of time. Really busy at work, so it was background the first time around.

However, Gloomlord made me take notice even through the first listen probably my favourite new listen. Also Doomsday Profit, Tombs, Pale Divine amongst others and that's one of my favourite Electric Wizard songs you closed the playlist with and nice to hear Count Raven again - haven't listened to them in quite some time.

Also if any of the tracks above encourage you to check out more of those bands and come up with some ideas for the monthly Spotify playlists, here's a thread to add in your playlist suggestions: https://metal.academy/forum/7/thread/477

Thanks, guys. I completely understand the antipathy towards Dawn of Winter, but I have a soft spot for trad doom outfits who have no chance of popularity. I am fairly immune to questionable vocals with this particular sub-genre where an awfully high percentage of vocalists are functional at best.

The thing is, all three of us contributing members to the Fallen playlist have quite similar preferences within the clan's remit, tending mostly towards the more extreme end, so I try to cover the sub-genres that we are less popular amongst the three of us, which I may not always be totally au fait with - gothic metal being one particular sub-genre I try to cover without being much of a devotee. This may well result in some questionable picks. Trad doom was my gateway into doom metal, bands like Saint Vitus, Reverend Bizarre and the likes, so it will always be a sub-genre I will support, however, despite being a one-time massive fan of stoner metal, I have become a bit bored of the more meandering style over recent times.

I am glad the playlist is still getting some listens anyway, and it is nice to get some feedback, so thanks for the continued support fellas.

Here is a transscript of an actual conversation I was a party to between two of my internal organs:

Brain: Wow, Heart, I bet you're loving this album aren't you?

Heart: I don't know. Not really. It hasn't made me skip a beat or anything.

Brain: Yeah, but these super-distorted, oozing sludgy riffs are just the sort of shit we adore though aren't they?

Heart: I know, I know, but, well, something really isn't connecting here and it just makes me feel kind of empty.

Brain: Oh, come on. You're just being difficult now.

Heart: I'm really not. It just sounds like someone took Dopethrone, ran it through a distortion pedal and added a load of Sonic Youth noise to it.

Brain: Exactly! Great innit?

Heart: No, its just making feel a bit worn out and tired.

Brain: Oh fuck off then!!

I am a bit conflicted by this to say the least. I know I should love it, but it isn't reaching me for some reason. I suspect that the fault is mine and not theirs. I think it best I return to this at a later date.

I should probably get more organised in this respect too. I keep making mental notes to check out bands or releases from the playlists and then I just forget who or what, so probably end up missing out on a ton of good stuff.

Apocalypse Orchestra - "A Plague Upon Thee" (2025)

Apocalypse Orchestra are a five-piece from Gävle in Sweden and they have a penchant for doom metal heavily coloured by european folk music. They seamlessly integrate medieval folk instruments such as hurdy-gurdy, mandola, cittern and pipes with the modern electrified instruments of doom metal in a way that feels perfectly natural and unforced. The slow, plodding riffs of doom metal are used as a foundation upon which the band interprete medieval folk melodies for a modern metal-loving audience.

I do love folk music, but I am often disappointed by its unsubtle use when utilised as a trope in metal, with a lot of folk metal sounding trite and just downright cheesy. I never felt that way once though whilst listening to "A Plague Upon Thee" because it is just so tastefully done, with an apparently equal reverence for both folk and metal. You would be forgiven for suspecting AO of playing a doom metal version of viking metal, given their swedish origins, but there is a distinct lack of the whiff of longship and battleaxe within "A Plague Upon Thee", with it often being more celtic-sounding à la Saor than the Norse influences of a Bathory or Wardruna. The doom metal side of the equation is quite functional and, in truth, it doesn't vary hugely from track to track, with most of the eight tracks following the same tempo. It is perfectly well executed, but is utilised more as a foundation or rhythm section if you like, providing the staging upon which the folk melodies and instruments perform their magic.

The lyrical themes revolve around the harshness of medieval life, plague and the ever-pervasive presence and domination of religion over the lives of the peasantry. The lyrics are beautifully delivered by voclist Erik Larsson who has a great line in clean vocals, supported by almost symphonic backing vocals provided by the rest of the band. Despite the inate heaviness and mournfulness of doom metal and the generally bleak tone of the lyrics, the music still often feels almost hopeful, as if, despite the harshness of life, there is still a ray of light or shred of comfort to be gleaned amidst all the darkness and hardship.

I really enjoyed "A Plague Upon Thee" and found its folk-centric take on doom metal to be a refreshing twist on what can often be a conservative and predictable genre. That it also avoids the trap of cringy cheesiness that plagues so much folk metal is testament to the band's skillful songwriting and reverence for their sources of inspiration. If you are looking for a different take on doom metal then I would heartily recommend this.

4/5 (B+)

I'm well across this release & have been meaning to give it a revisit & rating at some point.

I got through this today whilst working from home.  Strong list this month, one of my favourite ones of recent months.

Highlights were, Thou, Yob, Alunah, Black Sheep Wall, Monolord and Worm.

I am still on the fence with the new Paradise Lost tracks and could not get my head around the vocals on Mourning Dawn.  But otherwise had a good ole time listening through this month.

I have been following Mares of Thrace for a while now, since their 2012 album The Pilgrimage in fact and I was a big fan of previous album The Exile, so I was looking forward to this one. The Loss is essentially a concept album dealing with the five stages of grief, a theme eminently suited to the band's desperate and anguished version of sludge metal.

Band mainstay, guitarist / vocalist Thérèse Lanz has always had a striking vocal approach, maintaining levels of aggression many can only futilely hope to achieve, but here on The Loss she has ascended to a whole new level of vocal anguish and fury, imparting additional heft to the album's concept of grief and loss. Production-wise, since Casey Rogers jumped on board as musician and engineer / producer the band have never sounded better with his production work increasing the depth and basic heaviness of their sound, adding real weight to their already existing nihilistic aggression. The riffs are very good and are rendered crushingly heavy by Rogers' work behind the desk with a huge bottom end which also doesn't appear to flatten out the upper registers or compromise Thérèse's anhuished shrieks or wails.

The instrumentation and songwriting has once more improved with The Loss taking on aspects of atmospheric sludge, often combining the hulking, atmospheric layering of Neurosis with the visceral rawness of Eyehategod which has the effect on the listener of being bowed by crushing weight whilst being sharply stabbed with stinging barbs. The album is instrumentally coherent, yet never becomes samey with each track having a feel of its own, in keeping with the theme of each track covering a different stage of the grieving process.

I find an honesty and openness in Mares of Thrace's releases that you don't necessarily encounter that often, with Thérèse's vocals in particular giving the impression that she probably has an intimate knowledge of this latest album's concept. But not only that, she also has the vocal expressiveness to be able to impart a convincing taste of the awful and debilitating effects of dealing with such an emotionally charged subject. This is the kind of release on which the Fallen thrives and, despite the emotionally challenging material, this is a genuinely impressive and relevant addition to the clan's canon and if this is a just world it will see the duo gain much wider acclaim.

A solid "A" grade from me (4.5/5).

Fitting tribute Sonny

Really nice playlist. I've listened through this a few times mainly while working, so can't really do a song by song review. I only knew just overe half of it, so was great to hear some new bands. I've got to say I really enjoy the playlist aspect of the site - I've already listened to one from the Horde and the Revolution clans.

The one that really jumped out at me was Mares of Thrace - "The Fifth Stage: Depression" (from "The Loss", 2025) and the album was promptly added onto my to listen to list. I loved the clanging drums and vocals on this one. It appealed to my love of post-hardcore and noise rock and I guess the sound makes sense as I noticed that Thérèse Lanz was briefly a member of KEN mode. Great stuff. 

Yeah, that is a great track. I am glad to see the band finally gaining some traction.

Inspired by one of my current favorite YouTube channels Thralls of Metal, I decided to also get in the "band's greatest hits" trend of compiling tracks from different albums by a band as your own "greatest hits" kind of album. If you have any of your own "greatest hits" albums for your favorite bands, feel free to post them here.

Here are my rules for how I would do my own "greatest hits" albums, but you may have your own rules:

1. Two songs per each studio album; one popular track and one underrated track.

2. One song per other album (remix album, EP, etc.).

3. If a track is at least 10 minutes long or close to that, it counts as two songs.

4. Might add in one extra song for one of the albums.

5. If the length of the tracklisting exceeds 80 minutes (the CD length limit), it's split into two discs, maybe 3 discs if even longer.

6. Songs are in chronological order.

Let's start with this Norwegian symphonic gothic/melodeath band:

Trail of Tears - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5PumWxcuPRl0sgAGqglkTt (Disclosure in Red not on Spotify, songs from that album replaced with "Countdown to Ruin")

1. When Silence Cries

2. Illusion?

3. Driven Through the Ruins

4. Disappointment's True Face

5. Ecstatic

6. A Fate Sealed in Red

7. Joyless Trance of Winter

8. Dry Well of Life

9. Deceptive Mirrors

10. Shades of Yesterday

11. Bloodstained Endurance

12. A Storm at Will

13. Farewell to Sanity

14. Waves of Existence

15. Path of Destruction

16. No Colours Left

I don't think I can add too much more over what Sonny and Vinny have said above.

I gave this a 4/5 on first listen and have listened through a number of times now.

This is a strong album treading the line between death doom and funeral doom with some lovely lead melody that gives some air between the pounding riffs and vocals. There's definitely a sense of sadness there but tinged with hope. But there is something there that is stopping me going higher than the 4 that I can't quite put my finger on or explain.  A very good album still 4/5. Maybe it's one of those that will creep up to 4.5 over time.

So as we drag ourselves out, blinking blindly, into the summer sun it has rolled around to my turn once more to nominate the monthly feature for The Fallen. This time around I am going to go with those tripped-out pachyderms from Greece, Acid Mammoth and their 2021 album "Caravan". I would love to hear what you think of it either below or in review format - don't be shy now!

https://metal.academy/releases/26626

Finally got round to a review of this:

I already expressed my love for 2018's The Incubus of Karma by Mournful Congregation in my earlier review on Metal Academy, so it was with a hopeful spring in my step that I ventured into this month’s feature release. It is fair to say that my previous positive experience was instantly replicated as I started to listen to The Exuviae of Gods: Part II. This is instantly recognizable as funeral doom, of course. However, there’s a shrouded light implicit in the songs of Mournful Congregation that at first glance was unexpected the last time around and I am pleased to say is still present now. All the oppressive, crushing elements are lined up here on this macabre and morose parade. The deathly plod you would expect from a funeral doom release continues to trudge at an agonisingly slow pace towards the inevitable end. Still, I cannot shake that flicker of sharp light that Is burning at the centre of all that murk.

There is an odd sense of comfort that I take from good funeral doom, and this release has made for great bedtime listening to drag me off into the land of nod on a few occasions now. Whilst it is a little too short to truly encapsulate many of the great things that I heard in 2018’s offering, in a way that is okay as there is still a distinct sense of fulfilment from the thirty-nine minutes that the three songs run over. The harrowing and punishing repetition never become arduous or boring, indeed it seems to help tracks grow in stature as it repeats. I believe this is successful because once again Mournful Congregation display a real penchant for songwriting of the highest quality. Just as with my comment on The Incubus of Karma, The Exuviae of Gods: Part II continues to grow those strong roots of songwriting prowess. These tacks aren’t just long, they are nurtured, they are grown, cultivated into their optimal form.

The melancholic melodies of the guitar on ‘The Forbidden Abysm’ genuinely moved me to the point of welling up tears in my eyes. It is such a sudden burst of despondency that it caught my completely off-guard. There is a limitless patience to how the drums are played on this track. It would have been easy to lose them in the mix against the backdrop of the relentless wall of riffs and dense atmospheres present here, yet there is no loss of power to the work Tim Call puts in. Some of the picked string work is exquisite, with the intro to the final track 'The Paling Crest' being of note. It is this sense of pacing and build that keeps the release interesting for the whole duration. There is little in the way of criticism, other than to say it needs perhaps a little more bite to really keep things entertaining. However, once again, Mournful Congregation cement themselves as true masters of funeral doom, with a knack for songwriting that few I have experienced can touch. My only regret is not having listened to Part I.

4.5/5

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2rSh9MnfQo9HmPLo2W5MBa

1. Windhand - "Winter Sun" (from "Windhand", 2012) [submitted by Sonny]

2. Year of the Cobra - "Full Sails" (from "Year of the Cobra", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]

3. Pentagram - "Walk The Sociopath" (from "Lightning in a Bottle", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]

4. Black Bile - "L'Oratoire" (from "L'Oratoire", 2023) [submitted by Vinny]

5. Deathwhite - "Earthtomb" (from "Grey Everlasting", 2022) [submitted by Saxy]

6. Ahab - "The Isle" (from "The Boats of the Glen Carrig", 2015) [submitted by Sonny]

7. Temple Nightside - "Charnel Winds" (from "The Hecatomb", 2016) [submitted by Sonny]

8. Cough - "Mind Collapse" (from "Ritual Abuse", 2010) [submitted by Sonny]

9. Kowloon Walled City - "Sleep Debt" (from "Gambling on the Richter Scale", 2009) [submitted by Vinny]

10. Onirophagus - "Landsickness" (from "Revelations from the Void", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]

11. Morast - "On Pyre" (from "Fentanyl", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]

12. The Lone Madman - "Häxan" (from "Let the Night Come", 2019) [submitted by Sonny]

13. Mael Mórdha - "King of the English" (from "Damned When Dead", 2013)

14. Cradle of Filth - "When Misery Was A Stranger" (from "The Screaming of the Valkyries", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]

15. -16- - "Blood Atonement Blues" (from "Guides for the Misguided", 2025) [submitted by Vinny]

16. Abysmal Growls of Despair - "Nyarlathotep" (from "Lovecraftian Drone", 2014)

The next Fallen playlist will be for August, so suggestions by 15th July please (or, preferably, sooner).

As I have said elsewhere, I am quite the fan of the Seattle husband and wife team that are Year of the Cobra, them first catching my ear with their "The Black Sun" EP back in 2015. I have, however, been a bit tardy getting across their latest release, this self-titled full-length being released over a month ago now. YotC play stoner metal with a doomy vibe and a bit of a psychedelic influence. Comprising vocalist and bassist Amy Tung Barrysmith and drummer husband Jon, the pair deliver their stoned-out doomy vibes without the use of six-stringed guitars. The riffs are carried solely by Amy's basslines as are any solo embellishments.

This S/T kicks off with the lead-off single, "Full Sails" which thunders straight out of the blocks with Amy's lumbering and forceful bassline which is then joined by Jon's bludgeoning drums and a second bass riff. As Amy's vocals join the fray we find that not a distant-sounding, shrinking violet, but a strong and powerful version of the ethereal-voiced siren trope that is common within doom metal, sitting somewhere between Windhand's Dorthia Cottrell and Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick ("White Rabbit" version, not "We Built This City"). This is followed by the more uptempo "War Drop" which is a groovier and more catchy example of the band's sound with a chorus that will keep bouncing around in your head well after the track has finished, despite the ominousness that it portends. By this time you find that you aren't really noticing the lack of six-string riffing, such is the force of the basslines, which not only stands as testament to the duo themselves, but also to producer Matt Bayles who owns and operates Seattle's Red Room Studio and is a veteran producer of bands such as Isis and Mastodon and does a fantastic job here.

"Daemonium" and its uncomfortable lyrics of confrontation of a violent sex offender, is another pounding, pulsing uptempo effort which has an almost punky feel to it and carries forward the momentum generated by "War Drop" into the heart of the album. I have to confess that, despite my evident preference for doom metal, here Year of the Cobra sound much more effective on the quicker-paced material than on the slower stuff. "Alone", which follows "Daemonium", doesn't quite strike the same chord as the previous tracks and feels amost aimless compared to the succinct and driving nature of the early part of the album. "7 Years" picks up pace once more and is another fist-pumping, psych-heavy, stoner workout with a catchy chorus. "The Darkness" is possibly the most interesting track on the album, with it's crawling, serpentine opening bassline enveloping the listener and tightening its coils as Amy turns in a nicely varied vocal performance that positions her well to the top of the list of female doom metal vocalists.

I think it is fair to say that the Seattle duo, despite sitting firmly in the stoner doom camp, have, wittingly or not, picked up some influence from their home city's historical assosciation with grunge and this is nowhere more apparent than on "Sleep" which feels like a downbeat, stonerised version of an Alice in Chains or Soundgarden track. Closing out the album is its longest track, "Prayer" which is a very laid-back sort of track and, to be honest, I found it ended the album on a bit of a low-energy downer that was at odds with the majority of the material on offer and may well send the casual listener away with a slightly distorted memory of what had gone before.

I think it is fair to say that Year of the Cobra inhabit a fairly unique area of stonerdom, with a grungy, punkish attitude to stoner metal that sees them writing some exceedingly groovy and catchy material, whilst still delivering with powerful, bass-heavy thunder some seriously downtuned and fuzz-laden psyched-out trips. I have never seen them perform live, but I suspect they may be one of those bands that attract a quite diverse following. I have not completely made my mind up yet where this S/T ranks in their discography, but it is certainly their most accessible I would suggest and could well see them really start to gain a foothold in the wider world.

4/5