Latest Reviews

Being an Australian extreme metal fanatic from way back in the late 1980's, it was perhaps inevitable that I'd possess a strong passion for arguably our most significant metal export (at least from purely an influential & creative sense) in Melbourne's masters of the doom/death sound diSEMBOWELMENT. I'd suggest that very few diehard fans suffer from as complete an infatuation as I do with this band though. I simply worship the ground they walk on & back in the early 1990's I thought of them as being a lot more than mere humans. Without actually knowing the band members, it was very hard for me to envisage them as being every-day people given the remarkably dark, unique & generally foreign sounds they managed to conjure up. I was talking to Bjorn from Grave Upheaval, Grotesque Bliss & Temple Nightside about them the other day & he shares my infatuation to a similar scale so it's not just me. diSEMBOWELMENT had a way of encapsulating everything that was so wonderful about the early 90's extreme metal scene &, to make things even more intense for a young Aussie, they were also from my home country which was a rarity for the elite metal artists in the world at the time. While there's no doubt at all that 1993's "Transcendence Into the Peripheral" album was a game-changer for the global doom/death scene though, for Bjorn & I it was diSEMBOWELMENT's 1992 E.P. "Dusk" that first saw that door opening & I've never felt that it received the respect it deserved because it's a remarkable release in its own right, particularly when you consider that it was the band's first proper release & that there was nothing out there that sounded anything like it at the time.

I was lucky enough to pick up an original copy of the "Dusk" E.P. as well as diSEMBOWELMENT's second demo tape "Deep Sensory Procession Into Aural Fate" by sending cash to the band in the mail. I can't quite remember the timeline for that taking place in respect to "Transcendence Into the Peripheral" but I think it's fair to say that all three releases would be placed on their own individual pedestals in my teenage bedroom from the time they first hit my ears. I even sought out the band's early 1990 "Mourning September" demo tape through the tape trading scene, a release that I found to be pretty decent without ever hinting at the same levels of euphoria as I'd received from diSEMBOWELMENT's subsequent efforts. It's interesting that, despite the clear crossover of material between the three most significant releases, I still think that all of them should be considered to be essential as they each bring something a little different to the table in terms of timbre & texture. None of them are particularly polished (which I strongly suspect was intentional) but there's definitely enough variation to keep things interesting.

The "Dusk" E.P. is a half-hour long affair that includes what were arguably diSEMBOWELMENT's finest three tracks so how could it not be a completely mind-blowing experience? It opens with the band's calling card in "The Tree of Life & Death", a nine-minute piece that begins with one of diSEMBOWELMENT's more brutal & blasting death metal passages before descending into the mire with some of the darkest extreme doom metal we'd heard to the time. It's a clear indication of the thick, oppressive atmosphere this band was capable of creating even at such an early point in their recording careers. The version we have here is remarkably similar to the one we receive on the debut full-length in September of 1993 too, perhaps having been given the time to fully develop after first being birthed on 1991's classic "Deep Sensory Procession Into Aural Fate" demo. This is followed by the epic twelve-minute "Burial at Ornans", another reenactment from the second demo tape & a piece which I feel still had a bit of work to do before reaching its most complete realization on "Transcendence Into the Peripheral". This is the reason for me not being able to reach full marks for "Dusk" actually as "Burial at Ornans" simply feels a little less complete than it would in the near future with some of the less doomy sections not maintaining such an elite level & the track lacking some of the atmospherics that it would gain on the album version. Eight-minute closer "Cerulean Transience of All My Imagined Shores" is another story altogether though & brings with it the most transcendental aura, transporting me to wonderfully dark & obscure places that I'd never imagined existed before. Although I do feel that the album version is a little more polished & complete, this doesn't diminish the impact of what is undeniably one of the earlier examples of the funeral doom metal genre to hit a proper release. The sum of these three classic works leaves me succumbing to pure devastation & infatuation, very much in awe of my elder countrymen.

While "Dusk" may not quite be as fully realized as "Transcendence Into the Peripheral" was, all of the ingredients were already there to see the global metal scene receiving one of the true greats at their chosen craft. I mean, if this had ended up being the only diSEMBOWELMENT release then one gets the feeling that it would have received far more attention & be referenced by a wealth of extreme doom bands as being highly influential. As it stands though, I can't recommend "Dusk" enough. The monstrous vocals of guitarist Renato Gallina are as scary as you'll ever find in music & the instrumentation around them brings to mind the feeling of being a young child lost in the darkest of forests in the blackest of midnights with drummer Paul Mazziotta's blast-beats being used over the slowest, doomiest riffs imaginable in such a fashion that was completely unheard of at the time. The production is absolutely spot-on too, leaving layers of filth & decay in the guitar tone that works to further accentuate the sheer weight on the diSEMBOWELMENT sound. Perhaps I'm biased given my personal interactions with the band at such a young age (even if it was by mail) but I feel that I'm mature enough to be able to see the forest through the trees these days so I implore anyone who thinks bands like Spectral Voice, Winter or diSEMBOWELMENT's younger sibling Inverloch are where it's at to seek out "Dusk" as I have no doubt that you'll be dazzled by what the true masters of the doom/death genre had to offer way back in 1992.

High on Fire is the louder, more fun cousin of stoner metal giants Sleep and even features the same guitar player in both groups. Since the turn of the century, High on Fire have been releasing consistent, high quality sludge metal that does not really need to be innovative or breaking boundaries, since a lot of modern sludge metal takes far more influence from doom.

This time around on Cometh the Storm, you can expect much the same. The record contains plenty of thrash inspired riffage from the title track, “Burning Down” and “The Beating.” Although the record does feel a little bit more restrained than previous releases. High on Fire are no young guns anymore and will not be maintaining these burning grooves going for very long. The record contains more tracks exceeding five (5) minutes, plus a nearly ten (10) minute closer. “Hunting Shadows” for example, is a well constructed song despite its runtime; it has a solid enough melodic motif that feels developed during its runtime, while still having room for thrash/sludge instrumental breaks and solos.

The more subdued tempos do cause Cometh the Storm to be a tad bit simple and I found parts of this album to have a fair share of comparisons to music by Mastodon and/or Baroness. But for High on Fire themselves, I think it has the potential to be a great look. Matt Pike’s vocals are brash, but still have melodic sense to them and sets a nice dichotomy against the riff heavy instrumentals. Overall, it’s yet another great addition to the High on Fire discography and likely the bands best output since De vermis mysteriis.

Best Songs: Burning Down, Cometh The Storm, The Beating, Lightning Beard

It's always difficult for me to review drone type albums. For one, I find them to be mostly boring as this style of music is not really known for all-encompassing songwriting or dynamic growth. The other reason has to do with a sheer lack of effort. Drone music is notorious for having some of the least talented musicians of any genre, throw on some guitar feedback and match it with a barely salvageable bass line. It's the kind of subversive behaviour in music that really makes me question whether or not my diploma was ever worth it at all.

But every once in a while, someone comes along and provides life into a lifeless genre. A Chaos of Flowers by Big|Brave is Montreal's attempts making drone metal while giving the listener a slight bit of unease. I don't know what's going on with the echo effect in the guitar here, but it gives the instrumentals just a jolt of uncomforting grit and I think that it plays off quite well with the more gothic vocal stylings of Robin Wattie. Wattie's delivery can be monotonous, but performs them with just enough power to liken them to some of Chelsea Wolfe's most powerful moments in their discography.

I think that the percussion plays a big role in providing this record with the emotion that it has. The guitars can become quite loud and almost excessive throughout the recording, so for the percussion to stay back with these deliberately slow grooves, and likely played with brush sticks is nice. Having recently come out of a technical death metal backup, I was fully expecting A Chaos of Flowers to explode into this epic doom metal breakdown at any second, and yet the percussion never allowed it to get there. It helped me appreciate the space where nothing was happening and I was further able to appreciate the sporadic moments more.

While an improvement from last years Nature Morte, in terms of atmospherics and length, the album does seem a little bit lazy during "Chanson pour mon ombre" and "A Song for Marie Part III." I can see why this might be the case, but it cuts down on the albums length tremendously and almost makes it feel like less than a completed project. But if you enjoy the gothic sounds of Chelsea Wolfe, and the unsettling environment of a Lingua Ignota record, then I recommend giving A Chaos of Flowers a chance.

Best Songs: Not Speaking of the Ways, Canon : In Canon, Moonset

Swedish metal stalwarts Taimat have gone through a number of musical transformations over the years & it depends on your musical taste & background as to which you prefer. Personally, I’ve always favoured Tiamat’s mid-90’s gothic releases with 1994’s “Wildhoney” being their clear pièce de résistance. Their 1997 fifth album “A Deeper Kind of Slumber” saw them moving away from metal altogether with most of that record favouring a progressive goth rock sound over the band’s more sinister roots but it was still a very strong release in its own right. Tiamat’s pre-“Wildhoney” albums tend to be a little more divisive though & not without justification either.

Tiamat’s 1990 debut album “Sumerian Cry” took more of a death metal direction which didn’t do much for me to be honest but its follow-up “The Astral Sleep” was a doomier affair that was where the band started to becoming interesting to me with 1992’s third album “Clouds” seeing Taimat moving even further down that rabbit hole. Ben & I owned “Clouds” on CD back in the day & I remember quite liking it but it wasn’t a release that I’ve returned to all that often which is likely more of a reflection on just how strong Tiamat’s next two albums would turn out to be than anything else. It’s been decades since I last investigated “Clouds” though so I was looking forward to refreshing my memory a bit this week.

Although “Clouds” is generally touted as being a doom/death release, I’ve never agreed with that sentiment. As a death metal musician myself, I can tell you that there’s bugger-all genuine death metal on the album. Even the vocals of rhythm guitarist Johan Edlund don’t come close to anything particularly deathly, instead taking the form of an awkward hybrid of clean & growly styles. There’s not much that resembles death metal in the instrumentation either other than some sporadic up-tempo parts that seem to have been haphazardly inserted into the tracklisting at random intervals, a feature that I regard as the clear weakness of “Clouds” as an album. Actually, I’d go so far as to say that the best moments on “Clouds” are when Tiamat completely leave their past behind & forge ahead with their newer influences which results in an attractive brand of gothic doom metal that offers a lot more crossover appeal than the band’s earlier works.

The production job & instrumental performances are very good for the time with the riffs possessing a thick, tight & completely unified tone that takes a great deal of influence from classic Celtic Frost. The lead guitar work of Thomas Petersson is of a high quality & shows him to not only possess some pretty reasonable chops but also to have a good ear for melody. Edlund’s vocals are the clear talking point for those that dislike “Clouds” though & it’s not hard to see why as he’s not the most talented front man you’ve ever heard but I find that I can accept him for what he is & get on with enjoying the album most of the time.

The eight-song tracklisting is pretty consistent with only the very ordinary “Smell of Incense” failing to maintain my interest. Doomy closer “Undressed” is the clear highlight for me personally as it possesses a wonderful atmosphere that engulfs the listener &, in doing so, has gone on to become a genuine classic from my teenage years. Opener “In A Dream” & the one-two punch of “A Caress of Stars” & “The Sleeping Beauty” are also very solid with only those annoying accelerated bursts I mentioned earlier managing to taint Tiamat’s good work. I really enjoy the use of keyboards which provide further melodic support for the heavy riffs & give the album a dreamy feel that would foresee the direction the band would take on their next record.

Much like “The Astral Sleep”, I find “Clouds” to be a generally entertaining listen but I can’t say that I feel like returning to it all that often. It certainly contains some pretty solid material to sift through for inclusion in your weekend playlist (particularly if you’re into bands like Paradise Lost, Katatonia & Lake of Tears) but it lacks enough genuine highlights to see it becoming a regular fixture when I feel like reaching for Tiamat as the next two albums simply feel superior. Now that I’m discussing all these old records though, it’s made me realise that I haven’t heard anything Tiamat have released since “A Deeper Kind of Slumber” so perhaps I should rectify that at some stage.

As I try to get back in touch with music from the more epic and melodic metal bands I've been familiar is, Before the Dawn is another one of those bands. Recently, the band reformed along with his side-project Dawn of Solace after founder Tuomas Saukkonen spent some time with his own different band Wolfheart. Now let's look back at one of the albums from the initial run of Before the Dawn...

Soundscape of Silence continues the Dark Tranquillity-esque gothic melodeath sound that reached its height in the previous album Deadlight. The riffs, bass, and vocals fit in the cold production. Honestly, I prefer Saukkonen's harsh vocals more than the clean singing by bassist Lars Eikind. Saukkonen can really pull off his distinct rough voice.

"Dying Sun" would've been a good song, but Eikind's cleans sound awkward and more overly dramatic than melancholic. Deathstar Rising would have more of that before thankfully being absent in Rise of the Phoenix. Next song "Exile" continues that issue, sounding redundant when the guitar leads do their melodic work. "Silence" has better melodic riffing that isn't too far off from The Haunted and even 36 Crazyfists. "Dead Reflection" has some of that great Omnium Gatherum melody.

The more positive "Hide Me" has melodic Insomnium-like leads that would make the song shine well if not for Eikind's vocals. "Fabrication" has some of the crystalline yet heavy riffing melody of Crystal Lake. "Saviour" speeds things up while leaning a bit into Black Veil Brides in the metalcore-ish riffing.

The one song where Eikind sounds good is "Monsters" where he sings in more natural delivery in the soft verses, and it doesn't get in the way of the heavy guitar. "Cold" twists through speedy guitarwork that stir up catchy melody that I enjoy. Then it leads to the "Last Song", my favorite track here and one of the best by the band. The quite intro building up into harmonic guitars in a grand climax has the right sense of closure, without Eikind's poor vocals! The bonus track "Ignite" is a decent piece of melodeath.

After not hearing Before the Dawn in a few years, I made a rather iffy return via revisiting Soundscape of Silence. Saukkonen is the main star here, not Eikind. As interesting as it is to add gothic instrumentation/vocals to melodeath, not all of that aspect is enjoyable....

Favorites: "Silence", "Dead Reflection", "Monsters", "Cold", "Last Song"

Altar of Betelgeuze are a finnish band playing doom metal with some death doom tendencies which hardly anyone seems to know about and even less of those who do could give a shit about. This is a great shame because I actually think they are pretty good, or at least I thought their 2014 debut album was. Unfortunately I, along with almost everyone else, missed their sophomore, 2017's Among the Ruins and now we are here, seven years, one pandemic and one european war further down the line with their latest offering, simply titled "Echoes". The album contains seven tracks, most of which fit snugly in the five to six minute bracket, with only the title track providing a longer workout at nine minutes, for a concise forty-two minute overall runtime.

Musically, Altar of Betelgeuze play a recognisable brand of finnish doom metal that is all about the riffs, which are crunchy and generally mid-paced, beefed up by a bass that follows the main thrust of said riffs fairly closely and coupled with efficient and unshowy drumming. Anyone familiar with bands like Lord Vicar, Spiritus Mortis and Cardinal's Folly should quickly be in recognisable teritory here. Where AoB depart is in the vocal department with singer Matias Nastolin, who also provides bass and some guitar, often delivering the lyrics in a deadly death metal barking growl, as opposed to the cleans of those other finnish doomsters I mentioned, unsurprisingly really, as he is also guitarist and vocalist for death metallers Decaying. This leads to them being tagged as death doom, but I think that is misleading because this is actually pretty conventional doom metal that utilises growled vocals rather than genuine death doom. The slightly quicker-paced Embrace the Flames is really the only track that approaches death doom and even then, not really.

Now, while it is certainly true that Echoes doesn't really offer anything new to the scandinavian doom metal canon, it presents some great riffs with a satisfying heaviness and memorability, a vocalist who varies his delivery and is actually an exceedingly capable singer, certainly better than a number of more well-known doom metal singers and a capable bunch of musicians whose playing provides a tightly focussed album of well-written tracks that give off a menacing and ominous atmosphere. So, if you have any love for conventional doom metal of the scandinavian variety then Echoes will definitely give you your fix of thick and heavy riffs. I mean, come on, the title track is actually a bit of a beast and I can already see the album as a whole sitting well up my list of best doom metal releases of the year.

Formed in 1996 as Eve of Mourning and fast approaching three decades of existence, Grey Skies Fallen are another one of a plethora of seriously underrated doom metal bands. None of the New York four-piece's six albums have even got to the modest heights of 100 ratings here on RYM, which is a great shame as these are clearly a talented bunch of musicians who deserve more recognition.

The band's approach to songwriting is quite progressive, with a number of shifts in tone during each track which lends them a story-telling, narrative feel. They don't stick to out and out doom metal, nor do they focus on just one style, but rather draw together strands of death doom, epic doom, conventional doom, gothic metal and progressive metal into grand, epic soundscapes that are imbued with an imperial bombast, yet are also tinged with melancholy and regret, like visiting the ruins of a once mighty empire, whose glory days are a distant memory. As well as a deft skill for writing a certain kind of bombastic doom metal, Grey Skies Fallen are also extremely adept performers, with the band sounding exceedingly tight. Guitarist Rick Habeeb also provides vocals and has a fine voice, with convincing deathly growls as well as really nice, soaring cleans and is never left wanting. Interestingly he is also vocalist with grindcore crew Buckshot Facelift, illustrating just how versatile a singer he really is.

The doomy riffs display a nice range of variety from the gloomily gothic a la My Dying Bride to the bombastic and epic, straight out of Rich Walker's Solstice song book, and all points in between. In fact, I would suggest Rich is quite the influence for Grey Skies Fallen because a sizeable proportion of the soloing sounds like it is delivered by guitarists well-acquainted with Solstice's New Dark Age album. In fact the more I listen to this, the stronger the comparison with New Dark Age grows, with even the production sound being similar and anyone who knows my view on NDA knows that is definitely a good thing in my eyes (or ears, as the case may be). I think this is an album that benefits from repeated listens and a cursory exploration may fail to unpeel it's layers, leaving the listener unfulfilled, but time getting to know it is time well-spent as I found it getting better every time I returned to it. I would also suggest listening to it on a decent set-up as I suspect a phone speaker almost certainly won't do it justice.

Ultimately Grey Skies Fallen are superbly talented musicians and songwriters who have languished in obscurity for far too long and Molded By Broken Hands is a high quality doom metal release that deserves a far wider audience than it is likely to garner.

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

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

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

I like this, I don't love it. I would give it a 3.75, but I'll round up for prosperity. This is the most "prog" of the sludge that I've listened to and I enjoy that. It's also has a bit of an alternative metal vibe at times as well with guitars that remind me of Tool or Deftones. I'm trying to ease up on my bias against sludge and albums like this help with that. It's still not a ride I want to take all the time, but i'm glad I rode it once. The instrumental bits where it does edge on the side of sludgier riffs are still boring to me especially the last song "The Reptilian Brain" where it does what you think of with sludge for 16:20. But many of the songs before that go the prog route and are much more enjoyable. Like the intro song "Primodorial Soup" is a decent short instrumental that works but also doesn't do the best job of telling where the album is going for me but is a pretty average sludge intro that is almost every album that I've heard on this journey to date. The middle is where it's interesting, but still hits everything expected of sludge.

English doom/death legends My Dying Bride had thoroughly blown Ben & I away with their first two releases "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium" & "As The Flower Withers". In fact, their 1991 "Towards The Sinister" demo was really strong too so I had extremely high hopes for their next record as a teenager back in 1993. The band's experimentation with the incorporation of violin & gothic elements had proved to be a master stroke so the expectation around what they'd deliver us with next was certainly very high. Perhaps My Dying Bride's label & management could feel that excitement because they opted to deliver us a short three-track taster in order to tide us over until the arrival of the classic "Turn Loose The Swans" album later on that year. "The Thrash of Naked Limbs" E.P. would land eight months before that spectacular game-changer & it'd only see my passion for the burgeoning doom/death scene rising to fever pitch.

"The Thrash of Naked Limbs" E.P. contains just the three tracks across its eighteen-minute duration, two of which take the form of their signature doom/death metal sound with the other being something a little different for My Dying Bride. The production job on the two metal songs isn't perfect with the rhythm guitars sounding a little wishy washy to my ears & the violin coming across as a tad artificial too. Thankfully though, the riffs are as crushing as we've come to expect from a My Dying Bride release with Aaron's iconic death growls being in full effect. There are some subtle differences from the band's debut album on show here. The guitar tone is starting to head away from the filthy death metal graveyard it had resided in previously &, despite the production issues, the overall package just seems to be a little more polished & professional. The violin parts that permeated "As The Flower Withers" aren't quite as prominent here either as they play more of a supporting role than they do the thematic protagonist we were presented with on some of the band's stronger works to the time. I'd suggest that there isn't quite as much undiluted death metal included in this material either. It's a little more consistently doomy than the earlier releases were.

The E.P. kicks off with the title track which is generally regarded as the strongest inclusion of the three. Interestingly, I'm gonna go the other way & say that it's the track that I connect with the least. Don't get me wrong, it's still a very strong piece that borders on being a classic in its own right but I just don't think it quite gels as well as My Dying Bride's most transcendent & timeless material. Easily the most divisive song is the dark ambient piece "Le cerf malade" that splits the two metal numbers & I have to admit that I've always found it to be the highlight of the record. Admittedly I'm a big ambient music fan & this piece absolutely nails the atmosphere it sets out to explore. In fact, I'd suggest that any ambient artist worth their salt would be drooling over this track to be honest. Closing doom/death anthem "Gather Me Up Forever" goes pretty close to equaling it too. It's the doomier of the two metal songs & doesn't taint its more beautiful & melodic doom moments with chuggier mid-paced riffage as much as the title track does so there's not a hint of filler here with every piece offering the listener a significant artistic & atmospheric pay-off.

"The Thrash of Naked Limbs" doesn't get quite as much attention as its more highly regarded predecessors but I have a big soft spot for the more mature & refined composition that predicted the direction the band would soon take & this saw it making just as big an impact on my life. In fact, I've tended to think of the E.P. as My Dying Bride's strongest overall work to the time & this revisit has only strengthened that feeling even though there's very little between the three proper releases. This is not only an essential My Dying Bride record but it's an essential release for the doom/death subgenre overall. It rightfully stands alongside the band's finest work & should have Paradise Lost, Anathema & Novembers Doom fans frothing at the mouth.

Coffins are one of those bands who are treated with contempt by a vast swathe of the metal-buying (or more accurately, metal-streaming) public for adhering to a formula they are comfortable with and which they replicate throughout their career as the primary means for expressing their artistic intentions. Bands like Coffins' refusal to continually push the envelope and experiment with new modes of expression seems to rub a significant number of people up the wrong way, but you know what, fuck 'em, I love the determination of these guys to populate the world with soul-crushing, cavernous and guttural OSDM, so if you are one of those people, then you know where you can shove your contempt because neither I nor Uchino and the guys could give a shit.

The riffs are thick and meaty with a crunchy, yet unctuous guitar sound that is derived from such purveyors of old-school, cavernous death metal as Autopsy and Asphyx, although it's more modern and cleaner production does actually downplay the echoing quality of older releases, even so, Coffins' riffs still hit like a punch to the lower gut region. As is usual, they walk the tightrope between conventional death metal and death doom, not being shy in slowing down the tempo to ominously hulking and doom-ridden, yet changing up to faster, d-beat-driven moshpit-frenzy fare at the flick of a metaphorical switch. There is no flashiness from these guys, they don't try to embellish their sound or push the envelope in any way, everything they do is effectively functional, with a set vision that requires a particular, some may say basic, style of playing which they have perfected over the years to the degree where few can pull off this particular style better - maybe more skillfully, but rarely as effectively. Uchino's vocals are crusty and uber-gutteral, as if he is trying to replicate the sound Godzilla would produce if he was the vocalist with a death metal band rather than a world-saving (or destroying) prehistoric throwback.

At the end of the day, this is nothing more or less than "don't fuck with us" old-school, doomy death metal originally dragged from the pits of hell at the dawn of the 1990s and if that is your bag, then give this a listen, if it isn't then don't because there is no reason why this would change your mind, although how any death metal fan can't be fired-up by a track like "Domains of Black Miasma" is well beyong my capability to understand.

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

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

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

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

When it comes to stoner metal, Sleep are virtually mandatory a listen, right?  As I continue to spread my wings in The Fallen clan I am fnally getting around to a band that seem to get universal praise amongst peers.  It seems you simply cannot class yourself as a fan of doom/stoner metal without acknowledging the importance of Sleep.  I am not here to upset that apple cart either.  Based on this album at least, I like what I am hearing enough to commit to a review, and I will start off by saying that Sleep are a lot of fun to my ears.  Playing as an almost uber-organic jam session, I soon find myself not really caring about track listings or even individual songs, just enjoying the album overall instead.

Coming to the band via Om and the album Pilgrimage, wich I find to be a much more serious yet still thoroughly enjoyable release, Sleep are more like the cool Uncle who let's you have a sneaky can of ale round his house when you are fourteen as opposed to the more focussed family member that is Om.  I would go as far as to say that Sleep's Holy Mountain is even a sloppy record in places with the percussion going off on its own merry way on occasion.  However, this does not come as an unexpected thing in all honesty.  This is truly one of the most free-sounding records I have ever heard, that spontaneous feel to the record coupled with the relaxed atmosphere make for a very natural performance.  I dispute that this is only for people high on drugs (although I do have a strong English Breakfast Tea in my hand currently which is as potent as I get nowadays) but it is hard to not conjure that stereotype when listening to music like this.  The fact is that the music transcends the stereotype with pretty much minimal effort.

The casual playing and the previously mentioned cumbersome trajectory it takes just adds to the enamour I have with the album in all honesty.  Tracks such as Dragonaut, The Druid and the brilliant Inside the Sun are what Sleep are all about.  Zero fucks to give metal for folks who went shopping for fucks to give but the stores were all sold out.  You can throw Black Sabbath worship references all you want, and you'd be right, although I doubt it al that intentional.  However, you can also put on any Electric Wizard or Cathedral record and align Sleep with those modern doom references with just as much ease.  Shave off the instrumental tracks and the album comes up by half a mark on the scores too.

As with Anathema whose debut E.P. I revisited only last week, Halifax doom/death legends My Dying Bride can lay claim to providing the soundtrack to a considerable chunk of my youth. Ben & I discovered both bands in the very early stages of their recording careers & would follow them religiously for many years to come. 1992's "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium" was my introduction to My Dying Bride & it flattened me in no uncertain terms so their debut full-length "As The Flower Withers" had a lot to live up to. It's been a while since I've revisited it but all of my recollections indicated that it totally lived up the expectations too, despite often being overlooked in favour of My Dying Bride's impeccable 1993 sophomore album "Turn Loose The Swans" & classy 1995 follow-up "The Angel & the Dark River". Going into this revisit I would have said that that pecking order wasn't all that unfair but I was hopeful that the gap would prove to be a lot smaller than my memory would suggest. That's certainly proven to be the case too with "As The Flower Withers" pleasantly surprising me with just how fully realised it was for such a young band.

The title track from "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium" had seen My Dying Bride touching on a fresh new sound that no one in the extreme metal scene had yet been bold enough to attempt. The use of violin to accentuate its gothic grandeur was nothing short of a masterstroke & would spark a wave of copycats worldwide. None would be able to touch My Dying Bride in their execution however & this element would go on to become the calling card for the band's early works. The other two tracks on the E.P. were vastly different in their structure & style though which begged the question as to what direction the debut full-length would take. Well, what ended up transpiring was a record that still represents a band that's in transition from their early death metal roots into a full-fledged gothic doom metal band. Of the six proper songs included, there are three gargantuan doom/death masterpieces that are similar to "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium" in what they aim to achieve but then we also get some less ambitious & more obviously death metal focused pieces as well as some that fall somewhere in between. The production job is still quite raw which also sees the death metal scene keeping a close watch over My Dying Bride, particularly in regard to the rhythm guitar tone which could have been pulling straight off an Autopsy or Bolt Thrower record. Front man Aaron Stainthorpe's vocal delivery is still limited to his imposing death growl too & I for one are really happy about it as I've always thought Aaron's grunt was one of the more unique & powerful in the extreme metal scene while his clean vocals have sometimes bordered on being whiny & repetitive.

The neoclassical darkwave intro piece "Silent Dance" performs its task brilliantly & leads into one of the band's finest works in the epic "Sear Me" which immediately takes my heart-strings & splays them all over the room. The life-changing "The Bitterness & the Bereavement" & the masterful "The Return of the Beautiful" take a similarly mournful & downtrodden violin-led doom direction & it's this material that categorically proves that My Dying Bride are the real deal when it comes to this subgenre as they've rarely been matched & have never been surpassed by the competition that they were responsible for inspiring in the first place. The more death metal inclined "The Forever People" & "Erotic Literature" aren't nearly as ambitious but aren't anywhere near as magical in their effectiveness either. They're definitely not to be overlooked though as neither could be regarded as being weak as such. It's pretty telling that the doomier parts of both are the most appealing parts of the songs though as it provides clear proof that My Dying Bride were heading in the right direction. "Vast Choirs" kinda sits in the middle ground between the two styles & is not a bad summary of the album really.

Despite the inclusion of some less significant tracks, "As The Flower Withers" is built around & carried by its highlights with the elite material also being by far the longest inclusions. I simply can't fault My Dying Bride while listening to those pieces & feel that the overall album was always destined to achieve one of my higher scores, regardless of how much less impactful the remainder of the record proved to be. The band would veer away from death growls & violins at various stages of their career & I feel that it says a great deal that I've always found those records to be missing something. What it tells me is that My Dying Bride had perfected their sound very early on, at least they had for me personally. As good as "The Angel & the Dark River" was, I can't deny that I favour "As The Flower Withers" over it these days, primarily because it's more closely aligned to my personal taste profile. The debut still offered a gothic feel but it doesn't resort to overly melodramatic emasculation to get there, instead taking a much more muscular yet no less beautiful approach that possesses a timeless quality that sees it aging much better. Fans of Novembers Doom & the early works of Paradise Lost & Anathema simply must own this album because it was as responsible as any of the early doom/death releases for defining the parameters that the subgenre would traverse over the many decades to come.

Liverpool doom/death legends Anathema represent such a pivotal band in my life for many reasons. You see, no matter what style of music they've opted to pursue, the results of their endeavours inevitably manage to tear my heart-strings to shreds so they've played a significant role in my up-bringing & have gotten me through the hardest periods of my 48 years on this planet thus far. Ben & I were lucky enough to have discovered them very early on in their recording career too which has enabled us to follow them throughout their many decades of transformation & development. It feels more like a privilege than anything else at this point & while revisiting Anathema's first proper release this week I was reminded of just how talented these five 17-20 year-old musicians were even at such an early point in their careers.

Anathema of course make up one third of the infamous Peaceville Three alongside Paradise Lost & My Dying Bride, a group of English bands that were responsible for popularizing the still fairly young doom/death sound to a romantically & gothically inclined global metal audience. Anathema were by far the most sophisticated & musically talented of the three though & "The Crestfallen E.P." already highlights their creativity & ambition very clearly. The early Anathema sound was built on complex layers of interwoven guitar harmonies that appear on the surface to be entirely unique from each other but when brought together create a beautiful tapestry of melodic themes that perhaps have more in common with classical music than they do with metal. The fact that the song-writers were still so young when these songs were written is nothing short of mind-blowing when taking in a piece of the melodic complexity of the title track & I'm perennially left wondering how they even possessed the influences required to create material of such maturity.

Anathema's first proper release is also their most doomy & deathly record as its focus stays predominantly within the scope of the doom/death subgenre & remains free of the gothic, progressive & alternative influences that would see them taking a life-long journey of development & reinvention. "The Crestfallen E.P." is full of thick, chunky, riffs layered over lumbering rhythms & highlighted by transcendent melodic themes. The vocals of original front man Darren White are certainly an acquired taste but once you've accepted that he offers something a little different you should be able to appreciate the clear depiction of genuine sorrow & melancholy he is able to create with his voice. His delivery here is not as deathly as we received from him on Anathema's two demo tapes but it's still monstrous enough to keep the death metal crowd satisfied, even if he is generally regarded as the point of contention for Anathema fans that got onboard through their post-1995 releases. Personally, I feel that White's contribution is an essential part of the appeal of a record like this one as his layers of depressive lyrics are presented in a way that really does drag the listener down to a mournful state that's essential in understanding the appeal of early Anathema.

The tracklisting begins in stunning fashion with opener "...And I Lust" being one of Anathema's finest doom/death works. The E.P. also closes with the imposing "They Die" which was somewhat of a signature tune for the band's early period given that it was also the centrepiece of 1991's "All Faith Is Lost" demo tape as well as their 1993 debut album "Serenades". I hold these two tracks up as some of the most important extreme metal songs of my lifetime so it's really pretty hard to put their impact on me into words. The three songs in between are perhaps not as universally classic but still maintain a very solid level of quality with "The Sweet Suffering" possessing one of those eternally memorable melodic themes, the sweet, female-fronted folk piece "Everwake" giving the listener a well-earnt break from the emotional battering they've received from the opening two tracks & the sheer melodic complexity of the 10+ minute title track being nothing to sneer at.

While "The Crestfallen E.P." may not be Anathema's best record, I still think it deserves to at least be in the conversation. As with "Serenades", it's too often down-rated by Anathema's later audience which has seen it being unfairly overlooked by its prospective fanbase at times. There's no doubt that it was a step up from the two demo tapes that preceded it & it set a marvelous platform for the two classic doom/death albums that would follow it over the next three years. Personally, I still rate "Serenades" as the peak of that era of the band, closely followed by the more gothically inclined "The Silent Enigma". But "The Crestfallen E.P." follows very closely behind those two for mine & deservedly owns a position in my Top Ten Death Doom Metal Releases of All Time list. If you're a devotee of the classic era of this subgenre & worship the early-to-mid 1990's releases from bands like Katatonia, Paradise Lost & My Dying Bride then this record should be regarded as essential listening.

P.S. Please be aware that the Spotify version of "The Crestfallen E.P." inexplicably contains demo versions of the title track & "They Die" in place of the versions I have on my CD copy & this most certainly degrades the overall product.

I'd honestly never heard of North Carolina five-piece Confessor until I picked up 1992's Earache Records "Gods of Grind" compilation back at the time of release. The CD brought together high-quality EP's from Entombed, Carcass & Cathedral as well as the three-song self-titled effort from Confessor which featured the title track from their 1991 debut album "Condemned" as well as two cover versions of old Trouble songs that I probably wasn't aware of at the time. I think it's fair to say that Confessor's contributions saw my ears pricking up in a pretty major way too just quietly because they offered a very fresh & professional sound that not only showcased their clear technical talents but also saw them presenting something a little different to the norm.

If there's one reason to check out the "Confessor" E.P. then it's most certainly the opening cut "Condemned" which is a real treat for fans of the more complex side of progressive metal. The rhythmic experimentation on show here is nothing short of marvelous & will have even the more capable drummers out there picking their jaws up off the ground. Scott Jeffreys soaring higher-register vocal histrionics are certainly an acquired taste but shouldn't be too much of a challenge for prog fans who have been raised on a steady diet of Watchtower & Fates Warning. Things change up significantly for the second song "The Last Judgement" (an old Trouble demo track) which sees Confessor taking a different approach that sits somewhere between traditional doom metal & stoner metal. It's still solid enough stuff though. Closer "Endtime" was one of my favourite inclusions on Trouble's debut album "Psalm 9" so there's no surprise that I enjoy Confessor's version too. It kinda combines the three sounds we've heard over the first two tracks for a high-quality progressive stoner doom instrumental.

There's no question that "Confessor" is carried by the single original inclusion in "Condemned" but the two cover versions are both excellent too which has seen me being tempted to award one of my more premium scores. I've never gotten around to checking out much of Confessor's other material but it might be about time I did. The "Confessor" E.P. comes highly recommended for fans of Abstrakt Algebra, Dark Millenium & (unsurprisingly) Trouble.

New York four-piece Sorrow are an act that was first brought to my attention back in my 1990's tape trading days with their debut album "Hatred & Disgust" entering & exiting from my life relatively quickly. I didn't find a lot to grab onto as far as I can remember so I don't recall giving Sorrow a lot of time before placing them firmly into the "none of my business" basket. My recent explorations of my youth have seen me wondering if I might have been a little harsh on "Hatred & Disgust" though, particularly given the points of comparison that are most regularly raised when discussing the album, so I decided to give it another chance this week & boy am I glad that I did too.

I'd describe the sound that Sorrow go for on "Hatred & Disgust" as a particularly doomy example of the old-school death metal model with the production possessing that classic graveyard feel. The album is often tagged as doom/death which isn't all that far off the mark but I feel that this is a little too strong in the death metal component to warrant dual primaries. The musicianship is fairly primitive but Sorrow's sound is well-defined & maximizes the limited skill sets of the individual contributors quite nicely. The lead guitar work of Billy Rogan & Brett Clarin is probably the only area that I'd criticize with their solos generally representing the weaker moments on the album. It's the vocals of bassist Andy Marchione that are the main focal point though with his tone sitting somewhere between a less powerful "Blessed Are The Sick"-era Dave Vincent (Morbid Angel) & the whispery delivery of Revenant's Henry Veggian. Marchione's phrasing & accent is heavily influenced by Death's Chuck Schuldiner though & you can also pickup the impact of that band in some of the tremolo-picked riffs & more complex rhythms on "Hatred & Disgust".

The tracklisting kicks off beautifully with doom/death opener "Insatiable" being the clear highlight & the only genuine classic of the six cuts on offer. Death metal stomper "Forced Repression" & epic closer "Unjustified Reluctance" are also very strong & provide great support. "Separative Adjectives" is a bit disappointing but it's not enough to taint what I've found to be a thoroughly rewarding forty-minute death metal experience that fans of Cianide, Cruciform & early Paradise Lost should consider to be required listening. I honestly have no fucking idea why I couldn't see the appeal in this stuff back in the day & would have to suggest that "Hatred & Disgust" is one of the more underrated releases from death metal's heyday.

This is it. This album has been on repeat since I first heard it about a week ago and I just keep going back to it. It sounds nothing like others of it's genre, the "Atmospheric Sludge" genre. This album is absolutely beautiful and could possibly be up there for one of my all time favorite albums, still early but I haven't listened to anything on literal repeat in a while. I listen to other albums and I go back to this one. Every time I get this vibe that I'm in someone's basement studio after a long day and it's now 2 am in the morning and we're all just lounging around relaxing with some easy jams. The guitarist is playing his favorite lick for a bit, and the drummer just casually hits his favorite melody, and every once in a while they get in a groove and go hard for a moment and rock out then slowly ease back out and just relax again. It's such a meditative listen for me, listened on walks and while I can't quite go to sleep with it on it definitely relieves stress for some reason. I was almost out of this challenge for the Infinite but this kept me back in.

This album doesn't have that "sludge" element that I don't like where it really is just wading in dirty grimy melodies that I don't enjoy, while it can be darker it's much brighter and airier then the other albums I've been listening to. This has a meditative open airy jam session feel unlike anything else I've heard in a while if ever. The first song, (on Spotify is named "Sink Your Teeth In" by Disco Ensemble and i'm not sure why) but I found other recordings and track listed as Wormwood is an interesting start that I do like with the Dark Jazz element referenced elsewhere more here than throughout the album I feel is a great introduction while not entirely adheres to the expectations I had on the rest of the album. I really wanted to point out the first song for the odd discrepancy that Spotify has and the extra Jazz work but the rest of the album all have their own formula of slow jams that ramp up into a more explosive near headbanging experience and then slow down that just works so smoothly I can't get enough.  If you like the more atmospheric of the sludge but not so much sludge, this is the album for you. I want to and will recommend this to more even though that aren't into metal. Even the more metal screamed vocals, what few there are, really do just add to the enjoyable explosion of sounds for me. This is an underrated gem that I think more people need to be aware of.

I see the love for this one, and if I had listened to this album early on in my Atmospheric Sludge challenge journey I would have stopped here because this is not for me. This album frustrated me to all hell. This hits all of my personal stereotypes and gripes of the genre. Sludge is such a good word to refer to this type of music, and this one for me doesn't even have the "Atmosphere" that helps me struggle through the sludge. There are elements of black metal I liked, there are the death doom elements that I liked, and I think the vocalist does really well with doom style. I would think a straight forward death/doom album would be better for my taste and I am not even the biggest fan of that either. The sludgier, messier melodies did not want me to listen to this. It frustrated me because when his clean vocals or the good growls hit in it I enjoyed, but then I had to tread through the "sludge" to get to the moments in between to enjoy, entirely my subjective opinion and hate to rate such a beloved record of the genre low but I'm here to be the other side of opinion and to share that if you have the same opinion as I do of sludge this is not for you but I have now found that there are other albums that get included in the genre I like much better that to my ears don't sound like this. If you don't like this album like I do, look into other Atmospheric Sludge metal as they don't all sound like this.  

I stumbled across Whores. by chance when looking up artisits similar to Kowloon Walled City (which ironically Whores. are not btw).  As someone still drawn more to the sludge element of The Fallen clan, there was a lot on show immediately for me to like, especially with the shorter EP format that makes up Ruiner..  Whores. are perfect for the fit of bratty noise rock attitude with some killer sludge riffs to underline their toxic levels of poisonous vitriol and Ruiner pulls no punches from the off.  With this being their first studio offering, we catch the band in full frontal assault mode, firing vicious salvos through a feedback-laden fog of distortion to catch the ear of any metal fans in hearing distance.

The success of Ruiner. is that all the component parts shine just as well individually as they do as a collective.  Christian Lembach's mocking vocals are a real standout but are so much more effective when backed up with Schulz's twanging bass and the solid drums of Travis Owen, helped along also by Lembach's own guitar of course.  The blaring of his vocals on tracks such as the derisive Daddy's Money and Fake Life are pure contemptuous gold and these opening two tracks very much set the scene for the whole EP.  Lyrically, there are not fathomless depths to explore here and there does not need to be either.  Whores. get their message across perfectly well, usually with no more than ten lines needed and tracks around the three to five minute mark in the main.

This is rage and aggression made into fun, catchy and at times hook-laden music.  It is smash and grab entertainment at its finest that sticks with you after a couple of listens and has been very successful at bringing me back for repeated listens (I currently listen to Ruiner. at least once a day) so I can continue to revel in its sarcasm and sardonicism whenever i feel the world just simply needs a warning shot across its bows.

Monovoth is the solo project of argentinian multi-instrumentalist, Lucas Wyssbrod, and Pleroma Mortem Est is the sophomore full-length under the banner. It is an album of instrumental funeral doom, comprising six tracks and with an overall runtime of a mere 38 minutes, which is slight indeed for a funeral doom release. In a nutshell that previous sentence sums up the issues that I personally have with this. First off, six tracks for a measly 38 minutes! The funereal and doom-laden atmospheres for top-knotch funeral doom require expansive build-up and layering with the extensive runtime being a pre-requisite for the sense of an inescapable, soul-crushing doom awaiting all of us at life's end. Secondly, instrumental funeral doom just doesn't work completely for me. With such downbeat and morbid instrumentation as that produced by top-tier funeral doom practitioners, I believe a human connection, such as the wholly human sound of vocals, is an absolute requirement in order to mitigate the hopelessness of the music and to place the human condition, as posited by the funeral doom ethos, into context.

The actual individual pieces here show a lot of potential and it is obvious that Wyssbrod is plenty familiar with the big names in the field, as he unleashes dizzyingly towering chords of immense weight interspersed with passages of self-reflective melancholy, but their brevity and lack of vocals suggests to me a series of musical ideas waiting to be worked up into full pieces and not actually an album of finished work. I really would like to hear these ideas expounded and expanded upon with a truly anguished-sounding vocalist on board because there is really some good stuff here, in seed-like form.

The life choice that I made to listen to extreme metal for pretty much all of my teenage through adult life has been a decision that has rewarded me well in the main.  I have discovered some truly astonishing bands and albums that have stayed with me to this day.  Some of them took multiple visits before the beam of light finally struck me and I fully understood what was in front of me.  Others were more immediate, hitting me in the face from the off and some of them (only a small number admittedly) are still socking me in the cakehole to this day.  However, as I get older (I am pushing 50 after all), tastes change.  Whilst, recent releases from Exhorder and Judas Priest reminded me just why I love the more high octane elements of metal, I do increasingly need something to soothe my stressed and anxious head.  Quite by accident, I stumbled across OM via a playlist and was instantly drawn into the therapeutic qualities of the Californian trio.

Pilgrimage is like a balm for my soul.  Full of repetition and consistently familiar structure from track-to-track, its effect was instantaneous,  Whether I am working, driving, cleaning, hiking or just sat still, with Pilgrimage playing I am at peace.  Truly at peace, as in zoned out of this shitshow we know as reality and somewhere else (sub-consciously at least, especially if I am driving).  The Hindu mantra that is the band's name, is a perfect fit for this trance-inducing style of stoner metal.  A fine example of how you can make heavy music without guitars (just a sick as fuck bass is all that you need folks), the four tracks here make for a satisfying thirty-two minutes.  The rhythms are simple yet so warming without being hippy-esque that you can't help but take comfort from their soothing textures.

If you're thinking this is a yawn fest then you're wrong.  Pilgrimage actually grows in intensity as the tracks roll by.  Granted we never flip into full on sludge-paced metal.  There's not even a threat of such violence intimated at any point here.  However, this is an album that thinks out of the box and relies on the subtlety of transitions in almost sneaking proportions. After the calming opener of the title track you soon find yourself several minutes into the album, wondering where the drums came in after being lulled into a barely lucid state by that bass.  This is one of the few albums in my lifetime that have provided a tactile experience.  I can touch and taste every note here, inhaling its incense-laced smoke as I go headlong falling into this record over and over again.

Stygian Crown are a new one on me. They are a five-piece, Los Angeles band playing epic doom metal with twin guitars and a female vocalist, which is a combination I think works very well. Funeral for a King is the band's sophomore full-length, following four years after their self-titled debut. They take their cues from the usual sources, Candlemass, Solitude Aeternus and the more recently successful acts like Smoulder and Crypt Sermon. The riffs possess a nice crunchiness in sound, being both chunkily solid and memorably melodic, with the band being unafraid to change into a quicker tempo, "Bushido" and "Beauty and Terror" being particular examples of tracks in a more traditional metal, bordering USPM, rather than doom metal style. The plodding pomposity (in a good way) of the band's titanic epic doom forerunners is the general order of the day, though and they have a solid grasp of what constitutes good epic doom, with a full sound, theatrical songwriting and powerful vocals. Singer Melissa Pinion has a strong voice and is well able to command the space, in true Messiah Marcolin or Rob Lowe style, with a soaring performance that is never threatened by the thick and meaty guitar sound, but which meets it head-on.

There are a couple of interludes in a more stripped-back style that provide a contrast to the ostentatiousness of the band's signature sound. "Let Thy Snares Be Planted" is a short instrumental piece with piano and strings in a classical style and the balladic "Blood Red Eyes", which also features piano and strings, sounds a bit like a track Tarja and Nightwish may have been at home with. All in all, this is a decent album that displays a great understanding of the epic doom genre and which is technically sound with a powerful lead vocalist. As such it is a worthy addition to the recent slew of releases in the resurgent sub-genre and whilst still punching a little below the weight of the true titans, Candlemass, Solitude Aeternus and so on, with tracks like "Scourge of the Seven Hills" and "Strait of Massina" I would suggest they are heading in the right direction. Definitely worth your time if you are into the more epic side of doom metal, especially if you are a fan of female vocals in the genre.

Novembre is an Italian progressive/gothic/doom metal band formed by brothers Giuseppe and Carmelo Orlando, and their second album Arte Novecento is totally worth experiencing something from the band! It was made between their underground debut Wish I Could Dream It Again and their 3rd-time charm breakthrough Classica, blending the melancholic doomy guitar of Katatonia and Anathema at the time with more upbeat aspects.

Although there's not much soloing to expect here, Novembre have their own creative ways of layering their structure. The immense production really lets the instruments shine, not just for the Orlando brothers but also the guitar reverb of Massimiliano Pagliuso and masterful bass of Fabio Vignati (RIP).

"Pioggia... January Tunes" starts the album with a rainstorm as slow clean guitar slowly rises then sets up the rough heavy melody. There's some more of this beauty in "Homecoming". Then "Remorse" will make you shed tears with a climatic guitar buildup. They also made a cover of "Stripped" by Depeche Mode, and while there's nothing wrong with that cover, it's not really my favorite here, though the rest of the album is still perfect.

"Worn Carrilon" has more upbeat rhythms and leads, and great singing by Carmelo. "A Memory" has more of the heartful vocals where the emotion fits greatly with the powerful lyrics. My favorite song in this album is "Nursery Rhyme". It's a dark epic of perfect harmony and well-placed acoustics, all for some gothic fun.

"Photograph" is an instrumental, but the music has some 80s The Cure vibes. I like that! Carmelo reaches his height with his vocals in "Will", alongside a glorious blend of electric and acoustic guitar from the soul. His vocals of dynamic emotion flow through the atmospheric darkness. "Carnival" is the closing 10-minute epic, and although it's enjoyable in every minute, it can't beat the other long tracks.

All in all, Arte Novecento has strong structure to flow through the atmosphere. Carmelo's vocals might not be for every metalhead due to his occasional soft pop tone, but I still enjoy his vocals and everything else. A gem worth discovering!

Favorites: "Pioggia... January Tunes", "Remorse", "A Memory", "Nursery Rhyme", "Will"

After listening to the perfect Bat Salad EP by High on Fire, followed by a revisiting of one of Grand Magus' albums, I felt up to exploring some more of this intriguing blend of stoner metal with more upbeat classic metal genres. The mind-blowing glory of this mix of sounds strikes again with Snakes for the Divine, a stoner/sludge/thrash metal album featuring a dark twist in the Adam and Eve myth!

This was long before High on Fire won a Grammy Award for the title track of their 2018 album Electric Messiah. They've already had a breakthrough before then by getting signed into E1 for this album after the previous 3 were released by Relapse Records. Now how can Snakes for the Divine be such a divine album for me? Answers to come...

The 8-minute opening title epic greatly displays the talent of these speedy stoner metal titans, including the Lemmy-esque voice of Matt Pike (also the guitarist for Sleep). The stoner/sludge/thrash sound is greatly exemplified in this perfect highlight. Lots of fantastic soloing here! "Frost Hammer" is another devastating thrash highlight. It also has an atmospheric not too far from the earlier sludge material of Mastodon, y'know, the band whom the members first met each other in one of High on Fire's first ever shows. "B****rd Samurai" slows things down with some psychedelic bass by Jeff Matz that would almost have Black Sabbath's "Planet Caravan" pop up in your mind, if not for the heavy stoner metal instrumentation that rules the track.

"Ghost Neck" is yet another song that dominates with a more thrashy sound. An interlude, "The Path" is thrown into the middle of the album. It doesn't really stand out in the album, but being an short instrumental, it doesn't affect the perfect score. It segues to the track "Fire, Flood & Plague", where the verses show Matt Pike expanding his vocal range higher as they gradually get more brutal. The drumming gets harder and more technical in this furious piece of prog-ish thrash. The relentlessness refuses to lower down, and it has stirred up another highlight.

"How Dark We Pray" is another different track, with stoner riffing/soloing as part of the diverse guitarwork. "Holy Flames of the Fire Spitter" spits out some more fast sludge fire in yet another memorable song. The Best Buy edition has 3 bonus tracks, starting with "Mystery of Helm", an awesome fast song standing out with its riffing. The other two bonus tracks are live renditions of "Eyes and Teeth" and "Cometh Down Hessian" from their earlier albums. Pretty great, but not quite fitting the rest of the album.

If you're looking for true heaviness of metal in the crushing riffs in bass, this is it. The genre created by Black Sabbath has reached another milestone in High on Fire's Snakes for the Divine! It's an album of fantastic diversity you just gotta look out for. A perfect metal adventure through the dark side of Eden!

Favorites: "Snakes for the Divine", "Frost Hammer", "Fire, Flood & Plague", "Holy Flames of the Fire Spitter", "Mystery of Helm"

Moonspell was one of my favorite gothic metal bands when I was still listening to the genre. They're very well the most well-known Portuguese metal band. The band has all the different edges of gothic metal covered, from the extreme dark side in the mid-90s, to the lighter rock side in the late 90s/early 2000s. The two different sounds would then be combined together for an intriguing blend in later albums...

The first signs of the band returning to their harsher blackened roots of Wolfheart were hinted in The Antidote and expanded upon in Memorial, even adding some deathly aspects. The heaviness continues in Night Eternal while making some room for their atmospheric side.

The opening epic "At Tragic Heights" will have you pumped for the blackened death-ish riffing and vocals. Then it's off to the mystical title track which continues the deathly riffing to add to the atmospheric darkness. Easing up on the heaviness, "Shadow Sun" goes back to the mid-period gothic rock/metal with creepy whispers in the verses that lead into a rock-out chorus and an explosive heavy bridge to put the strength from the previous two tracks back into place.

"Scorpion Flower" is full-on gothic metal, with female vocals by Anneke van Giersbergen (ex-The Gathering). I loved her guest appearance more about 5 years before this review, but not so much now in my recent revisit. Maybe because the more serious heavy modern side of my metal taste has grown recently. That allows me to keep enjoying tracks like "Moon in Mercury" that focus on devastating aggression. What stands out with all its glory is "Hers is the Twilight". It has great guitar in the chorus, and the blend of heaviness and atmosphere throws back to what was once my favorite Moonspell album, Irreligious.

"Dreamless (Lucifer and Lilith)" also has some of the d*mn greatest raging emotion to enjoy. There's no questioning the power "Spring of Rage" has with its icy riff melodies. "First Light" ends the album as perhaps its best track. Brilliant female background choirs support this blackened gothic metal attack. Fernando Ribeiro performs his best growling before the majestic ending climax. Bonus track "Age of Mothers" is OK, but doesn't end the album as greatly as the previous track.

Although I don't enjoy Night Eternal as perfectly as I had 5 years ago, it's still highly interesting, and a much better deal than their experimental albums like The Butterfly Effect. Moonspell fans wanting their earlier heaviness to return got their wish. With that and great lyrics, this shall give gothic metal listeners their money's worth....

Favorites: "At Tragic Heights", "Moon in Mercury", "Hers is the Twilight", "Dreamless (Lucifer and Lilith)", "First Light"

I first became acquainted with legendary California death metallers Autopsy through their 1989 debut album "Severed Survival" after hearing some of the more popular songs on late-night metal radio programming in the very early 1990's. I was madly indulging in anything I could find in the way of death metal at the time which saw me seeking out a dubbed copy of the album shortly afterwards but if I'm being completely honest I'd have to suggest that I never quite understood the novelty that led to "Severed Survival" being held up on such a pedestal by most death metal fans. I certainly got enjoyment out of it but found it to be far from the classic it was so often touted as. However, it wouldn't take me all that long to get on the Autopsy train with 1991 spawning my two favourite Autopsy releases in the "Retribution For The Dead" E.P. & their career-defining sophomore album "Mental Funeral" which is still my pick of the bunch. "Mental Funeral" is deservedly the record that most people talk about when referring to Autopsy's legacy but I've always felt that "Retribution For The Dead" served as a great indulgence into a particular element of Autopsy's sound & it's about time that I explored it in a more critical manner so that I can submit a well-informed Metal Academy rating.

"Severed Survival" was very much the prototype for filthy, gore-soaked death metal that didn't take itself too seriously & valued atmosphere & imagery over precision musicality but "Retribution For The Dead" was something altogether different in that it took the doomier elements that were hinted at on the debut & made them the focal point of the three-song affair, so much so in fact that it's left me questioning whether there's even any reason to have the E.P. attached to the death metal genre at all given that it so clearly seems to fit in with the definition of the doom/death one that resides solely in The Fallen. Autopsy have always been at their best when they're at their doomiest so this approach was welcomed with open arms by this particular death metal nut. The up-tempo one-two beats still pop up on occasion but they're kept to a minimum this time which suits me down to the ground.

The production job is interesting here & would be a defining component of both of Autopsy's excellent 1991 releases. The guitar tone has had a little distortion sliced off the top which gives things a completely different feel to most death metal. It's somehow more twisted & repulsive which is kinda genius if you think about it because I wouldn't have guessed that would be the result of such a venture. The song structures are also pretty loose & veer well away from the traditional verse-chorus concept with an anything-goes type of arrangement being adopted instead. The vocals of drummer Chris Reifert (Static Abyss/Abscess/Death/The Ravenous) can tend to cross the line into pure silliness at times which has been a common observation over the years but that's kinda in line with Autopsy's whole tongue-in-cheek image & mentality so can be forgiven for the most part.

The opening title track is mildly entertaining but is clearly the weaker of the three tracks on offer with the two songs that would later appear in a re-recorded format on "Mental Funeral" (i.e. "Destined To Fester" & "In The Grip Of Winter") being the more impressive examples of the early 90's Autopsy sound. I definitely prefer the album version of "In Tne Grip Of Winter" but that's not too much of a criticism as "Retribution For The Dead" had already left its mark on me by the time I purchased "Mental Funeral" on cassette shortly after its release & a couple of months after the E.P. hit the shelves. If you're a big Autopsy fan then you owe it to yourself to explore this record as it's deserving of its place amongst the band's finest works while Asphyx, Winter & Coffins fans should also be placing it in their to-do lists.

Saturnalia Temple are a swedish doom metal trio led by guitarist / vocalist and founding member Tommy Eriksson and featuring a revolving door of bassists and drummers, the most recent of whom, bassist Gottfrid Åhman and drummer Pelle Åhman were long-time members of In Solitude (Pelle as vocalist). The band play a real fundamentalist style of doom metal which uses simple and repetetive, highly distorted stoner doom riffs taken straight from the Wino playbook, bolstered by a forceful bass presence which deliver a strong hypnotic effect upon the listener. The hypnotic riffs are usually accompanied at some point during each track by psych-tinged guitar solos of varying lengths which very much feeds in to a trippy, stoner atmosphere and which should really be accompanied by huge clouds of sweet-smelling herb smoke. All is not hippy-trippy love all round though as Tommy's vocals are derived from black metal tradition with a harsh, cracked, croaking style that is completely at odds with the hypnotic feeling derived from the instrumentation.

And that really is all there is to Paradigm Call. This is not sophisticated stuff, if you want convoluted songwriting, technical showmanship or musical experimentation then look elsewhere because this is for people who know exactly what ST are about and want to partake of that particular bong hit. Everything except the solos is real basic stuff, the production is quite raw and the band's intent to mesmerise the listener into a blissed-out state is obvious from the get-go. I'm all in with this and love the album's effect of blanketing the listener in huge waves of sound, which I find exceedingly relaxing. My only real bugbear is with the numerous fade-outs, a trope I am never a big fan of, much preferring bands to end their tracks properly, but overall it's a big thumbs-up from me.

After multiple tries to listen to this, trying and making it through about the first half 3 or 4 times and the second half a few tries as well I forced myself to listen to this all in one go. Most definitions of the word sludge comes to pretty much be summed up as mud, and this album does feel in a sense "muddy" as does this genre and though I know I feel I repeat myself and try to reword my reviews of this style, I'm still not a fan but will dredge myself through it because I am starting to accept the beauty more and more. I am not enjoying my time listening to the beautiful atmospheric post-rock/metal instrumentals just to be interrupted by an enjoyable heavier measure. I enjoy, for the most part, the different styles that hit here it just doesn't mix well like oil and water for me. Maybe this is what bothers me of this style and I am doing a person journey to better explain why I would rather not be listening to this style of music.

The beautiful moments though and the riffs, really had me for those not-so-brief moments where it was just a good atmospheric chill time until the distortion really kicked in and it went heavy for a moment. Wills Dislove started off beautiful, Syndic Calls was around the middle, and then the end of the last song in Grinning Mouths entrapped me into the moment and I enjoyed myself. I could hear those riffs again and be happy, but the fact that the rest of the song did a mood change for me that went off the path in a way that while I didn't hate I wanted to keep on the path that I was already going down. I could metaphor all day about this, and it sucks because while like I said I enjoyed both parts I can't keep them separate in the songs to enjoy it as a full sandwich and would rather have them as separate parts to enjoy individually.

Spectral Voice consists of three of the members of Blood Incantation plus drummer Eli Wendler of Black Curse. The three alternate issuing material with the prog-death wunderkinds, meaning that it has been a full seven years since their previous release, the debut Eroded Corridors of Unbeing, was unleashed.

New album, Sparagmos, continues very much in the vein of the debut with an atmospheric approach to death doom that is derived by incorporating significant influence from funeral doom and atmospheric sludge metal. Containing only four tracks, three of which weigh in around the twelve-minute mark, Spectral Vein declare their intention not to be rushed in their song composition. Indeed, the focus isn't really on riffs or any kind of headbanging material, but rather on the building of doleful and ominous atmospheres designed to elicit an emptional response and impart a melancholy uneasiness in the listener. Of course, there are times when all the steady atmosphere building reaches a climax and then the band shift gear and drop into full-on deathly riff and blasting rhythms mode, dropping the hammer on moments of brutally devastating death metal riffage.

Vocals are provided by Wendler and he handles these duties exceedingly well, with a nice range of styles from gutteral growls to harsher-sounding, sludge-derived howls of fury which feed into the atmosphere-building of the chiming guitar chords and deep-rooted, booming basswork. The production gives the four tracks a nicely foetid and putrid sheen with an echoing, cavernous sound that has served death doom metal so well for the past thirty-five years and which has become the requisite for a certain species of death metal.

Overall, I think this is an album that is worth expending a bit of effort to get to know. Initially I wasn't especially impressed and didn't think that the tracks always held together so well, even though on paper I should be all over this. However, I am now on my sixth or seventh playthrough and the album has started to make much more sense, with the sometimes unsettlingly ominous and funereal atmospheres being the whole point and the contrast of the blasting riffs when they arrive feeling quite hard-earned and so much more rewarding as a result. I now consider myself won over bt Sparagmos' deathly charms.

I believe it was my younger brother Ben that first brought Sweden's Slumber to my attention many years ago as he's been quite a fan of the band's sole full-length "Fallout" for a long time now. Slumber was a talented six-piece outfit that only got the chance to put out the one proper release in their nine years of existence which would seem to be a shame based on the evidence here. You see, "Fallout" presents a band with a fully realised sound that clearly already knew who they were & what they aspired to be. Their audience clearly "get it" too as "Fallout" has gone on to become somewhat of a classic release for the doom/death genre over the couple of decades since.

"Fallout" sees Slumber dishing out a sound that's a little difficult to pigeon-hole into a single, well-fitting subgenre. The most commonly used option is doom/death which I agree with but I've never been 100% comfortable with my position on that given that... well... you'll find that it's not particularly doomy if you give it any level of scrutiny. But neither can I find a better fitting tag so it's as good a description as any I guess. The other factor is just how melodic "Fallout" is which sees people tending to label it as melodic doom/death which is getting a lot closer to the truth. People that try to push it into melodeath territory are certainly clutching at straws though because I don't hear any genuine death metal on display here. I do however pickup quite a bit of gothic metal in the instrumentation, production & clean vocals so there's a case for a secondary tag there for sure.

The production job on "Fallout" is wonderfully clean, bright & expansive &, in many ways, represents one of the defining elements in Slumber's appeal. There's no doubt that Slumber are a little more melodic than I would usually go for but it's hard not to see yourself caving in to the attractive packaging the song-writing is draped in here. The other major selling point is the musicianship which is spectacular throughout with all band members being well in control of their instruments & pushing themselves creatively. Bass player Mikael Brunqvist is worthy of particular mention as I find his contribution to be the high point of the album with his clean tone & confident & melodically in-tune backing adding an additional layer of professionalism to an already pretty impressive platform. Front man Siavosh Bigonah's death growls are perhaps not quite so emphatically successful but I wouldn't say that he has a negative impact on the outcome as such. It's just that his death "growls" sound more like death "barks" a lot of the time.

The more uptemo songs like "Conflict" & closer "A Wanderer's Star" tend to offer me a little less appeal than the heavier material but there are no weak tracks included here. The title track is the obvious highlight though with it's Katatonia-inspired melodic theme possessing the sort of ear-worms that have kept me in awe of a record like "Brave Murder Day" for so many years. Opener "Rapture" & "Distress" are probably my other picks of the bunch but "Where Nothing Was Left" & "Dreamscape" are very solid efforts as well. You see, there's very little to complain about with a record like "Fallout" if you're drawn to full-realised & well-executed extreme metal music. It's all just so damn impressive in its achievement of its chosen goal which makes me want to like it more than my taste profile would generally allow for.

If you're the type of extreme metal fan that tends to angle towards the more melodic side of the scene then "Fallout" should be a complete no-brainer because it's very much tailored to you & your musical preferences but I'd hate to think that people will allow comments like that to limit the potential for them to check this record out either because it's won this battle-hardened extremist over pretty comfortably. Finland's Rapture, fellow Swedes Enshine & Amercians Daylight Dies are probably the best points of comparison I can think of at the moment & if those artists already feature pretty prominently in your Spotify world then I hold very few fears of "Fallout" not playing an active role there for some time into the future as well as it's a very solid & accomplished example of the melodic doom/death sound.

This is such an album of two halves. First of all it's 2 hours long. Can't say I've ever enjoyed an album completely for 2 hours+, most aren't good past 1. The first half is a generic atmospheric sludge album. The second is a one hour long title track that I fell completely for. It's not as sludge, but maybe a bit more of the drone style. I'm not really well versed in drone but I always appreciated it when I heard it. There's just so much music that I have yet to listen to. My rating is entirely for the song, the hour long song that is the length of the album. I debated on whether to average out my rating for both halves but since the Wings of Lead Over Dormant Seas is so long and definitely worth checking out I decided to lean towards the higher rating. The first half was uninteresting to me and as I've said many times, the atmospheric sludge metal genre is not my forte and I think I would've given it a 2 star as it really was the most boring in the challenge yet that I've listened to. However, I am very glad I stuck with it and gave the second half my full attention.

Wings of Lead Over Dormant Seas the track is solid as hell. It's atmospheric, and while it is an hour long it doesn't feel like it. The sludge elements are muted and the drone takes over. However, I usually think of drone to be slower and heavier and this isn't quite that. This isn't a stoner metal song, but I couldn't help but get some Sleep vibes off of it from it's long drawn out sequences with repetitive melodies that never really get old and you really could just take a big bong hit and live in the moment. On that note, I really think if I tried that one first half of this album I would be taken so far out of it that my anxieties would take over but not here in this title track. It never goes to a dull moment, but also never really tries to hype itself up at all here where I don't think there's any harsh vocals at all. There is a bit of vocals throughout, mainly at the beginning and end of the track in a very emotional poem that is beyond my understanding even looking and reading the lyrics myself I still don't quiet follow. (Though I'm not great at understanding poems unless they are really face value). It's hauntingly beautiful and would recommend. But really only the title track, and not the rest of this album. 2 hours is way too long anyway, if you do listen to this you should break it up in 2 halves to better let it sit with you. I tried multiple times but could not do a single full listen, but I can listen to this song all the way through and enjoy it.

I've got to admit, I never tire of Wino's grizzled, whiskey-and-smokes vocals and his grooved-out guitar tones, so a new Obsessed album is always going to attract my interest. One of the few still-active metal musos who is actually older than me (he is 63 at the time of the album's release), Wino is unlikely to be springing too many surprises on his audience at this stage and, indeed, Gilded Sorrow is exactly what I would have expected from a new Obsessed album. This, of course, doesn't detract from whether it is any good and, for me as a long-time fan, it delivers all I could wish for from the band. The band is pretty much Wino & Co. now, drummer Brian Costantino being the only remaining member from previous album, 2017's Sacred, bassist Dave Sherman having passed away in 2022 and being replaced by the fairly unknown Chris Angleberger. Wino has also added a second guitarist, Sierra's Jason Taylor, to handle rhythm guitar duties.

This new band sound terrific, as tight as any iteration that has gone before, and with a top-knotch production job they sound better than ever. The groove-laden, fuzzed-up riffs are some of the best Wino has contributed to the band and the songs seem to stick in the memory better than ever before. Lyrically it's great to see Wino hasn't mellowed any with age and still sounds as pissed off and confrontational as ever, determined to take no shit from anyone, with a track like "It's Not OK" railing against music biz rip-off merchants and the anti-war sentiments of "Stoned Back to the Bomb Age" sounding particularly meaningful to the guy. The title track is another one worthy of note, it has a cool psychedelic edge despite it generally having a hulking, menacing atmosphere that gives it a nice twist.

I know it's not usually cool to say a band in their fifth decade of existence have produced one of their best albums, especially in the oft-times elitist world of metal, but even though this has the occasional lapse, Realize a Dream doesn't hit quite as hard as the rest, when it is good it is really good. It's reassuring to hear that a long-established artist can still deliver the goods even so late into their career.

Generic Atmospheric Sludge, back to the basics on this one versus the other albums i've listened to. There are instrumental bits that are more post-rock over post-metal that I do like that remind me of something that Godspeed You! Black Emperor would do and I do like that, but the interesting relaxing spots are interrupted by the sludge harsh vocals that aren't bad but I just have no interest in hearing. A style that I just keep talking about is not my cup of tea. This isn't terrible, but I also see that nobody has even rated this album yet so maybe this isn't as much of a classic. There just really isn't anything of note that I could find to try get anything out of and I really am trying with this genre, but this is as cookie-cutter of an atmospheric sludge that i've heard. Just entirely middle of the pack.

Mutoid Man is perhaps one of the most diverse metal bands I've encountered. I'm not kidding when I say that you can over a dozen different genres in one offering. And everything is executed perfectly, so that's a rare bonus for a band of different styles. They can change colors like a chameleon while roaring like a lion. A chamelion! I wouldn't have discovered this fantastic band if not for one of my outside-world metalhead friends.

Indeed this blend of metal and classic rock will blow you away by sounding both catchy and heavy. War Moans continues the many terrific treats Mutoid Man has, with a bit of pop added to the mix just subtly.

Opening the album is "Melt Your Mind", with riffs and rhythms racing through alongside catchy vocals. This is pure classic heavy/speed metal not too far from Motorhead. "Bone Chain" continues that style, crashing along with more of the rough riffs and rhythms. "Micro Aggression" has rapid pulverizing drumming to give the speed metal sound some aggressive hardcore/thrash treatment. "Kiss of Death" is the first song in the album to have the slower bluesy stoner side of the sound. The guitars are heated up with the signature stoner fuzz. The drums can still sound intense without the speed, thus adding more balance to the overall sound of the album. Not many stoner metal songs stand out as a highlight for me, but that one does.

Following up is "Date With the Devil" that adds in some sleazy hard rock to their stoner metal then ends with a progressive breakdown. Back into the hardcore/speed metal side is the aptly titled neck-breaking whiplash of "Headrush" that gradually becomes more progressive, kinda like what Cave In used in Jupiter but more metallic. "Irons in the Fire" can be considered a wicked combination of the heavy metal of Iron Maiden and the speed/stoner metal of High on Fire. Then we reach the climatic title track that has more of the speed/thrash metal of Megadeth, even having former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman pull off wild shredding. Incredible!

"Wreck and Survive" takes on more progressive moods while crawling through bluesy stoner metal. You can hear the immense beauty of Chelsea Wolfe's guest vocals. "Afterlife" starts off with some stoner melody then launches into solid chaotic thrash/speed metal in the verses. "Open Flame" continues that sound with intense progressive punches. Finale "Bandages" may surprise some as a stoner/gothic doom ballad with emotional depth and background vocals by Chelsea Wolfe. So beautiful and somber!

War Moans is filled with the wild diverse fun you can expect from Mutoid Man. Everything heavy and catchy is in a perfect blend. They know how to reach higher heights with their sound of sounds. And there's plenty more where this came from!

Favorites: "Melt Your Mind", "Kiss of Death", "Irons in the Fire", "War Moans", "Wreck and Survive", "Bandages"

Mutoid Man made their unexpected entrance to the metal realm as a side-project of Cave In frontman Stephen Brodsky and Converge drummer Ben Koller. Since their 2013 EP Helium Head, they've written songs with stellar energy, colossal riffs, and lots of different styles assimilated into one. I'd like to once again thank one of my metalhead friends in the outside world for sharing a song from one of their later albums that got me interested in this band. Lots of songs are sweetened with catchy melodies and spiced up with heavy riffs, and HOLY SH*T, their diversity goes far beyond bounds!

This expanding spirit of the band is exhibited in their debut full album Bleeder for an adventurous experience, created by Brodsky, Koller, and then-bassist Nick Cageao. Even though Cageao is typically known as "that guy at Brooklyn’s St. Vitus Bar", anyone in the metalcore community knows Brodsky and Koller's proudest achievements with their respective main bands. Bleeder shows the band's hammering blend of different genres from rock, metal, and hardcore all in one place.

First track and single "Bridgeburner" starts the album with some groovy heavy/stoner metal before ending with a progressive breakdown. Another single "Reptilian Soul" launches their hardcore/hard rock/prog-metal influences forward. "Sweet Ivy" has the perfect idea of adding doses of psychedelia to the pummeling stoner progressiveness.

Covering Cave In's different eras is "1000 Mile Stare" from their ongoing progressive sound to a bit of their earlier metalcore. "Surveillance" has the progressiveness of Meshuggah without ever resorting to djenty instrumentation. As with the previous track, Brodsky's vocals range from clean to growling to even a high scream, all in a metalcore vibe. Another under two-minute track, "Beast" perfectly unites progressive metal with hardcore/speed metal as the leads and rhythms strike each other for dominance. The sharp "Dead Dreams" once again pushes forward their stoner sound while shoving in some punishing sludge metal in the breakdown.

"Soft Spot in My Skull" once again offers a combination of Megadeth-like speed metal and the progressiveness of Cave In while adding some funky jazz fusion. "Deadlock" battles it all out in stoner/progressive/thrash metal. A tight bridge lets the riffs punch through and Brodsky screams his way into complex sections. The title epic is the band's longest song at nearly 6 minutes. Brodsky's vocals and guitars, Cageao's bass, and Koller's drums unite for some bluesy stoner metal gone progressive.

It seems like Mutoid Man has proven us that the band members can perform more than just the metallic hardcore days of yore, with something heavily diverse and mature. They can control the chaos as their sound travels practically everywhere from Hendrix to Botch ("All Along the Botch Tower", lol). Nothing more unique than that!

Favorites: "Sweet Ivy", "1000 Mile Stare", "Beast", "Soft Spot in My Skull", "Bleeder"

This is on the right track for my ears. Though, I'm not sure if this is true Atmospheric Sludge metal. I do hear it in here, but I definitely hear a more progressive almost Opeth-esque style that I do love. I did have to make sure when I started this album that this was the right one because the first song, "In The Woods" is a decent enough acoustic song that did a terrible job starting the album. Terrible opener in my opinion, not a bad song but did not do a good job at all of setting a foundation for this album in my opinion.

Because right after it goes heavy with really great growls in the "Clawmaster." I do wish the screamed vocals were around more throughout the album because it goes back to clean singing soon after and his voice gets the job done well. Not the best cleans I've heard but it does fit the acoustics moments. The screams on the other hand are really where this shines and if there was more of the clean/scream within a song and play off each other more like my aforementioned Opeth, I could see this being an all-timer record for me. However it loses alot when it calms itself down then ramps back up again. Oddly enough too, the songs while disconnected by intensity are still connected.

There was a disconnect in the songs but overall I really did enjoy this album. This one just clicked for me in a way I wasn't expecting, but also doesn't sound like other albums I've heard so far. Definitely a recommend from me as an album to get you into the genre if you are more into the progressive style of metal.

I don't think I ever really came across Washington sludge metallers Melvins back in the late 1980's & early 1990's. I certainly heard their name once Nirvana blew up in 1991 but didn't think they were any of my business given that they seemed to be associated with the grunge scene more than they did to the metal one. I don't think I'd actually ever hear them until around 2012 when I checked out their new "Scion A/V Presents: The Bulls & the Bees" E.P. & I didn't like it much to tell you the truth. My next encounter with them would come shortly afterwards through 2010's split E.P. with Massachusetts post metallers Isis, mainly because I'd gotten heavily into Isis but I found myself enjoying the Isis tracks but not the Melvins ones. So Melvins didn't actually start to show me what they really had to offer until I checked out their very solid 1992 fourth album "Lysol" which was mainly due to its association with the drone metal genre as its somewhat of a passion of mine. I found that record to be really appealing & have returned to it quite often since. This triggered a trip to its 1993 follow-up album "Houdini" which I quite liked too. But little did I know that the real meat on the Melvins bones was still in front of me with this week's investigation of their 1991 third album "Bullhead" being nothing short of game-changing.

"Bullhead" is only a relatively short record at just 35 minutes in duration but that's more than enough time when the quality is kept at such a consistently high level throughout. It sees the trio totally indulging themselves in amplifier worship with the spectacular production job allowing the listener to curl up in the drum riser or speaker box of a live performance & truly "feel" the reverberations of the music. It's about the clever use of rhythmic interplay between the musicians & the often weird yet perpetually gnarly vocals of front man Buzz (Crystal Fairy/Fantômas/Venomous Concept) which are both unusual & endearing at the same time. The commitment to keep unplanned guitar noise & other slight imperfections in the recording in the interest of building character was a masterstroke too while Crystal Fairy, Shrinebuilder & Porn (The Men Of) drummer Dale Crover's confidence in his own ability to explore new territory yet still hit the right beat at the right moment is staggering. Melvins simply sound like the elite version of what a dangerous live rock band should aspire to be here & it's left me devastated in a very similar way to the finest work from a band like Japan's Boris who I can only imagine were heavily influenced by "Bullhead" based on my experiences here.

The tracklisting kicks off in superb fashion with the epic nine-minute doom metal opener "Boris" (hhmmm... further indication of the potential influence I mentioned perhaps?) which is my favourite track on the album before turning towards a sludgier sound for the remaining seven tracks. The songs that close out either side of the record ("It's Shoved" & "Cow") clearly showcase the influence that Melvins had on the grunge scene that had just blown up on a global scale at the time as both tracks would arguably sit pretty comfortably on a grunge release. In fact, there are several passages across the tracklisting when I get similar chills to those that I'd experience during the doomier moments of your more crushingly heavy Soundgarden songs. Other highlights include the miraculous "Your Blessened" which is a perfect example of Buzz's ability to summon up some of the heaviest Sabbathian guitar riffs known to man & deliver them in the coolest fashion possible, as well as "Ligature" & "Zodiac" which aren't far behind in that regard. The grungier songs aren't quite as effective but the tracklisting never dips below a very solid level & is buoyed by the skyscraping highlight tracks that fill more than half of the run time.

I think it's fair to say that "Bullhead" has hit me as hard as a raging bull & I see it as one of the finest sludge metal releases I've ever heard. In fact, it's made such a big impact on me that I've had to find a place in my Top Ten Metal Releases of All Time list too which is really saying something after all these decades of metal indulgence. If you crave the days when rock music was edgy & dangerous then this record is most certainly for you. You can expect to have to give it a few listens to truly sink in but the rewards are nothing short of spectacular, particularly for those with a penchant for Boris, Acid Bath & Crowbar.

This was The River's first album since Jenny Newton replaced longtime vocalist Vicky Walters. This is a much gentler affair than their earlier releases, featuring a lighter sound with an airy post-rock influence, Ms. Newton's vocals being reedier and less powerful than Vicky Walters'. There's still a reasonable doom metal presence on the album, but it just seems somewhat neutered, certainly compared to 2006's Drawing Down the Sun, an album I loved and one of the premier female-fronted doom releases, but the focus seems to have shifted towards the post-rock crowd. Ultimately I've got to confess to feeling disappointed by this, maybe time and additional listens may make me more amenable to it's charms, but I was hoping for something with a bit more heft and edge with more doom and less ephemerality.

Sandwiched between their 2012 and 2021 offerings, Grievances follows pretty much the tried and tested path that I have grown to trust Kowloon Walled City to tread.  As I become more immersed in their discography the more I sense that I am just tracking a series of above four star ratings for a band that do nothing to push their boundaries all that much.  With seemingly little variation on what transpired during Container Ships or what came six years later on Piecework, it is hard to place my finger on the allure of Grievances.  I find that after just one listen to any of their releases, I soon become hooked, craving more of that familiarity with each subsequent listen.  The fact is that even the most sterile and jaded sounding of music possesses some distinct beauty still.  I would go as far as to say that this is why I am drawn so much to the band.  They are KWC and are unapologetic for being so.

In keeping with the once autonomus region of Hong Kong after which they were named, Kowloon Walled City offer a sound that nobody else quite has in their kitbag. Whilst their sludge references can most certainly draw comparison to Big Business, they are unique in that they possess the heaviest post-metal around.  Stylistically not disimilar to Whores, KWC lack that noise rock element to truly draw an accurate comparison.  The only genuine (yet still so distant) reference I can compare KWC to is Fugazi. 

Hearing those angular and strained guitars on Grievances instantly showcases the bands individualism, with the equally obtuse vocals lurching alongside those cumbersome but never ugly rhythms. There's a constant threat of something about to go down on Grievances, a sense that these grievances are very personal and quite difficult to contain.  Wrestling with them over the seven tracks is still an exhausting task as somehow for an album so devoid of any sense of exhilaration there is still a feeling of completed entertainment, long after each spin of the album has finished.  The harsh truths to tracks like Your Best Years, White Walls and True Believer land instantly without the need for any catchiness to allow them to place themselves succinctly in both palms of your hands as a listener.  This album is as black and white as the photograph on the cover would suggest it to be.

 

I was impressed by these french industrial sludge-meisters' 2021 album, Pantocrator, and although their Privation album from last year somehow passed me by, I have been looking foward to this one for a while now. Riff-wise and with the general instrumentation, this bears a significant Fear Factory influence, with some pretty immense and sludgy machine-like riffing and harsh distortion that often sounds like the sound of escaping steam buried down within the mix. The tinniness of the programmed snares adds another layer to the dystopian, Blade Runner-esque atmosphere the band is (successfully) striving for. Within this evocative, machine-dominated atmosphere intrudes the only-too-human, angered vocals of singer Matthias Jungbluth whose hardcore-style delivery gives the album a sludge metal twist with his railing against the world the band have so vividly created lays bare the alienation of his soul. I don't think any language is better than French at sounding pissed-off and Matthias here sounds really pissed-off.

The Fear Factory comparison is more pronounced here, I think, because the band have sought to add more melodic hooks into their overall sound, rather than doubling-down on the alienating atmosphere of Pantocrator. Now this is an approach I would probably normally be sceptical about, but I think it still works here and the band manage to retain the atmosphere of their alienating machine-like rhythms, even though they sometimes give the listener more of a handhold into the album. Is it as good as Pantocrator? Probably not, I guess time will tell, but it is still worth the mere thirty minutes of your time you would need to spare to lend it your ear.

This was the first album that I listened to on my journey and Atmospheric Sludge Metal challenge, and I've listened to this multiple times now. Sometimes finishing it, other times just starting it and just not wanting to spend my time with it. After these multiple sessions I'm just bored, I've found interesting bits that I try to hold onto like what I believe is sax early on in the album that makes me feel like a little more jazz could spice it up a bit. Later on the vocals feel straight out of 90's Seattle Washington grunge music and the instrumentation even feels like it just slowed and sludged up the style but all it did for me was have me go back and listen to early Mudhoney and have a much better time. This just isn't for me, and I feel bad giving this such a low rating, but I can't justify giving it a good one since I was so bored by it and know there are others out there like me who could use a view on the other side of the river. I am learning more and more this is just not my type of music but for me this is definitely not the direction of sludge or slower metal that I want to listen to but I know this is just a fork in the road for me where I found other music here similar that's more akin to what I want to hear and this is the prime example of what I don't want to hear. I can't say this is inherently bad and know this isn't what I want but I would also recommend this to someone who asks about this style and I would gladly show this record to them and I would be sincere knowing they would like it and not just a complete joke of an album for us to all laugh at.

I feel like I'll be repeating myself a bunch on these reviews; I am trying, I really am to get into Atmospheric Sludge through the challenge laid out for me. Cult of Luna may be my introduction into the genre all those years ago back when I was in high school really getting into more extreme music and I know I had tried to listen to this back then around release. This is still not my thing and for my own personal listening enjoyment this should be a lower score because I won't be coming back to this again. I still didn't "enjoy" putting this on, not that it was grating or anything just doesn't hit what I want to listen to. I can try to be subjective as possible and know that there is something here for those that are into this style. There are many moments that I consider more post-rock that I did like. The instrumentally slow and rocking moments I like, but the more muddy or "sludge" is uninteresting for me. At this point I just want to say I gave it the 'ol college try but sometimes it's just not for everyone and this isn't for me.

I've listened to this again. A few times now to try to review this. This is what it is, a post-metal and sludge record. Not my thing, and I don't get much out of it. I've known and listened to Amenra for years, and every time I leave wondering why I spent my time with it. However I do keep coming back so maybe there's something to it. I don't go back time and time again, just every time I hear about these guys in one of my many social media feeds they tend to show up. If I sat down with this one and their entire discography I could probably pinpoint the differences between them if I wanted to but I don't really want to keep going back to these any more. I have tried, and I know whenever they release their next album eventually I'll listen to it too.

OK, an EP may not be the best way to discover a band, but it's what I've chosen after stirring up some curiosity from the stoner/speed metal sound of Mutoid Man's new album Mutants and that band's new bassist being part of this one. And it really paid off! I never knew until now how perfectly mesmerizing it is to blend stoner/sludge metal with speed/thrash metal, despite me going the Straight Edge-like path of staying away from drugs (you know what the deal is about stoner rock/metal).

High on Fire has been active for over 25 years and inspired many metal bands including Mastodon who first formed in one of High on Fire's earliest shows. This Oakland band won a Grammy award for the title track of their 2018 album Electric Messiah, so what's next? A 3-track EP consisting of an instrumental and two covers, that's what!

Bat Salad starts with its title instrumental which, as if the title's reference to that Black Sabbath instrumental isn't enough, pays great tribute to that band with blend of sludgy heavy/stoner metal. Absolutely nothing wrong there! The band's cover of "Into the Crypts of Rays" by Celtic Frost (whose album cover for To Mega Therion is parodied for the EP) does proper justice to that band's earlier sound and is an excellent cover, sealed by the gravelly voice of frontman Matt Pike (also the guitarist for Sleep). Another cover, "Don't Bother Me" from Bad Brains' demo album Black Dots is another terrific thrashy cover that shall certainly delight fans of that band.

So what we have is a stoner/sludge instrumental and two thrashy cover songs. The two sounds aren't combined together, but when put into the same EP, they perfectly fit side by side. Totally worthwhile and smashing for a short EP!

Favorites: all 3, but I certainly enjoy the title instrumental

Some of the best albums I've encountered come from bands that have been around for a long time, like a decade or a few. I never heard a song from this band until an outside-world friend showed me one that was a total rocker (we will get to that soon). Boy, was I hyped up! Here we have guitarist/vocalist Stephen Brodsky (Cave In), drummer Ben Koller (Converge), and bassist Jeff Matz (High on Fire). Talk about a powerhouse lineup! Mutoid Man has often been considered a stoner metal band, and well, I won't say that's inaccurate, but their sound is more like a hodgepodge of different styles, ranging from rockin' and rollin' to heavy and doomy.

Mutoid Man first formed in 2012 as a collaboration project between Brodsky and Koller. They've really driven through in the guitars and drum rhythms, not to mention how pulverizing ex-bassist Nick Cageao sounds when he plays his instrument. Brodsky knows how to make sure his vocals catch up with all that heavy technical speed. The lineup created two albums, Bleeder and War Moans, released in 2015 and 2017. Then after a Covers EP in 2018, not much activity spawned from the band. The members focused on their respective main bands, with Brodsky mourning the loss of his Cave In bandmate bassist Caleb Scofield (RIP). In 2023, one year after Cave In's Heavy Pendulum, Mutoid Man make their comeback in their new album Mutants, with Matz joining in as their new bassist.

Blasting off this kick-A offering is the energetic "Call of the Void", the song my outside-world showed me that made me up to checking out this album. The band sprint guitar screeches and drum tapping as Brodsky lets out more of his emotion to cope with the grief from the fallen bassist who is Scofield. Beach Boys-inspired choral melodies and hyper technicality are blended together at ease in this hard rock/speed metal piece of art. "Frozen Hearts" is another haunting highlight with darker lyrics, "I don’t wanna know anything right now, 'cause I would probably go anywhere right now". Lots of brooding speed/hardcore darkness there! Then we really slow down in "Broken Glass Ceiling" for some mid-tempo stoner metal in the groovy verses before speed up for some more of the thunderous hardcore/speed metal, heavy as ever. So far, we have a lot of hardcore speed going on, only slowing down for their stoner sound when necessary. And there's more of this diversity to come...

"Siren Song" is another top-notch highlight. It offers a bombastic blend of stoner metal and Sabbath-esque heavy metal with some technical speed and progressiveness at times. The catchy lyrics fit well with the synergy the musicians have. "Graveyard Love" returns to the hardcore/speed metal, sounding like a more metallic Ramones to go with the fun lyrics. The heavy sludgy "Unborn" is a total stoner head-beater that soon speeds up into one of the more progressive tracks, similar to early Mastodon.

Then "Siphon" kicks off having some of the math-ish metalcore instrumentation of Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan then continues on in progressive/sludge metal again as the vocal harmonies and growls blend together. "Demons" has more of an old-school hard/pop rock vibe that then becomes more progressive to hook you up in a whirling banger. "Memory Hole" is a straight stoner/sludge metal song. It's quite good, though a little more of a silver gem in golden treasure. The 6-minute finale "Setting Sun" summarizes everything in this album, starting with slow stoner metal, then speed up into the usual hardcore speed, with lots of progressiveness added when necessary.

Mutoid Man have provided a special delivery of stoner/hardcore/speed/progressive metal! There are so many high points spawned from the consistent flow of Mutants that makes me want more from this band. It's awesome enough that Koller and Brodsky, already two legends from the metalcore scene, know how take care of business together, but Matz is the missing piece of the puzzle for their masterpiece of solid power. Hope you're in for an incredible trip through a strange yet exciting universe!

Favorites: "Call of the Void", "Frozen Hearts", "Siren Song", "Siphon", "Setting Sun"

I'm on a journey (for the Infinite) to get into Atmospheric Sludge Metal. I understand why this album is considered so, but also it really doesn't fit the mold of other ASM that I've heard. Most sludge I do not like but I am trying to give them a chance and it's been a rough go at it. This album on the other hand had the slower, darker, more emotional sounds that I didn't know that I wanted. If there are more in the genre like this I am back in. This is my first album in the challenge that I am rating and I'll see after listening to a few more if it's worth continuing forward because I don't feel I can give the genre justice as it's just not my type of tea. This album however, I can absolutely see why other fans of the genre may shy away from caring too much about. It's darker and more emotional, I want to listen to this again already but it hit my emotions too hard on first listen to want to go back and give another spin immediately.

There are quiet droning moments with bombastic metal screams and explosions of guitar and drum melodies. It is a rollercoaster of emotions, that I truly fell into and maybe enjoy is not the right term but I connected to it and had an experience. Her singing is incredible, and screams too. It may not be the most catchy or melodic album but it's like watching that movie that's not particularly good but leaves a lasting impression on you. Maybe on repeat listens the "sludgier" aspects of this will creep in and I won't be as invested but the emotional ambience is what's lingering.

Dallas-based epic doom metal masters Solitude Aeturnus really surprised me with their 2006 "Alone" sixth full-length when Ben selected it for The Fallen feature release status some time ago. I'd previously allowed the band to pass me by but that record ticked all of my boxes & saw me claiming it as a genuine doom metal classic for the ages. Since that time I've always intended on exploring the rest of Solitude Aeturnus' more highly celebrated releases & thought I'd take this opportunity to kick that exercise off with their debut full-length "Into The Depths Of Sorrow" which is generally regarded as one of the elite examples of the niche subgenre overall.

In many ways "Into The Depths Of Sorrow" is the quintessential epic doom metal release in that it perfectly embodies the sound that the tag was originally created to label. All of the subgenres calling cards are here. Crushing doom riffs? CHECK! A strong classic heavy metal influence? CHECK! Theatrical power metal style vocals? CHECK! Soaring, shredtastic guitar solos? CHECK! A generally epic atmosphere? CHECK! I can't deny that the album is everything it said it would be on the tin & if that description sounds like something that'd appeal to you then you won't be disappointed but it did take me a couple of listens to get fully into for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I'm a much bigger doom fan than I am a heavy metal one & the heavy metal component is particularly prevalent here with those riffs being pretty standard heavy metal fodder & nothing particularly exciting so I find myself waiting around for the doom to return which it inevitably does & with devastating effect too. There's obviously a lot of Candlemass influence on show as this was Solitude Aeturnus' first full-length & Candlemass were, of course, the creators & clear leaders of the epic doom movement so there are clear similarities in the way the two bands go about their craft but the area that Solitude Aeturnus fall down in as far as that comparison goes is in the guitar solos as Edgar Rivera & John Perez aren't quite as virtuosic in their capabilities. Thankfully, the general quality of the song-writing is very strong & the vocals of future Candlemass, Concept of God & Tyrant front man Robert Lowe are exceptional which has gone a long way to seeing me crowning Solitude Aeturnus as my favourite band from the epic doom movement overall regardless.

The tracklisting kicks off in very solid fashion indeed with the short intro track "Dawn of Antiquity (A Return to Despair)" building the atmosphere nicely before the first proper song "Opaque Divinity" kicks in & wastes no time in flexing its muscles. It's followed by "Transcending Sentinels" which is clearly the least impressive track on the album in my opinion but is still pretty decent. The remaining five songs are all very strong indeed though & round out a particularly consistent album with no real blemishes. The reason I don't see "Into The Depths Of Sorrow" competing with "Alone" for bragging rights as my favourite epic doom metal release any time soon is that it doesn't contain as many genuine classics. The utterly mind-blowing "Mirror of Sorrow" is the clear highlight of the album & is frankly one of the best examples of the subgenre I've experienced to date but none of the other material comes close to matching it with the brilliant doom passages regularly having their impact offset a bit by some flatter heavy metal chug riffs. It's a shame really as I think there was a lot of potential for another classic release here if a bit of quality control had been employed.

At the end of the day though, I can't be too critical as "Into The Depths Of Sorrow" is still an impressively consistent first-up effort from one of the leaders of the movement. In fact, I'd go so far as to suggest that it's eclipsed all but "Alone" & Candlemass' classic "Nightfall" album in reaching my personal top three for the subgenre overall which is quite an accolade when you consider the areas of improvement I highlighted above. The experience has certainly left me wondering whether Solitude Aeturnus have managed to top their debut over the course of their next four records so I've penciled a couple of them in for exploration in the not too distant future. In the meantime though, "Into The Depths Of Sorrow" should be essential listening for all of you Candlemass, Solstice & Isole fans out there.

The novelty of this project is not lost on me.

Slower is a supergroup of sorts, consisting of many members of well established stoner/sludge metal bands through the 2000s, including Monolord, Fu Manchu and Year of the Cobra. Together they come together and ask the question that was surely on every metalheads mind: what would Slayer sound like if they were doom metal?

The answer is fascinating, but not without flaws. Given that the early Slayer albums (the most popular records) are very sloppy/muddy in their execution, it makes perfect sense to give them some sludge. However, the debut from Slower presents one major flaw: four of the five tracks are from post-Reign in Blood era Slayer. These albums were far cleaner and the idea of muddying them up seems a little out of left field in my honest opinion. The title track from South of Heaven does sound good, especially the iconic opening riff. While the three Seasons in the Abyss covers ("War Ensemble", "Blood Red" and "Dead Skin Mask") highlight just how groovy those songs really were before. And that just leaves "The Antichrist", which might serve as the albums outlier, but the production shows it indebtedness to those early Slayer albums.

It's rather difficult to review these since they aren't the bands ideas and are instead just covering songs that are staples within the metal community. I don't think it's bad per se, but the song selection is grossly mishandled. Slower should have given its listener something that felt closer to the "Slayer aesthetic" of messy production and shredding guitars. Instead, this record feels much closer to those classic, post-Reign in Blood albums that I really like, but likely don't represent the Slayer experience. And the songs do lose their charm because of that.

Best Songs: South of Heaven, The Antichrist

For sure there are a couple of things I liked about Objects Without Pain, the guitar tone is nicely pitched and best of all the drums sound amazing. I could listen to an isolated drum track of this quite happily and would prefer to over the finished thing. Unfortunately I couldn't take to it other than that. The songwriting is too spasmodic for me, it veers far too much into mathcore, djenty type territory for my preference and although I really like the tone of the album, the actual songwriting leaves me cold. But the absolute killer for me is the vocals. I would be the first to admit that I probably put too much weight onto vocals but I think I am quite tolerant of some very divisive vocalists, Silencer, Cirith Ungol, King Diamond or Demilich for example, but if I take against a singer then it is like a movie with Adam Sandler in it and no matter how good the rest of the production, it still has Adam Sandler in it! Such is the case with Demian Johnston, his vocals amount to little more than shouting at the top of his voice and just come over like some angry child berating his parents for some perceived injustice and which I find wearisome in the extreme. I don't have an issue with shouted vocals per se, but these are just irritating and off-putting to me to the degree where, by the second half of the album, my mind is wandering and I have pretty much tuned out. I seem to be a minority of one and good luck to those who derived far more enjoyment from it than I was able to muster, but this just isn't one for me I'm afraid.