Internal Void - Standing on the Sun (1992)^{Release ID: 27893}

This is truly one of the hidden gems of the early nineties' doom scene and is a record I can't believe isn't more popular among fans of traditional doom metal. Hailing from Frederick, Maryland, Internal Void were apparently pretty well-known in the Washington DC area, yet seem to have gained little traction outside the US capital's rarified atmosphere, which is a great shame as this album kicks all kinds of ass and, to these grizzled old ears at least, gives more highly-regarded releases from the time a run for their money if not actually whupping them into submission. Despite being in existence for since 1987, with a two-year hiatus around 2013, Internal Void have unbelievably only released three full-lengths of which Standing on the Sun is their debut.

Musically Ithe band sit somewhere between Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus and sound similar to The Obsessed, particularly the guitar work of Kelly Carmichael who's dirty riffs are obviously influenced by Wino. Carmichael also turns in some red-hot solos that seem to howl into the aether like a wounded beast and contain passing nods to both Tony Iommi and, I would dare to suggest, Rush's Alex Lifeson. Vocalist J.D. Williams often times sounds like Ozzy but at others sounds more like Wino but either way, his vocals are perfectly appropriate to this style of grimy trad doom. The rhythm section of future Earthride drummer Eric Little and bassist Adam S. Heinzmann, whilst not doing anything showy or overtly impressive, provide enough of a solid foundation for both Carmichael and Williams to launch their sonic salvos on unsuspecting metalheads' ears.

Standing on the Sun is an impressive slab of doom metal and contains enough remnants of Sabbath's heavy metal to perfectly illustrate what is meant by the traditional doom metal tag. There are some supremely heavy riffs and some that have a nice "groove" to them as well in a more stoner-influenced style. In fact, Kelly Carmichael has turned in one of my favourite guitar performances of nineties doom metal on this, with both his dirty riffs and psych-influenced leads really sticking with me. His intro to Utopia of Daze even apes the anticipatory build-up intro to one of my favourite tracks of all-time, The Stooges I Wanna Be Your Dog, before slowing it down and turning in yet another killer riff-fest.

So there we have it, if you are into old-school, Sabbath-influenced doom metal as practiced by Saint Vitus, The Obsessed, Count Raven or Pentagram then you really should wrap your ear'oles around this fantastic hour's worth of trad doom awesomeness.