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In the Woods… have always just ‘been there’. Floating around the periphery of my metal music awareness for years, with me rarely paying them any attention. The progressive tag is usually more than ample to put me off things but given this was dual tagged with gothic metal (another one of my areas of limited interest) and I am trying to broaden my horizons and capture as much new stuff in The Fallen as I can this year, I broke form and went for it. I am glad I did.

What is clear, even as a relative newbie to the band, is that these fellas know how to write songs. There’s obvious depth to all the tracks on this album. Emotional and compositional depth is present in equal amounts, and as a result Otra is an incredibly rich and rewarding album to listen to. There is the mournful atmosphere you would associate with the gothic tag, but there is also the sense of mystery, of some riddle that runs in secret through the album, like there’s always something more to come on each track. It is this narrative of intrigue that keeps my attention on the album from start to finish. This intensity by no means impinges on the overall relaxed vibes that come off the record as it plays. The vocals have a soothing monotone to them, a handsome charm almost. Even on the death doom sounding section of ‘The Crimson Crown’, the menacing vocals are tempered by most of the track being sung in a clean and sultry tone.

I would liken the connection I feel with this record to the same spontaneous response I had to Katatonia’s The Fall of Hearts. I can sense the dark soul behind the music, its presence obvious throughout. As I was ploughing through other releases this week, I got to The Maneating Tree’s latest album, and it just underlined the difference in quality in that Otra is interesting to listen to from the off. Otra lacks much in the way of a generic pigeon-hole to be sat in and as such, all bets are off. The juxtapose of styles somehow remains unintrusive over seven tracks that all seem to flow with an underlying air of calm. Hear the black metal vocals creep into tracks like ‘Things You Shouldn’t Know’ and ‘The Wandering Deity’ whilst enjoying vibrant progressive vibes in some of the guitar at the same time.

For all its free-flowing nature, there is no sense of reckless abandon in the playing. At no point do I feel the need to hit the skip button, which on an album that is infused with gothic and progressive tropes is no mean feat really. There are clunky moments still. ‘A Misrepresentation of I’ stands out for the failed attempt to shoehorn that title into the chorus (it sounds like ‘a misreputation of I’) but it is more than forgivable given it probably is my only negative out of over forty-five minutes of music.

From time to time I surf youtube and try to find good live performances. It was through this method that I came across Crowbar's Bloodstock set from 2023 which can be found here: https://youtu.be/hGih5_AJrPw?si=lUhmBDWJ4GtYbk0f

Now, being a fan of doom and sludge I had of course heard of Crowbar, but what I had been told was that "Planets Collide" was their magnum opus. That particular song doesn't resonate with me, so I didn't dive deeper. It was when they performed "To Build a Mountain" in that live set that something clicked for me. 

...but Zero, that song isn't on this album. 

Correct, so let's talk Symmetry in Black; Crowbar's most common lyrical themes revolve around strength and perseverance in the face of depression, anger, addiction, and unfavorable odds. This is music designed to get a man through his lowest lows. In any Crowbar album you're going to get super thick down tuned guitars, an endless stream of powerful riffs, and Kirk Windstein delivering encouragement in a style that is heavy, gruff, bellowing, and yet completely 100% decipherable. These are possibly the most clear vocals I've heard on anything this heavy, and this is good because as strong as the riffs, and as crushing as the tones dialed in are, it's the lyrics and messages that I'd say are Crowbar's greatest strength. Crowbar's formula and sound are very consistent from release to release. Symmetry just sounds a little bit better to me from a production standpoint and it has some lyrics that particularly connect with me. 

This is an album full of inspiration, but I've chosen the lyrics to "Shaman of Belief" as I feel it encapsulates best what Crowbar is all about.

Shaman Of Belief

"Look up at me

You're crawling

On dirty ground you prowl

Lift up your head

And see me

Your antidote is now

Open up your mind

Time to realize

Now save your energy and use it well

It's not too hard to see

What's real

Look up at me

You're drowning

So far below

Beneath

The answer that eludes you is echoing so deep

Open up your mind

Time to realize

Now keep your energy and use it well

It's not too hard to see

That time will tell

I'm the creator of all your dreams

I am the shaman of belief"

Powerful stuff. Did I mention this is an incredible album to work out to? It is. 

I'd like to conclude by saying that I've watched a lot of Kirk Windstein's interviews, and he seams to be a down to earth, humble, polite, and honest man. The phrase "salt of the earth" comes to mind. The kind of person you can feel good about supporting. I've read that he's pretty accessible and available so when he goes on tour again I will try to meet him.

I am starting to amass a fandom for Daniel Butler. After finding Acephalix many moons ago and subsequently Vastum a couple of years later, I know have stumbled across Decrepisy (which I am unsure is even an actual term). In a year that has so far floated my death doom boat very little in the first quarter of 2025, I was instantly full of hope when I heard Daniel Butler and Kyle House from Acephalix were involved in Decrepisy. Deific Mourning I am pleased to say, certainly lives up to the expectations that I have of these artists, and the bands numbers being bolstered by current Morbid Angel live drummer (as well as Funebraum and Ascended Blood sticksman of course), Charles Koryn and Jonathan Quintana on guitars (of Ritual Necromancy and Coffin Rot fame), all works out well for their sophomore release.

Deific Mourning sounds like a beast in the throes of uncontrollable grief for it’s fallen lord. It is like an acid bath of sorrow. The density of the sound is like a mournful millstone around your neck, the cavernous vocals grunting and gurning their dismal and gloomy emotions until they surround you. All the while the guitars chug away in a punishing and laborious drudgery, as if consigned to riff away for an eternity of mourning. The leads when they come, are just as melancholic, sharpening the pain as they seep into tracks. These leads are my only element of criticism on the record though, as despite them having impact, they feel placed rather than planned sometimes. Whilst they by no means ruin any of the tracks, they do have a sense of them being an afterthought on more than one occasion.

Koryn’s drumming is well-balanced throughout the record, coming to the fore especially well on the stripped back ‘Spiritual Decay 1/4 Dead’. It sounds like a professional performance from him. Indeed, the only element that feels a bit lost in the mix is the bass. Kyle handles bass alongside his guitar duties, and so perhaps this explains why the four strings have little presence overall (not that you miss them by any means). The multi-talented Leila Abdul-Rauf (Vastum, Cardinal Wyrm), guests on the record, dropping some menacing synths and additional vocals into the fray.

Album highlight for me is the brooding album closer ‘Afterhours’. I suspect Leila is heavily involved on this one with its looming dark ambience and abyssal echoes. It plays like some agonising cabaret in places, yet as some shamanic ritual in others. It is unexpected at the end of an album that to this point has been so clearly rooted in death doom, but it works brilliantly. The distortion applied to the guitars gives a b-movie aesthetic to the proceedings as the threat builds up and up during the track. Decrepisy may have passed me by with their first record, but I am so glad I did not miss this one. Off to blast me some Acephalix and Vastum for the rest of the bank holiday.

Sounds like Windhand. There, got that out of the way early in the review and will try to spend the rest of the paragraphs not mentioning how much this sounds like Windhand (dammit, there I go again). Joking aside, there are worse bands to sound like out there. What Daevar lack in originality they make up for in consistency that eventually overbears even the most ardent of critics. Sub Rosa sets an early tone and sticks to it for the next half an hour. They advertise themselves as having elements of grunge in their sound, an influence I don’t recognise as being that obvious. I can see where it might get called out but in the main, I just hear straight up stoner doom, done well. In a year where I have so far been unimpressed by Messa’s latest offering (there’s a few listens in the tank to go yet but it by no means grabs me like Close did), it is good to find some quality female-fronted doom kicking around.

In their home country of Germany, Daevar are probably pretty much unrivalled in the doom stakes. The quality levels on Sub Rosa are high, and this sounds like a record made by a trio who are tight and used to playing alongside each other. I can’t deem how long they have been together, but they have three albums under their belts now, and this shows here. Balancing all the elements superbly here, the album feels like everyone knows their place with the riffs, bass, percussion and vocals all getting a showing in the sound. There is no sense of jostling for position on behalf of any of the component parts here, probably as a result also of the great production job that allows those hazy and more dense atmospheres to stay present alongside each other so well.

I can’t pretend it will be my AOTY, but there’s a charm to Daevar that makes them great music for summer night campfires. The intense sense of togetherness in their sound is infectious and it is impressive to get such a positive vibe from a record that assess the troubles of the life in the modern 20’s. Whilst it may lack the emotional intelligence of some other artists, it is a success in part because of its direct nature and stark refusal to break from an established sound. Yes, it does still remind me of Windhand, but that by no means is aimed as a criticism.

Décembre Noir are a German doom metal band that have been learning a lot form the Officium Triste/My Dying Bride school of melodic death doom songwriting. And with Your Sunset | My Sunrise, Décembre Noir are doing all they can to bring the melancholy to you. I personally believe that while the production of this album is sparkling, some of the records more "extreme" elements can fell a tad overwhelming. They never get to the point of becoming overbearing or fully modulating this album into technical death metal, but the percussion is far more engaged in the song themselves than one might expect. Songs like "Your Sunset | My Sunrise" and the closer "Trivial Heart" have some enormous grooves, but Décembre Noir balance them out with some of the gothic tones that would not seem out of place on Hour of the Nightingale. The vocals are strong and have a really nice timbre; stylistically they vocals may seem to be a bit weak and lacking in presence, but the dark atmosphere helps to sell the despair that comes across through the vocal delivery. I personally would have liked there to be more tracks like "Trivial Heart", where the melody is consistent and built upon during an entire songs length. At only six songs, Your Sunset | My Sunrise tells a really good story and is a really good compliment to those artists mentioned previously.

Best Songs: Against the Daylight, Your Sunset | My Sunrise, Trivial Heart

You know what you are getting with any Mantar record. Sludge-punk rammed right down your throat. Completely devoid of bass as well as fucks to give, Mantar remind of how rock ‘n roll must have originally been perceived back in the day. Their sound has a maverick attitude, a mocking undertone that rumbles through their records where the bass would normally sit. Good news then that Post Apocalyptic Depression absolutely sticks to that formula. With song titles like ‘Church of Suck’ and ‘Rex Perverso’ (roughly translated means ‘King of Perverts’), you will soon the level of cheer this duo is looking to spread this time around.

It is a surprisingly cohesive sounding record given it was written on two different continents. This "quick and dirty" (as the band call it) style pays dividends as the pair bash and smash their way through all manner of influences ranging from the Melvins through to punk. The seedy undertone that gets set early in the record never truly wears off and there is a sense of the listener getting grimier by the track. The drums and guitar make their presence known in equal quantity and don’t ever outshine one another. The vitriol heavy vocals, wheeze and sleaze their way over the music in an almost serpentine-like manner.

If you are looking for variety then you are probably in the wrong shop. Mantar know what they want to say and how they want to say it, and that doesn't incorporate much other than the clear influences I have described on their sound. Unapologetic in their approach and unrelenting in their delivery, Mantar very much like the sound of their voice and as a result this is a near forty-minutes of consistently offensive music. No ballads, no progression or avant-garde elements present here folks.

On paper at least, I would have normally avoided Lord Agheros. That album cover screamed gothic metal at me, and so when I discovered no gothic metal on the record, I was immediately caught off-guard. Indeed, opening track, ‘Lament of the Lost’ had me thinking of Wardruna, which was a completely unexpected reference point. Whilst The Fallen is most certainly the correct clan for Anhedonia, there is a lot of different elements musically to digest. Whether it is symphonic, choral, melodic black metal or outright atmospherics, Anhedonia provides lots of angles for the listener to run at it from. It should be noted that some parts of the album sound truly beautiful, being rich in depth.

When they get the arrangement correct, Lord Agheros are quite the accomplished songwriters. However, there are some occasions whereby contrast the compositional aspects of some tracks are clumsy and cumbersome. In the early part of the album, transitions seem to struggle to land all that well. As a result, songs sound like they jerk and jolt around. As the record progresses, this problem does seem to fade in frequency and the second half of the album suffers a lot less from this.

Overall, though, as much as I cannot deny the unexpected allure of this record, it is still dogged by the impression that some sections of the record are a triumph of design over content. I suspect there is some conceptual narrative to proceedings, and this may go some of the way to explaining the sense of some parts being forced to fit together. Credit where credit is due on the ethereal beauty that is inherent behind these issues, they are truly an unexpected bonus. However, they are too few and far between for me when taken into consideration with the whole album offering.

Passages nearly didn’t get a look in when I was jumping through new releases in The Fallen. The EP is one of those releases that does an interlude track and then a proper track which is hard enough to stomach on an album, but over a shorter format so easily could have been a turn off. As it turns out, Sunrot manage to pull it off. The actual sludge content pisses all over the noise interludes for me, to the point where I don’t remember them being there by the time the power of the instruments and the vocals kick in with an Olympian level of fury.

Sunrot make pissed off music for pissed off people. Their music is slamming and juvenile without sounding immature. It’s the hand cupping your balls whilst the other one is punching you in the dick. Both easy and effectively picked targets. They even get Dylan Walker from Full of Hell and Brandon Hill from Cloudrat to guest on the record, so have the respect of grindcore royalty it seems (although Hill’s contribution is to one of the ludes). It is an EP on which I only like two songs out of five though and I cannot help but feel a little short-changed by the experience. It did pique my interest to explore some of the full-length releases by the band though so in a way did still serve a greater purpose. Would have preferred some live tracks instead of the ludes in all honesty.

Hungary is not normally a country I associate with any metal output, let alone death doom. When I first heard Töviskert... a kísértés örök érzete... Lidércharang I had no idea what to expect, there was a genuine air of mystery that even got me to thinking ‘has any Hungarian even heard death or doom metal, ever?’ Turns out they have, well at least two of them have. Hanyi and Lambert might as well be Finnish though as the death doom they offer is very much in the sound of that geography. In fact, they remind a fair bit of Krypts now I come to think of it. On this, their second album, the duo lumber through a selection of mid-paced death doom tracks. I mean, don’t get me wrong here, it’s deathy and it’s doomy too of course, but it never gets into funeral doom territory.

Lambert deploys a horrific and ghastly vocal style throughout the six tracks here which fits the marauding guitar perfectly, both backed up by Lambert’s thudding drums. Hanyi for his part covers guitar and bass on the album and although you are going to struggle to find the bass in here (apart from on album closer 'Az örök isten Lucifer'), the guitar makes its presence known. On the slower sections it hangs hauntingly in the air, like some horrendous spirit that refuses to pass over to the other side because it is having far too much fun threatening the living. In their more frantic moments, the band sound like a squally death metal act (hints of some Portal at times, to my ears at least) but they have mastered the mid-paced plod style of death doom best.

There’s a groove to some of the riffs here which is a welcome bit of variety that seems to help build tracks as they get going ('Sikoltó füst'), quickly switching to be that marauding beasty style that I mentioned earlier, just in case we need to be reminded of the threat of Rothadás’ intent. At the end of the day, nobody picks up a death doom album looking for variety. It is a safe space for those who know what they like, and this Hungarian duo will tick all the boxes for any fan of the sub-genre. I liked it more the first time I heard it if I am honest, probably because I listen to very little death doom nowadays and I was excited to still find such appeal in my heart for the style when Töviskert... a kísértés örök érzete... Lidércharang first started getting on to my rotation. It is very well put together, but it is nothing outstanding. It is not safe death doom. If such a tag exists, I demand it be expunged immediately. These two know their art and play it with a clear passion, it is just nothing new for me and I feel there’s always one or two records that come out each year like this one. I nod my head appreciatively, holding my chin whilst looking out of the window like some death doom connoisseur, enchanted but not overwhelmed by what I am hearing.

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.

Whilst listening to Year of the Cobra, I found myself debating how difficult it must be to be in a two-piece drum and bass doom combo.  I mean there must be a lot of pressure on the bassist to start with.  How much do you yield to the temptation to play it like a rhythm guitar, or perhaps go the opposite way and use the bass to create dense atmospheres like Bell Witch? On YotC, Amy manages a bit of both.  She carves out some bone-jangling riffs for sure, yet she also gives us enough bottom end to thicken up proceedings nicely on the tamer sections, when the beefier riffs are on the back burner.  You can sense the same dilemna with the drums of course.  Do they take precedence over the bass or simply play along in support of the four strings?  Again, like his wife, Johanes finds a good balance here.  As unremarkable as his performance maybe, the presence he brings cannot be underestimated.

Of course, Amy also has responsibility for the vocals.  Her dreamy, stoner/psychedelic style works in great contrast to her heavier bass work.  The vocal performance on album closer 'Prayer' stands out in particular with its very personal and sentimental traits making for a deeply heartfelt display.  It is not often a doom track manages to invoke emotion in me, but I genuinely fought back tears when listening to that song.  As the album highlight for me, it is a shame that such beauty is quite isolated here.

With some sense of inevitability perhaps, YotC suffers to a degree of a lack of variation.  Tracks such as 'Alone' lose me completely, and no matter how many times I play the record, I cannot tell you how 'Sleep' sounds.  Stronger tracks like opener '...Full Sails', 'War Drop' and 'Daemonium' are sufficient to rescue the record from the lower end of the scoring spectrum.  Like I said at the top of this review, tough gig this two-piece doom set up and unfortunately it shows here.

If they have achieved nothing else, Pothamus have introduced me to a new instrument in the Shruthi Box, an instrument predominantly used in Indian classical music.  It is deployed here on single, ‘Ykavus’ where it adds a droning presence to proceedings.  Fortunately, this is not my only take from Abur, although it is a distance away from my usual diet, it is still a very entertaining record.  There is still some familiar features to compare with the backdrop of my usual listening habits, but the duration of this record in the main is time spent away from my comfort zone.  The sludge tag it has on Metal Academy has some relevance most certainly, but it is the post-metal tag that fits the majority of the record better.  On top of this though, there are those hints of drone as well as a sense of Middle Eastern infusion.

After a few listens through to Abur with the tribal percussion and dense atmospheres, coupled with echoing chants and expansive keys, it is obvious that a lot of thought has gone into the record.  Whilst it might not have an immediate argument for frequent revisits (this very much a mood record) it is a very professional sounding yet artistically endearing album.  Where the band are most definitely skilled is in the ability to combine multiple elements on one track, not necessarily blending them, just very capable at arranging them.  The title track absolutely feeds off the atmospherics before breaking off into some of the denser sludge content present on the album.  When in full flow, the atmosphere here is reminiscent of an Akhlys album, minus the horror of course.

I cannot fight the haunting and ethereal charms of Abur.  It is such an accomplished sounding album that is in many ways a shame that it only fits a more serious mood.  I will come back to this album when I feel enclosed or suffocated by my existence.  When I am sensing my boundaries are the same four walls far too often and I need reminding of how far outside of my comfort zone I can actually go.  This is where Pothamus will come into their own for me, occupying the same ‘open when needed space’ as Russian Circles, Wardruna and Forndom.

Sweden's Mercy are best known for being fronted by a pre-Candlemass Messiah Marcolin, especially as they struggled after he left, eventually splitting up in 1988. This, however, is a bit unfair on the rest of the guys because Witchburner is actually a very cool early doom metal record. It still retained a significant amount of heavy metal DNA, much like most mid-80's doom acts, except maybe Saint Vitus. It kicks off very strongly with the head-turningly-titled "I'm Your Pervert Priest" which possesses a crawling and portentously doomy riff which is topped off by Messiah's instantly recognisable vocals and marks the first time that a genuinely gifted and expressive vocalist was featured on a doom metal track, providing ample proof why Leif Edling wanted Messiah to join Candlemass after Johan Langquist refused to commit beyond the recording of "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus". What may surprise Candlemass fans is that Messiah was only seventeen at the time of recording and also played drums on "Witchburner"putting in a decent shift behind the kit, being basic, but effective. Lyrically, the track is obviously mocking of established religion, a theme that became well-established within metal circles, here given a sardonic and humorous slant rather than the out-and-out vitriolic attacks that became de rigeur within metal lyricist circles.

At this time Mercy had been reduced to a trio with three of the five that recorded the S/T debut having departed before the recording of "Witchburner" and remaining members Messiah and guitarist Andrija Veljaca being joined by second guitarist Jörgen Horst who also handled bass duties on the new record. The guitar sound on Witchburner is based on the "Tony Iommi" sound, but has a bit more of the grittiness of Saint Vitus' filthier intonation than heard on albums like Trouble's S/T or any of Sabbath's material. Where it does have more in common with these is in the songwriting, the slow, doomy material still being countered by a fair bit of traditional metal riffing, although that filthier, distortion-heavy guitar sound makes the faster riffs sound great. This was actually Mercy's sophomore full-length and I find it inconceivable that they hadn't received any exposure to the more doomy acts emerging, particularly from the US, between the recording of their 1984 debut and this because the two are worlds apart. The S/T takes its cues from the NWOBHM with the band coming off like a swedish version of Saxon for the most part, but "Witchburner" was much darker-sounding and had shed all the hard rock influences of the earlier record, becoming a much heavier album as a result.

The riffs are pretty memorable and Messiah's enunciation is excellent as usual, making "Witchburner" one of those albums that sticks around in the old grey matter and that people may find you singing along with later. The two guitarists are also impressive with some terrific soloing, the incendiary and blistering fretwork of the solo at the midpoint of Pain of Golgata, is just one example of a solo that would be salivated over had it come from KK Downing or his like and here provides a searing contrast to the plodding dirge of the main riff.

Whilst the three tracks of side one are undoubtedly the doomier and for me personally the better, the second side also has it's moments and is interesting for different reasons. The opener on side two, "Welcome to My Graveyard" is virtually speed metal and with that filthy guitar sound it actually sounds really good, so if you have always wondered what Messiah would sound like singing in a speed metal crew then here is your chance to find out. After that, "Judgement Day" has a bouncy "Children of the Grave" riff and may be the "catchiest" track on the album - all together now, "No one gets away... on Judgement Day". The penultimate track "Voodoo Kills" is for my money the weakest here being a little all over the place and not terribly well put together, but it is still listenable enough all the same. Closing out with the eight-minute title track, the ponderous ominousness of side one makes a welcome return and we are thrust into the doom-laden world of seventeenth century religious zealotry and witch huntings which was destined to become pretty standard doom metal lyrical fare.

All-in-all I think this is actually a very good example of early traditional doom metal which deserves far more attention than it has received. I would take this over Trouble's "Psalm 9", for example, which may or may not be a hot take, but is my heartfelt opinion as I think this sits much nearer to the Saint Vitus debut than to Trouble's and I would hold SV's self-titled up as the flagbearer for early trad doom. Sure this does step into trad metal and even speed metal territory occasionally, but the doominess of the three tracks on side one and the closing title track are ample proof that these Swedes were committed to playing and exploring doom metal further. It is a shame that we never really heard much more from Mercy, but as I said they struggled after Messiah left and their later output doesn't live up to this earlier promise with 1989's King Doom being a major disappointment. So, as it stands, "Witchburner" is an interesting development in the european take on doom metal and allows us to glimpse the early career of one of doom metal's iconic vocalists, making it a worthwhile listen which should be of interest to any serious student of doom metal and its history.

I cannot pretend to be a big CoF fan. Other than Dusk…and Her Embrace, The Screaming of the Valkyries is the only other album of theirs that I have listened to in the last thirty years. Somehow, I find I like the idea of CoF more than I like the actual reality of CoF. Gothic metal is not a go to sub-genre for me by any means, and so as the band moved away from their initial melodic and then symphonic black metal sound my interest levels (which were not particularly high to begin with) soon began to wane. It is unexpected then that I am sat here about to write a review of their latest album as it plays on what must be its sixth spin in the last three days.

To my ears, to start off with at least, The Screaming of the Valkyries does not introduce itself as an entirely gothic metal record, certainly not as I would expect gothic metal to sound anyway. The opening two tracks are up-tempo and full-frontal attacks of metal. Full of power and promise as opposed to pomp and haughty posturing as I expected. There is even some fantastic lead work to get lost in also. All in all, ‘To Live Deliciously’ and ‘Demagoguery’ make up a great start for the album. Everything sounds well balanced; instruments are all audible in the mix that does them all sufficient justice.

However, The Screaming of the Valkyries peaks far too early as it turns out. That is not to say that the rest of the album is terrible by any means, but it does lack the immediacy that was promised by the opening two tracks. Whilst I completely acknowledge that ‘The Trinity of Shadows’ is well written; it just does not measure up to what precedes it and seems to herald the start of a mediocre section of the album for the next five tracks. It is not until ‘Ex Sanguine Draculae’ that things pick up just in time for triumphant album closer ‘When Misery Was a Stranger’.

As a result, there is a real sense of lost potential on CoF’s sixteenth album. For an album that is so well performed and deftly written, I feel like I should be getting more from the nine tracks than I do. The long-term fan will have a different view, I am sure. However, for me, the record falls short by not playing to its opening strengths and extending that footprint throughout the album.

Like Saint Vitus, Trouble formed in 1978, but also like their californian counterparts they didn't release their debut album until 1984. In fact Vitus' and Trouble's self-titled debuts were only released a month apart, with "Saint Vitus" issuing forth in February and "Trouble" (later retitiled "Psalm 9") following in March. Preceeding the album, the track "Assassin" was released as a single, backed by a doomy cover of Cream's "Tales of Brave Ulysses", which was decent enough, although Eric Wagner does struggle with some of the higher registers. "Assassin" was chosen as the lead single, I suspect, because of its strong resemblance to NWOBHM stalwarts Diamond Head in an attempt to garner some traction with the fans of the english heavy metallers.

Trouble are well-known for their Christian-themed lyrics but, in all honesty, I never realised this for the longest time because the lyrical content doesn't affect the darkness of the music at all. Their beliefs don't become that apparent until you actually sit down and go over the lyric sheet. The preachiness and happy-clappy demeanour of so many Christian-themed acts was something that Trouble managed to avoid, concentrating more on the music and less on converting the long-haired masses of young metalheads who comprised their prospective audience. This is a band equally at home pouring vitriol on unfeeling leaders with lyrics like "Come on people, let me hear you say, You fuckin' Bastards, you're gonna pay" as they are beseeching their lord for mercy with "I will praise thee O Lord, I will sing praise in thy name, Don't forget the cry of the humble, Have mercy on me".

Instrumentally, "Trouble" has quite a clean and well-produced sound, much more akin to Black Sabbath than the grimy grittiness of Saint Vitus' more distorted and downtuned debut. The band also employ a wider variation of pacing than is often encountered within the context of orthodox doom metal, but make no bones about it, when they want to, they are more than capable of bringing the doom. Despite their penchant for traditional metal-paced riffs, the downtuned and distorted guitar sound often makes the material feel slower and doomier than maybe it actually is. As well as varying the pacing from track to track they are also apt to change the velocity of the riffs within a given track, such as on the opener, "The Tempter," where, after an ominous tympanic intro, the riff crawls unctiously from the speaker and Eric Wagner intones a warning from satan himself before the band change up a gear and kick into a riff Angel Witch would have been proud of as the forces of good rally themselves. This then alternates with the slow, crawling riff as The Tempter tries his powers of pursuasion on man and quickens again when The Good resist. There is even a rocking, bluesy riff accompanying the guitar solo after the second verse, typifying a diversity that more doom-centric releases may lack. That said though, when they embrace a doomier, darker side, such as on "Victim of the Insane" then they are perfectly capable of conjuring up as sinister and ominous an atmosphere as anyone.

Vocalist Eric Wagner is, of course, a legendary name within doom metal circles, although I am sure his vocal style isn't to everyone's taste. Sure, he does sound like a strangled cat occasionally, but, similarly to Scott Reagers on Saint Vitus debut, his higher-pitched style does act as an effective counter and contrast to the low-tuned guitar and bass assault of the riffs. Unconventionally pleasing and technically restricted vocals, of which Wagner's are a solid example, have long since become the norm within doom metal circles and Wagner, Reagers and company, in the spirit of Ozzy Osbourne, were a big factor in that.

I cannot claim that I hold Trouble's debut up as an absolute top-drawer traditional doom metal release as, in all honesty, it doesn't commit enough to the doom aesthetic for me, despite showing promise with the likes of "Victim of the Insane". There are also a couple of clunkers among the tracklisting, with "Revelation (Life or Death)" and the instrumental "Endtime" in particular just not sounding coherent enough within the context of the rest of the album. That said, there is enough quality elsewhere to provide a really solid listening experience and this is ultimately an album that further bridges the gap between traditional heavy metal and doom metal proper and as such deserves the time and respect of all doom metal fans.

I did not listen to a lot of metal music in 2019. During that time I was firmly in my folk/americana era, where artists like Jason Isbell were my passion. When the year ended, I realized that I had listened next to nothing in the metal sphere, so I took it upon myself to search out some other rock/metal acts that released albums that released albums that year. Among those found were Altesia, Wilderun, and Hanging Garden. Now, I thought that Into That Good Night was an okay album; I liked it post-metal leanings, but was turned away by meandering song structures. Recently, I've started to embrace those blind spots in my metal listening and review more albums in genres that I don't frequent, such as Fallen pillars of doom and gothic metal.

With The Garden, I felt much the same way at the beginning. The title track is a solid opener with a good hook and great counterpoint between the clean singing and harsh death metal growling. But just when I thought we were getting another slow, melancholic tune as "The Garden" fades out, "The Four Winds" picks up the tempo and subverts expectations. It's not too much of a deviation in style for Hanging Garden, but it does allow for the return of the slower death-doom tempos to be more impactful on "The Song of Spring". I found myself really grooving with "The Fire at First Dawn" as the male vocals are sung in a clean timbre and the guitar is given more of a quasi-solo role.

I have a hard time rating this album any higher though. While I do find the album to be a fairly solid listen from top to bottom and there aren't any insultingly bad tracks here, something about this albums middle portion just does not resonate with me. I can tell that in some contexts, "The Nightfall", "The Stolen Fire" and "The Journey" are good tracks, but for me they just seem derivative. Maybe it was the vocal timbre, where the male vocalist options for clean vocals more, leaving the female vocalist as basically a background. Either way, it does not ruin The Garden that much and does make for a pleasant listen, but keep in mind that this garden might not be as lush as bands like Draconian or Swallow the Sun.

Best Songs: The Four Winds, The Fire at First Dawn, The Fireside

The mid-1980s finally bore witness to the dawn of the doom age. The proto-doom metal of acts influenced by Black Sabbath, such as Witchfinder General, was finally usurped by "true" doom metal from the likes of Trouble, Pentagram and the subjects of this review, Saint Vitus. Forming in 1978 as Tyrant, the band released a demo tape in 1979 which was mostly comprised of tracks that would eventually surface on their first two albums. They changed name in 1981, the new monicker inspired by the Black Sabbath track, "St. Vitus Dance", from the Volume 4 album. Saint Vitus originally found little favour with metalheads as their slower, downtuned style was at odds with the burgeoning speed, thrash and power metal scenes, seeing the band struggling to find a recording deal. Until, that is, they caught the attention of Black Flag's Greg Ginn who signed them to his SST label just because they were so at odds with what was popular in metal at the time. This association finally led to the release of the band's self-titled debut in February of 1984, making it one of the very first official "genuine" doom metal albums. 

For a band that struggled to gain acceptance, the band membership remained remarkably stable in the early years. The quartet of guitarist Dave Chandler, vocalist Scott Reagers, drummer Armando Acosta and bassist Mark Adams who recorded that demo all the way back in 1979, was the same lineup responsible for the debut full-length five years later. Possibly due to their involvement with the hardcore punk scene, Saint Vitus have never really gone in for sprawling albums, keeping their full-length albums quite concise, with the S/T's five tracks weighing in at just 35 minutes. Opening with the paciest track of the five, the eponymous "Saint Vitus", the most striking initial aspect of the band's sound is Dave Chandler's filthy, fuzzed-up and downtuned guitar that sounds like the buzzing of a horde of seriously pissed-off hornets and achieves an atmosphere of darkness that few at the time could match. Chandler is ably supported by Adams' basswork, which is as effective at deepening and strengthening the riffs as Geezer Butler's is on those early Sabbath albums, although Vitus sound way more grimy and brooding than Sabbath ever did in all honesty.

Much like Ozzy and Witchfinder General's Zeeb Parkes, Scott Reagers isn't exactly what anyone would call a technically superb vocalist with a wide range, but his reedy and slightly nasal delivery is actually a lot more robust than you would expect and is well-suited as a counterpoint to the deep and warmly resonant guitar sound with the poor fella occasionally sounding like he has lost the plot mentally. Reagers has often been given short shrift when compared to his later replacement in the band, Scott Weinrich, but as much as I love Wino's grizzled vocals, I feel Reagers' more unhinged style suits the material on this debut better. There is something about the spirit of traditional doom metal that doesn't see technically accomplished vocalists as a requirement. I don't know whether that is down to the spiritual godfathers of the genre featuring Ozzy as their front man or if it is just a preference for dark atmospheres over technical ability, but either way it is a truism and gives an opportunity to singers like Reagers to push themselves to the fore on the strength of their vocal character and knack for creating a unique atmosphere rather than on their range and technical precision.

An underappreciated aspect of Saint Vitus' early material is their ability to write memorable and almost "catchy" riffs and songs without compromising on the inherent darkness of the tracks. The riff and chorus of the eponymous opener is every bit as catchy as Witchfinder General's eponymous track, yet has a far darker vibe to it, mainly down to the filthiness of the guitar sound. A noticeable feature of this album, whether intentional or not, is that after the relatively sprightly opener, it becomes gradually more and more sluggish in tempo, with the two tracks on side two, "The Psychopath" and "Burial At Sea" having slowed to a crawl, as if the energy has been drained from the band as they spiral further and further into darkness. With those two tracks especially, Saint Vitus laid down the commandments for doom metal - play it low, play it slow and keep it dark.

In summation I would cite Saint Vitus as one of the very earliest official full-length albums where a band went all-in and committed totally to the doom metal ethos that Sabbath promised, which, it must be borne in mind, was completely at odds with the zeitgeist of playing faster than everyone else and with an increasing emphasis on technical skill and songwriting complexity. This was a bold move for the time and, in truth, it wasn't until much later that the band gained the respect and kudos they were due for the influence they exerted on a whole genre. In fact, probably on two genres, because it is entirely possible that Saint Vitus' association with Greg Ginn had an influence on the direction of Black Flag's "My War" which was released just a month after "Saint Vitus" and which was a fundamental release in the evolution of sludge metal. All this makes "Saint Vitus" an indispensable release for fans of doom metal.

Wren is one of the most unmetal sounding band names that could be picked really. One step up from Sparrow or Dunnock I suppose but still leans heavily on the lame side of the bird world. Whilst it may not be the most threatening name in the world metal, Wren does fit the atmospheric sludge of this London four piece as they explore a vast and dense landscape across their third album, Black Rain Falls. Foraging through punishingly slow riffs, flitting between ethereal density and atmospheric ecosystems and nesting in the rafters of the solid structures of the seven tracks on offer.

Describing themselves as a ‘blackened noise band’ (at least according to the Spotify bio anyway) could not be further from the truth, as there is no noisy element to this record. The agonising pace of album highlight, ‘Toil in the Undergrowth’ is testimony to how captivating atmospheric sludge is. By the time the first riff lands we are three minutes into the track. Those hoarse and tormented vocals heralding the arrival of the track proper perfectly as that riff crashes in behind them. This album is full of Neurosis and Isis influences, and as a result had me hooked from the off. Songs feel like they are expanding even though there is little in the way of variation to suggest this is naturally the case. Any progression is deliberate and measured, feeling organic and unforced.

Tracks often end feeling like very little has happened in the way of change once the established format has been engineered, but still, I get sense of total satisfaction from the majority of what is on offer here. The interlude in the middle of the record feels a bit out of place though, even though it does in some ways introduce the dense, bassy opening of ‘Metric of Grief' nicely. Album closer ‘Scorched Hinds’ is one of the more obvious Neurosis sounding tracks, with its shifts and swells accompanied by chiming guitar notes that remind me of Kowloon Walled City. There is a lot to like in the simplicity of Black Rain Falls and it stands out as one of my happier new finds in The Fallen clan of late.

Witchfinder General were formed at the onset of the NWOBHM in Stourbridge on the outskirts of England's "Second City", Birmingham. What set them apart from most of the new movement was that they took inspiration, unsurprisingly given where they hailed from, of Black Sabbath rather than the Judas Priests, Motorheads and Budgies of their contemporaries. They released a 7" single in 1981 that saw "Burning a Sinner" backed by "Satan's Children" which failed to make much of a splash and which is now incredibly rare. The following year saw the release of the three-track "Soviet Invasion" EP, which did see the band finally gaining a little traction. It contained a faux live version of "R.I.P.", recorded in the studio with crowd noise added later, at the behest of the label's head honcho, Paul Birch. This would be the track which also closed out "Death Penalty", albeit in a re-recorded and superior form.

Finally, in the autumn of 1982, Witchfinder General released their debut full-length to a mostly positive response from the UK's metalheads and the rest, as they say, is history. Grabbing the attention of every male teenage metal fan in record stores by featuring a famous Page 3 model in a churchyard and in a decided state of undress on the cover, the band then had to deliver within said album's grooves to match the hype thus generated. Fortunately, they did so and their brand of simplistic and youthful Sabbath worship saw them gain a dedicated following within the wider UK metal movement. It is actually a very slight album, its seven tracks barely managing to scrape past a thirty-minute runtime, but each minute is well spent and such is the quality that it is impossible to feel short-changed. The short runtime actually gives the material an immediacy and vitality that some later, more bloated releases just couldn't replicate.

As an aside, the band that recorded "Death Penalty" is actually a three-piece, with bassist Kevin "Toss" McCready having left after the "Soviet Invasion" recording sessions, to apparently be replaced by a guy called Woolfy Trope. In fact, the band hadn't replaced McCready by the time they went into the studio to record the album so the bass parts were supplied by guitarist Phil Cope, and the wholly fictitious Woolfy Trope was credited, with a roadie standing in as "Woolfy" for publicity photos.

I think it is actually a stretch to tag "Death Penalty" as a genuine doom metal album, it was very much a product of its time, with Sabbathian riffs run through a NWOBHM filter resulting in a version of doomy, downtuned heavy metal which does nevertheless provide something of a bridge between Sabbath's 70s psych influences and the grittier 80s UK metal scene with a DIY sensibility resulting from the influence of late 70s punk rock on the UK metal community. To this end I think it is fair to say that "Death Penalty" isn't exactly a lesson in complex songwriting or technical adroitness, but it is chock full of cool and memorable riffs and has a singular personality with a street-level perspective that sets it apart from the crowd. Most of the tracks are mid-paced affairs, with only the title track and, to a lesser extent, "Burning A Sinner" slowing to doom metal pacing, but the downtuned riffs pioneered by Tony Iommi are most definitely present and it is a truth that the earliest traditional doom metal bands very often switched it up to classic heavy metal velocity. Phil's soloing is also a product of intense study of Tony Iommi's technique, sometimes piling note upon note in a fretboard firestorm, as per the opening of "No Stayer" or soaring sky high like the solo at the end of the title track. Drummer Graham Ditchfield channels Bill Ward's blunt style, but I think it is also evident that he doesn't have the technical skill level that the often under-estimated Sabbath drummer possessed, although it still works very well in the context of this album. Then there is Stourbridge's answer to Ozzy in Zeeb Parkes who, like Ozzy, isn't technically a great singer, but who imbues his vocals with such personality that it is easy to forgive him his shortcomings and just go along for the ride. The production is a bit muzzy with a fair degree of echo, as opposed to Sabbath's much more professionally produced efforts where, presumably, much more money was thrown at them, but I think this actually works in Witchfinder General's favour, giving them more of an underground vibe.

Despite the band name and the imagery of the album cover, they aren't so much a horror / satanically-themed band, often with much more prosaic and down-to-earth lyrical themes such as drug-taking, drinking and fucking taking their place alongside the witch hunting of "Witchfinder General" or "Burning A Sinner". As a very young man from a strong working class background at the time of this album's release, these lyrics espousing a love of hokey horror movies, getting hammered and trying to get off at weekends absolutely captured the essence of life for me at the time. I know I may have a severe case of rose-tinted spectacles when it comes to "Death Penalty" and others may well scratch their heads in bemusement at my fanatical advocacy for it, but simple fact is that this is an album I still spin regularly to this day, forty-plus years later and every time I enjoy it immensely, so what more could I possibly want from a record?

Of all their albums "Master of Reality" is the Black Sabbath album that has grown most in stature over the years in my mind. I got into the band around 1976 via "Paranoid" and that was my go-to Sabbath album for many years, alongside "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", "Sabotage" and the debut, with "Master of Reality" and "Volume 4" taking up supporting roles. The track which kept drawing me back to "MoR" over the years, though, was the masterful closer "Into the Void" which still stands as my favourite Sabbath track of all and is one of their more doomy offerings, it signposting me down the road of future doom metal appreciation. As time has passed and I have become more and more of a doomhead, I have acquired greater appreciation of the doomier material of "Master of Reality" and it now stands as my ultimate Sabs release, despite stiff competition.

Tony Iommi's guitar tone on this third album is perfect, its deep and resonant fuzziness pitches perfectly what would become the signature sound of future acts like Saint Vitus, Pentagram and Electric Wizard, bolstered and boosted by the brilliant and often busy basswork of Geezer Butler, an aspect of Sabbath's sound that is not always given the credit it deserves. Bill Ward's jazz-influenced drumming style takes a more blunt and bludgeoning approach here than maybe it does on some Sabbath albums, although the way his runs switch from side to side on "Children of the Grave" (best experienced through headphones) is a brilliant bit of production work and adds a little something extra to an already brilliant track. Then, of course, there is the irrepressible Ozzy Osbourne whose influence on doom metal vocalists mustn't be underestimated as he showed that you don't need to be an especially technically gifted singer to be effective, as long as you are committed and have a degree of charisma. With rock music being newly dominated at the time by the Robert Plants and Ian Gillans of the world and their ridiculous vocal range, Ozzy stood tall and proclaimed himself their equal, on sheer strength of personality alone.

Then there are the riffs. I have said it before and I will say it again, Tony Iommi can write better riffs in his sleep than all but a select few metal songwriters can ever hope to come up with, having penned some of the most iconic riffs in the history of metal. From the crawling, weed smoke-drenched, oozing of Sweet Leaf, via the choppy, romping "Children of the Grave" and the plodding grooviness of "Lord of this World", to the ponderous lumbering of the opening to Into the Void, where Geezer follows Tony's riff for added gravitas, this is metal riff heaven, with these riffs sowing the seeds of inspiration for so many aspiring doom metal riff writers of years to come. Sure, the stoner element may be fairly prevalent here, but it is difficult to imagine a "Born Too Late", "Dopethrone" or "Forest of Equilibrium" existing as we know them without this album.

"Master of Reality" isn't all just about thundering, fuzz-drenched riffing however, with the album including several moments of quieter reflection, whether it be the soothing acoustic guitar of "Orchid" or the gentle reflectiveness and soul-searching of the psychedelic-sounding and melancholic "Solitude", which thematically, if not musically, also unwittingly helps set the aesthetic for doom metal's future melancholy side. Then there is the track which always baffled me after the dark lyricism and hints at satanic influence of the band's earlier material, the pro-religious "After Forever", which is a bit of a curveball lyrically and stylistically, having a much more upbeat riff and feeling than the rest of the album. The track has grown on me somewhat over the years, but if the album had to lose one, then this would be my choice.

So there we have it, for my money "Master of Reality" is one of the great metal albums, being an influence for both stoner and doom metal and perfecting a guitar sound that still stands tall to this day, over fifty years later, as a signature sound in the metal world.

Italy's Black Capricorn are a band I have been following for some time now, going back to their 2014 "Cult of Black Friars" album. I have always found them to be consistent, if not exactly earth-shattering, exponents of stonerised traditional doom metal and this latest album, their sixth, continues that direction of travel. The downside with this is that a band producing material which all ploughs essentially the same furrow, will inevitably encounter the problem of diminishing returns at some point. I think, even for me, that tipping point has finally been reached with "Sacrifice Darkness... and Fire". I don't like admitting this, because this isn't a poor album by any stretch, but neither is it particularly amazing. In truth, it feels a bit lacklustre, especially during the first half, with the vocal performance in particular coming over as weak. I know, stoner doom isn't exactly renowned for exceptional vocal talent, but the singing here feels uninspiring and tired and otherwise decent tracks "Blood of Evil" and closer "A New Day Rising" are a bit painful as vocalist and guitarist Fabrizio Monni struggles with the higher registers.

Instrumentally there are some damn good riffs, delivered with the usual hypnotic, psych-inspired repetition that is par for the course and, in truth, when the band get into a trippy stoner groove then that is when I am at my happiest with the album. The guitar tone is generally very nice with a warm, fuzzily distorted sound that encapsulates the stoner doom ethos nicely. Unfortunately the solos are another aspect that just feel lacking here. Take a track like "The Night That Came to Take You Away", which has a couple of pretty good riffs, but the solo in the latter part of the track is just so weak and uninspired that, along with the vocals, it almost undoes the good work done by the riffing. Conceptually and lyrically we are in the usual Roger Corman / Hammer Horror world of hokey horror stories which, again, is pretty much par for the course and is entirely what we have come to expect, so neither helps nor hinders appreciation of the album for the band's usual fans.

Songwriting-wise, things are kept pretty simple with straightforward song structures, competently delivered in the main, ultimately giving us an album where the riffs do the heavy lifting and are the focal point. Luckily these are of sufficient quality to make the album a worthwhile listen, but, that said, I don't think it is of high enough overall quality to maintain too much lasting appeal.

After my poor revisiting experience with Karmacode, I decided to skip ahead nearly two decades through their discography into their new album Sleepless Empire. Ever since my move away from the more melodic metal bands 7 years ago, I hadn't listened much to this band at all, apart from several Gateway playlist submissions. The latest two albums I've heard from this band were Broken Crown Halo and Delirium, two albums that my brother enjoys for their alt-metal sound. I've almost completely missed out on Black Anima, which I've heard has a more metalcore tinge, and Comalies XX, a 20th anniversary re-recording of their breakthrough album. Well if I wanna hear female-fronted modern metalcore-ish alt-metal, In This Moment is currently my go-to band. But let's see if Lacuna Coil would become that again with their new album...

Now this is a great blast to the past! Sleepless Empire shows the band returning to their gothic metal roots while leaving their modern alt-metal path intact. It's almost like this was an unreleased album from 2004, literally a bridge between Comalies and Karmacode, finally seeing the light of day with a modern revamp. Honestly, I might just be up to finally checking out Black Anima and Comalies XX later on, maybe even Within Temptation's two new albums that I've also missed out on mostly. Not all of Sleepless Empire is exciting though, since a couple tracks/singles are a little weak for me. Still there are many songs that really brought back my memories from 10 years ago.

The "bridge between Comalies and Karmacode" theory sounds about right in "The Siege" with its memorable riffing, though the metalcore-ish growls of Andrea Ferro are different for sure. But then we get to the poor-quality "Oxygen", which sounds closer what they have Delirium but ends up being quite a letdown. The growls by Andrea Ferro sounding similar to Matt Heafy of Trivium are actually quite killer and don't make the song a total loss. Despite continuing that poor riffing in "Scarecrow", it is brushed aside by the electro-dance pace that can almost work as "Closer 2.0". We hear more of the vocal balance between Cristina and Andrea in "Gravity", which is pretty good, although the verses by Andrea could've had better execution.

"I Wish You Were Dead" is a single that got me pumped up for the album, and it's a true highlight, perhaps my favorite here! Again it connects the bridge between Comalies and Karmacode, maybe even a more dramatic take on a song from Shallow Life. It's a little short, being under 3 minutes. Maybe a guitar solo before the final chorus would make it better, but I still enjoy it as-is. An absolute must-listen! "Hosting the Shadow" really shows the band firing through, another great highlight! And even more so by the vicious growls of Lamb of God's Randy Blythe. You also gotta hear the massive soloing that comes up "In Nomine Patris" that makes an otherwise good song awesome.

I can almost consider the title track an actual blend of the 2020s eras of Memphis May Fire and October Tide with female cleans. "Sleep Paralysis" once again has amazing soloing that you wouldn't expect from a modern band. Pretty much all the band's albums can be heard stylistically throughout these 5 minutes. "In the Mean Time" is great but not all that special, except for the guest vocals by Ash Costello to break up the repetition. Ending track "Never Dawn" is the first ever single for the album, originally recorded two years prior for Zombicide: White Death, and giving me a feeling of hope for what this album would have later. The gothic strength of Comalies and the groove-metalcore-ish sound of Delirium actually become one! It might be disappointing for old-school fans, but it's much stronger than a big chunk of Karmacode.

Sleepless Empire is an enjoyable comeback for the band, with some memorable hits. It's a much better blending of old and new sounds that In Flames' Foregone, and hey, maybe I can check out Dark Tranquillity's new album Endtime Signals and see if I can find a similar result. I can never regain the perfect glory I experienced when I was a teen who was into the more melodic stuff, but those highlights are some of the band's best songs in years. I'm still torn between whether or not I should finally listen to Black Anima and Comalies XX, as it's another case of love it or hate it amongst the fans. Nonetheless, Sleeping Empire has much better songs to offer than Karmacode, and it has reminded me of how much I once enjoyed Comalies and their mid 2010s albums. And while I scored big in the metalcore realm with last year's new releases by ERRA and Make Them Suffer, I can still look back at this gothic/alt-metal band still going on for 3 decades. Lacuna Coil have returned with a true blessing....

Favorites: "The Siege", "I Wish You Were Dead", "Hosting the Shadow", "In Nomine Patris", "Sleep Paralysis", "Never Dawn"

Sorrow was the first taste of the atmospheric female-fronted progressive doom pioneered by The 3rd and the Mortal. Today I revisit the album that really sealed the deal with their sound, Tears Laid in Earth.

I can still recognize most of the greatness in this offering! As melodic guitars and haunting atmosphere transcend, guiding them through is the angelic vocals sung by Kari Rueslatten. Thanks to her, the idea of female vocals in metal would spread like wildfire, convincing The Gathering, After Forever, and many other symphonic/gothic metal bands to tag along for the ride. There's no denying how much of a game-changing mesmerizing vocalist Rueslatten is.

"Vandring" is the intro consisting of just her voice. Then the music begins with "Why So Lonely?" It stands out in peaceful melancholy from the riffing and singing. As of writing this review, I had a short amount of sleep due to having to wake up early (fasting month), and listening to this song, I can almost hallucinate a hot angelic goddess from the heavens singing to me, "Will you be mine till the end of time?" We have another excellent highlight in "Atupoema" with its audible bass. "Death-Hymn" is a heavier track in both the music and the lyrics of darkness and despair ("I never thought I would feel this way", "Prepare your soul for the journey through the woods of evil").

There are more ambient synths in "Shaman", performed by Rueslatten herself. The instrumental "Trial of Past" has clean guitars that make another melodic highlight. Even the drumming can get heavy despite being simplistic. What causes the quality to drop a little, away from perfection, is the two-minute "Lengsel", which is fine but a little pointless. "Salva Me" is more gothic in a similar vein to Gothminister, specifically the tracks featuring Nell Sigland of Theatre of Tragedy.

The least creative song title ever "Song" is actually one of the most creative tracks in the album, starting atmospheric before becoming more intense at the climax. I also like the dark sorrow of "In Mist Shrouded". And finally, "Oceana", still reigning as the longest and greatest T3ATM song. Not even the closing track of Sorrow can surpass it. The band created a monstrous complex 19-minute epic can put Fates Warning's epics to shame. You can rarely find vocals and clean guitars as haunting as in the beginning. And as it goes on, you can find yourself swimming in an oceanic realm, with the guitar effects singing a unworldly whale-song. And the rest is perfect history!

All in all, Tears Laid in Earth is what I can still consider an atmospheric female-fronted progressive doom near-masterpiece. The two-minute tracks may prevent this album from being totally perfect, but a lot of the best and almost the first songs of this style are all in here, including that unbeatable 19-minute epic. The divine vocals of Kari Rueslatten can really make my day. Amazing album for anyone wanting all things beautiful without any of that radio pop sh*t!

Favorites: "Why So Lonely?", "Atupoema", "Death-Hymn", "Trial of Past", "Song", "Oceana"

At first glance, Light Will Consume Us All is a nearly unremarkable album. On Metal Archives, the band is listed as doom/sludge, and the similar artists tab lists many, many other doom/sludge bands who form a similar niche that I have little interest in. There is something slightly remarkable about Chrch though, it's that they have a female singer. This is unusual for a band in this niche, does the music follow up on this?
Well, yes, and that sludge part is somewhat misleading. It takes a while before the album gets to anything resembling metal rather than just a dark ambient piece, and when it does, it's just doom. But that dark ambient is interesting, it reminds me of sludge the strongest out of the entire album, because it sounds like the clean bits from Subrosa, even though this doesn't carry over to the metal parts. It's very effective, especially once the vocalist starts kicking in. She's got a lot of the same energy Dawn Crosby did, and it really works in creating a haunting atmosphere.
At times the metal part of the equation actually makes the album worse. Not like it's a bad album because of it, but it just feels like it's there to be there. The opening track relies a lot on a more ambient sound, building up tension for the eventual metal parts. Other tracks feel like they're missing them, and while there are some nice guitar solos to compensate, those feel oddly tacked on.
Ignoring these issues, this is a surprisingly pleasant album, well worth a listen.

It has been a few years since I last heard of this band. People seem to compare The 3rd and the Mortal to The Gathering, and I can understand why. Almost as if they were following the footsteps of T3ATM. Their 1994 releases Sorrow and Tears Laid in Earth are what saved The Gathering from becoming gothic doom with R.E.M. vocals by hiring vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen for Mandylion and the next 5 albums, all of which seem to have a similar stylistic direction to T3ATM's subsequent releases.

If there is one album I consider the beginning of female-fronted progressive doom, this EP is that! One moment the guitars and drums sound clean and dreamy, and the next they sound heavy and intense. The vocals of Kari Rueslåtten sound beautiful, though in the softer folk sections, you might almost think of Enya.

"Grevinnens Bønn" (The Countess' Prayer) greatly exemplifies this doomy sound. I often get my bleak darkness from deathcore bands like Carnifex, but I can get it from this release without ever having to go extreme or brutal. The medieval folk side comes from the title ballad/interlude. "Ring of Fire" (no it's not a Johnny Cash cover) brings back some doom, getting close to death-doom in the instrumentation. "Silently I Surrender" is a more progressive while still doomy 8-minute epic.

All in all, Sorrow should be worth your time if you wanna hear progressive doom that would pave the way for a league of female-fronted gothic doom bands. I can chill out to this EP and listen to it as much as I like!

Favorites: "Grevinnens Bønn", "Silently I Surrender"

With all due respect to the bands previous catalog, it really is nice to hear Lacuna Coil returning to their roots of Comalies and not trend chasing. The bands previous number of records have all been plagued by trying to be something that Lacuna Coil is not. Whether it be the nu metal on Karmacode, or the atrocious metalcore breakdown chasing of Delirium. 

This is not to say that Sleepless Empire isn't a little bit indulgent. "Scarecrow" does begin with a very metalcore-esque riff, but Lacuna Coil are confident enough in that riff to make it a foundational piece instead of your typical ping-pong of riffs and never sticking with one. Cristina Scabbia's vocals are pretty bland if I'm being honest; while certainly some good moments, the main vocal melodies of quite a few tracks are monotonous. What that means is a lot of the main hooks come from the instrumentals. The riffs still have that metalcore foundation, but the inclusion of synthesized strings and orchestral arrangements do bring back images of the bands strong gothic roots. 

But the harsh vocals are a lot to take in. They add some intensity to the record that only appears in short bursts on records like Karmacode, but now they are a big part of the tunes. Reminds me a bit of Color Decay by the Devil Wears Prada and does run its course after a while and becomes predictable. The real issue though is when you have a Randy Blythe feature ("Hosting the Shadow") and it doesn't really need to be here. Sleepless Empire is already close to 50/50 on vocal splits, so the appearance of a guest vocalist (with a very similar vocal timbre might I add) is just odd choice and adds nothing. The track itself is one the albums faster paced tracks (good) and the one that exhorts the least amount of gothic metal energy (not good).

In the end, Sleepless Empire would be best described as an album in much a similar way. For every step forward the band takes (i.e. gothic revival, decent choruses, solid production), Lacuna Coil are just as likely to take a step back (i.e. 50/50 vocals, metalcore trend hopping). I think that the album does more good than bad, which is why I'm giving it a more generous score, but some really foundational issues continue to hold this band back from their true potential. 

Best Songs: Scarecrow, I Wish You Were Dead, Sleepless Empire

After over five decades of drugs, crime and doom, Bobby Liebling returns with a whole new line up, some ten years after Pentagram's last album.  Although I do not follow Pentagram releases, (in fact, I lost track right after their self-titled debut if I am honest) something about that vibrant artwork caught my eye and I thought to myself that if the content of the album was anywhere near as focused as the cover art then this could be a real treat.  As it turns out, I am more than half correct.  There are some absolute bangers on this record.  Although I had not caught any of them as singles the three tracks that came out prior to the album release are all strongly written affairs.  The opening track, Live Again certainly lives up to its billing as with the new line up in full flow, Pentagram sound just as good now as they did forty or fifty years ago.

Touching on psychedelia, stoner rock, hard rock and classic rock alongside the more doom-laden side to proceedings Lightning in a Bottle is actually quite a varied affair.  Full of lyrical absurdities ("I spoke to Death last night, he wore a nightmare gown, and when I spoke your name, he turned his eyes down to the ground" - from "I Spoke to Death") and widdling solos, all performed to a backdrop of solid and consistent percussion, I found this record way more interesting than I expected.  The artists Bobby has recruited might have their moments of mistiming here and there (which somehow is just acceptable) but overall they have put together eleven consistent tracks.  Unafraid to play with pace and tempo, the band create a distinct feeling of balance over the album.  Starting off with the previously praised opening track, Live Again and then closing the album with the deliciously doomy Walk the Sociopath, Pentagram have managed to achieve a complete album experience here.

Whilst not flawless, all the tracks belong here and bring something unique to the table.  Whether it is the spiralling, fuzzy chaos of Lady Heroin or the solid and direct punch of Thundercrest, most tracks leave a mark for me as I have listened through the album a few times today.  Above all else, I am impressed with how good Liebling sounds.  The guy is 71 for fuck's sake!  On here he puts in a shift that belies any stereotypes linked to his age.  Energetic, reflective and even outright thoughtful, Liebling gives a truly stellar showing here.  Props also to guitarist Tony Reed who manages to mark his own identity on the record whilst still somehow staying true to the Pentagram sound at the same time. The bonus tracks on the digital version are not essential and of the main listing I can genuinely only call out I'll Certainly See You In Hell and Solve the Puzzle as being the items that should have been left on the cutting room floor.

I really need to be listening to more death doom. This is what I had determined to be missing from my happy and altogether positive existence of late. Some bone crushingly heavy death metal, played at slug pace to genuinely make me question if time itself is faltering is exactly what I need as winter starts to throw its death throes and we get double figure temperatures here in England. Luckily enough, The Fallen gods are pleased with me and have offered up the latest release from Spanish band Onirophagus, in the shape of Revelations from the Void.

Instantly recognisable as having more than a nod in the direction of My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost, from the off I can determine that these boys come from good stock. They were unknown to me until this release, but a quick check of the history to them shows they have been around since 2011. With two albums already under their belt, it is fair to assume that album number three should be a pretty solid and mature sounding affair and that is exactly what I get. The cleaner vocal sections (if they can be referred to as that) did catch me off guard initially and I do still prefer the more monolithic version of the vocals (see Landsickness – my standout track) in all honesty. Yet Onirophagus do still present a fantastic sense of spiralling misery across their sound, adding the real sense of oppressive and looming atmosphere to the listening experience as a result.

Each track does sound like a revelation from some fathomless void. The cavernous reverb is there on the drums, successfully adding much power to the sound as those melancholic riffs carve out fissures of absolute despondency. Also in the mix though is this sense of cosmic horror. It is the promise of something truly terrifying. Something way more horrific than Paolo Girardi’s artwork suggests on the cover. After just a couple of listens I found myself immersed in proceedings, eagerly anticipating each track as it pulled me under its turgid tide.

In terms of a consistently pleasing experience, Revelations from the Void ticks all the boxes here. Whilst it is an album from a particularly staid sub-genre, it makes no apology for doing death doom exactly how it should be done and manages to hold my interest from start to finish with tracks that overall, well written and oozing maturity. The closing track that clocks in at nearly sixteen minutes does lose me a little, even with its violin addition that really does separate the track from the previous six. However, after a long gap of not having listened to any death doom for what feels like an age, Onirophagus have rekindled my interest nicely.

Vendel answers the question nobody ever asked before, what if Judas Priest was a doom metal band? A simplification, but close enough to understand what these guys are about. Another simplification would be to call them another one of these epic heavy/doom metal bands that take epic metal and it with doom metal that seem to be a thing now.
If this sounds odd, it's because it is. I understand there's probably a virtue to this, but Priest generally works when they have energy to them, something that is unusual for a doom metal album. So this is sliding between two different styles and never quite working out right for them. They try, but fail through no fault except combining two styles that are exceedingly difficult to blend together.
Their attempts at the two styles are not created equal, however. While not setting the world on fire, the more traditional side of the album has a stronger idea of what does and does not make that genre work. In particular, they are quite skilled at galloping guitar sections. The doom sections tend to feel like they're just rehashes of other, better works, and as stated. Which unfortunately, combined with other issues tend to drag the album down.
One odd thing I noticed is that a lot of the guitar solos seem to be trying to invoke the guitar solos in the soundtracks to The Incredible Machine games. Even outside of me feeling it has similarities, it's a lot more showy than what the album is going for and seems out of place even discounting that.
While I don't dislike the album, I can't say there's really a reason to listen to it even if there is dearth of great bands doing whatever it is these guys are trying to do. It's not objectionable, but unless the idea appeals, it's just not that interesting.

The debut album from Clevland's Frayle is an odd listen. On one hand, I do enjoy the overall soundscape of 1692, the dreamy, doomgaze atmosphere is executed quite well and the ethereal vocal timbre of Gwyn Strang only emphasize this style. The dirge songwriting can become a little boring at times, but I think that is an general issue with doom metal as a whole. Either way, on this record the lack of rhythmic variety does cause some of the tunes to blend together after a couple listens.

This album major downside however is just how safe it sounds. While the record is pretty, it is lacking in true grit. I guess that is maybe part of this albums appeal, with its occult and anti-religious themes, but even then, the album can be a little dull. Songs like "Darker Than Black" and "Burn" have decent hooks, but some songs like "Godless" just run like a monotonous drone with no sense of direction. Maybe that makes the albums biggest issue the pacing? That sounds about right! The pacing of 1692 is a mixed bag, starting off fairly well with "1692", then adding harsh vocals on "God of No Faith" that don't flatter this style of doom metal, then a couple decent hooks and then record drones to its end. For an album that's only thirty-seven minutes, that kind of pacing is a monster problem. 

Might be worth checking out if your curious for some doomgaze, but there are certainly better options.

Best Songs: 1692, Darker Than Black, Burn

Each album by Novembre has offered something different in a way I adore. The debut album was classic, no holds barred Progressive Death Doom, and one of the first albums ever in the true melancholic Death Doom style more divorced from the more Death Metal tinged style of the early 90’s. The sophomore release was a much calmer and more Gothic Doom album that focused more on clean vocal delivery and slightly catchier music. Classica is in some ways a combination of the two; a melodic, energetic assault of extreme Progressive Gothic Death Doom with influences of Meloblack and Melodeath for that extra bit of power. And it manags to surpass both albums magnificently.

While Classica has unmistakable touches of that fantastic 90’s Gothic Death Doom style (Katatonia, Anathema), it’s also got one boot firmly in the new millennia. Listening to this album, I’m given nostalgia for the 90’s mixed with what was, at the time, a pioneering transition into a style befitting the new era – which of course now, just means even more nostalgia for me of the 2000’s variant. The lyrics are the most striking aspect that puts me firmly in 2000; cold scenery of artificial light, shadowy hallways and snowy streetlights visible through windows paints a picture of how culture was changing at the time. Whereas the 90’s was focused on being xtreme and fantastic, the 2000’s kind of reigned things in and focused on modern reality, especially suburbia. These lyrics dance a fine line between Gothic Doom poeticism and much more plain realism, and they work wonderfully.

The music of course also works in these transitions. We’ve got the classic stuff; fantastic Gothic Doomy guitar leads, aggressive, progressive Death Doom drumming, great songwriting that works in changing tempos and styles. But it’s also got a touch of newer stuff; some Darkwave sections, real spacey, almost Post-Metal atmospheres, gentle, Dream Poppy vocals, all stuff that were still rare in Metal at the time, but would become more commonplace in the coming era.

The album is incredibly consistent. There’s never a dull moment, no track less than fantastic, and even the instrumental track and outro are very convincing and strong. It’s packed chock-full of melancholy, doom and gloom. It’s also rife with energy and aggression, changes and variation. It’s as crushing and emotional as it is driving and entertaining. Novembre married the best of many worlds together on this album, which I consider nothing short of a masterpiece.

Dopethrone is an odd one for me. I’ve never been a fan of Stoner “Doom” (most of which is not really doomy at all, but just slow and heavy Stoner Metal) and I hate the fact that a bunch of the most revered “Doom” albums and bands fall into this category of not really being Doom, but either Stoner + Trad Doom or Stoner + Drone stuck with the misnomer.

The thing that makes Doom what it is isn’t simply being slow or heavy. It’s a focus on mood and atmosphere, ranging between dark and misanthropic to depressive, melancholic, and lonely. Always the goal is to evoke some sort of emotional response on the listener, to manipulate their mood using the darker, more painful human emotions.

Stoner “Doom” rarely does this. It’s not focused on mood and certainly not emotionally evocative. In contrast, it’s some of the least emotional music out there, being groovy, chill and drugged out. To some extent it relies on the already altered state of the listener (via drugs etc), whereas true Doom seeks to actively alter the listener’s emotions with music, lyrics and so on. Most of the lyrics in Stoner “Doom” are silly, surreal, and of course, psychedelic and hedonistic. Despite the sluggishness and lethargy, actual Doom is an ACTIVE genre whereas Stoner is a PASSIVE genre.

Electric Wizard are one of the top bands in that game. Their first two albums are exactly what I detest in the genre, with sophomore effort “Come My Fanatics…” being one of the worst Metal albums I’ve ever heard. But as far as this one goes, let’s just say I was pleasantly surprised. While this certainly won’t be making any top “Doom” list of mine, the band took a sound I tend to dislike and made something quite enjoyable by my standards. While the riffs and drumming are nothing to write home about, they’re certainly a step up from the braindead droning of the previous record. The use of feedback and sustained, repetitive notes reaches an apex here, where the texture of the music is palpable and pleasant. The noise and fuzz adds a warm flavor, a spice used sparingly rather than overwhelming the whole dish as on other records in the style such as “Jerusalem.” Perhaps that’s why this album is considered the best; it takes an extremely inaccessible sound and makes it a bit smoother and conventional to appeal to the general palate.

I will certainly give this album credit in doing that much. Despite being many years into the style, “Dopethrone” remains the crown jewel of the Stoner “Doom” style and managed to make something new and unique without really changing any of the core components or techniques. All that being said, it’s still completely emotionally vacant, devoid of mood or passion, and I don’t want it anywhere near my Doom Metal.

After a handful of Eps that ranged from decent to horrible, my expectations for Isis’ debut weren’t too high. And in this case, I was right to temper my expectations; Celestial sounds like a band who still don’t know exactly what they’re doing yet.

Most of the “atmosphere” to this album is based on repetition and some industrial or otherwise sound effects thrown in the back. The songs aren’t bad or anything - they’re plenty decent - but it does become rather sad when a Post-Metal band can’t pack anything really moving or interesting in a 9-minute track. The fact of the matter is, the guitars, drums, and general instrumentation aren’t very interesting because they rely on atmosphere. And well, that works perfectly fine when you’re building great atmosphere. But the atmosphere here is lacking, as I said, mostly based around some industrial sound effects and repetition. It doesn’t evoke anything or foster any mood.

“Swarm Reigns (Down)” is my favorite track because it’s actually quite doomy, and has this neat oppressive atmosphere built by some odd effects slowly lowering in pitch to make it sound like thousands of insects are raining down on you. It’s really neat, but even this track probably has 3-4 minutes of meandering that aren’t as successful.

I do see potential here, and the highs are a marked improvement from their early Eps. But, this is not yet any masterpiece. Hopefully the atmospheres improve henceforth.

Here’s one compliment I will give… the droning low frequencies and fuzzy feedback here could actually be pretty good white noise. That is, if you want something to fall asleep to, or even just to fill empty space if you’re the type who hates silence, or maybe to distract an overthinking mind. Yeah, I can see a practical appeal to it.

But for someone like me who requires a focused listen to provide some form of value, this has got nothing for me. The drones do absolutely nothing interesting, they don’t evoke any sort of emotion or mood, and they don’t work on building any specific atmosphere, relying entirely on feedback texture. Songwriting is nonexistent, as there’s practically no progression or structure at all to these songs. And I’m still hesitant to call this “Metal”… it’s just Drone music made using electric guitars. I don’t think an electric guitar makes something Metal.

Has some practical use as noise, but as “music,” it fails to do anything for me.

Another incredibly talented and important musician gone from us too soon, his name was David Gold and he was the brains behind Canadian outfit Woods of Ypres. Gold had an incredible voice that was instantly identifiable, a deep gothic baritone dripping with sorrow, and he wrote songs that suited this sublimely. Every Woods of Ypres album is good, and any Woods of Ypres song is good. High quality musicianship and songcraft flowed effortlessly from this man. Type O Negative, My Dying Bride, Woods of Ypres, and Tiamat would be my gothic metal Mt. Rushmore. Stop reading the review and go listen to the album because when nature comes collecting it doesn't care at all about you.

This is very talented band making very ambitious music. The atmosphere, production, and originality displayed here are incredible. The vocalist is Rowan London, and he is a force of nature that has to be experienced more than explained. That being said, as good as it is, like objectively great, nothing on it does anything for me. I felt kind of bad about that until I look around, and saw that this album actually hit a lot of people that way. Nobody disputes the quality of the product, but very few people sighted it as "special", some said it was even disappointing. I guess you have to listen to it and decide for yourself. I was not moved by it in any way, but putting a 2.5 on this doesn't feel like the right thing to do either, as it's anything but average. My final verdict: You should hear this once. You might not ever revisit it, but it does warrant a moment of your time.

I absolutely love and miss Pete every day. He is a huge influence on the musician and song writer I am today. Type O Negative was an incredibly important, influential, and innovative band. Pete was always a huge fan of the Beatles, sometimes referring to Type O as the "drab four" in mirror of the "fab four" moniker the Beatles wore. More than any other Type O offering, the Beatles influence is felt here, it's slightly more conventional and slightly more optimistic than the rest of their catalogue-SLIGHTLY being the operative word here. It's still every bit a Type O Negative album, and Type O Negative albums are damn good.

In this album Tribulation are trying to make something equal parts black metal, and gothic metal. If you are looking for that particular niche to be filled, then this is possibly the only game in town, and certainty the best game in town, but it begs the question, "did anybody want this?". I don't think there is enough gothic atmosphere and ambience to have this work for a goth metal fan, and to a black metal fan... what black metal fan wants to hear black metal without trem picked guitars, harsh dissonance, and blast beats? I don't think it satisfies that side of the coin either. This is what you listen to if you really want just a blackened-gothic experience specifically, otherwise it's lost in the ozone.

This is a tale of two vocalists. On one hand you have a female singer that is undeniably special, her voice is rich in quality with range and power. On the other hand you have a male singer who is sub-standard, and when he is put next to her on the same album the end result makes him feel worse than he probably actually is-because of being next to her. What happens then is that it's delightful when she is handling the vocal duty, but every time the man comes in with that generic growl it sucks all the charisma out of the performance. This album for me was just waiting for the guy to shut up so I could hear the lady sing. As far as the band goes, it's just adequate-there are no world beating technicians or particularly innovative tones on display. For me it's just average but if the male vocal doesn't irritate you as much as it did me, then you might like this in an above average sort of way. It comes down to him vs her.

Tiamat are legendary in gothic metal/rock community, and with good reason. This album is a masterclass in how to do this kind of music. The chosen tones, the melodies, the mix. All of it is 100% on point. I even like the choice of cover-the album ends with "Sleeping in the Fire" originally by W.A.S.P. and it's a perfect choice not only for Tiamat but for this album-a carefully selected cover. I'm deliberately being vague about what the album sounds like because I earnestly want you to go listen to it for yourself. I would hold this up as a masterpiece of Gothic music, and I wish very much that I could write songs like the ones on this album. It's Perfect.

This is among the worst music I have ever heard. The vibes you get from this band is even more Scooby Doo than Ghost, and I fucking hate Ghost. That being said Ghost is a better band than this is. This album is also home to the most unpleasant drum mixing I've ever heard. This is like an album designed to irritate me. I actually got more and more agitated through its run time. 

The production and musicianship on this album are way ahead of many peers. It’s just an absolute joy to listen to because it’s so tight and so well mixed. Each song on this track is better than the one before it and it starts in a place most albums never get to. “How Could You”, “Joy and Happiness”, and the grand finale “The Bathroom Monologue” are highlights and suggested samples. This thing right here is thoroughly satisfying.

This is a standard gothic metal affair but what makes this one a little bit better than average is that the guitar and bass tones have slightly more aggressive distortion (just slightly, but noticeable). This album also contains more tempo shifts and groove than a lot of other albums in the sub genre. It’s not prog by any stretch, but it all comes together to be just a notch above the average gothic metal offering. It’s even got riffs!

This album is an hour and 12mins long, so if you like it there is plenty of it. However, I thought it was just OK so it felt every bit of an hour plus. Toward the end my wife asked me “how is the music going”, and I responded “well I’m about an hour deep into into and I have nothing interesting to say about it.” 

The remaining 12 minutes or so did not change this assessment, so here it stands.

Do you like choral vocals? The answer to that question has a lot to do with whether or not you will like this. It slaps them on thick. I found this music rather unremarkable outside of that feature, and that feature doesn’t do a lot to move the needle for me, so I left this one right down the middle at 2.5. 

They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, but there is nothing flattering about this sorry ass excuse for a Lacuna Coil clone.

Start with Lacuna Coil. 

Make the production absolutely ass-push the worst aspects of Lacunas music as far forward in the mix as possible. Now layer it to ridiculous proportions. 

Take that and run it through a talent strainer, because we can’t have anything good interfering with the pure septic essence that this thing is.

Some people are going to hear the unconventional instrumentation that comes on thick and heavy and become tricked into thinking they are hearing something special. Make them sit through the whole album, let that wear off, and see if they like it once that new and shiny feeling goes away.

This is obnoxious, grating, and irritating music mixed to torment. This is what plays 24/7 in hell. 

Ya know what? Each year I watch the annual Eurovision contest and without fail there is a country that sends that contests “metal” entry, and it’s always horrible and I always hate it-that’s what this sounds like.

[Chorus]

Those with hearts of ever-frost

Always know we never lost

Flames rose high... Not enough to melt the ice

Tiny minds and virtuous whores

Bunch of morons with a cause

Jesus saves? — We will piss upon your graves!

How bout go fuck yourself?

If you want me to listen to you criticize my religion you’re going to have to present an argument that is more sophisticated than a peeing Calvin sticker. 

This is some incredibly generic music coupled with some incredibly pretentious lyricism. 

One of these tracks contains the following:

“Once I got to witness a murder

Blood spattered sheets, it was still a dream

Would I have been reflected from the mirror of yours”

That’s the type of “head up its own ass” stuff we are dealing with here, and the music isn’t matching the grandiose of such lyrics. 

It’s like if you had the lyricism of Morrisey backed by the musicianship of the Sex Pistols. No just No.

A score of 2.5 right down the middle. Imagine a song comes on the radio, and it’s not great but it’s probably better than what is on other stations. That’s this whole album. I wasn’t begging for it to end but I not excited to hear it again any time soon. This is certainly some gothic music that exists-one of the gothic albums of all time.

Wow! This is one of those rare albums where a band throws everything at the wall and it all sticks. In addition to the usual gothic metal set up you will also get 5 different vocal approaches, an oboe, electronic elements, and bagpipes. This is not just a case of more is more either, but a genuine case of more is better. They bring everything to the table and they also figured out how to make it all work together. Hats off to the composers-they had to balance a ton of ingredients and the end result is very impressive. Absolutely a must listen.