Hooded Menace - Never Cross the Dead (2010)^{Release ID: 5813}

Some really chunky doom death metal with obvious early Cathedral influences. The guitar sound is heavily down-tuned & sludgy. Vocalist Lasse's Cookie Monster vocals are pretty unconvincing & the overall sound is a bit primitive. There are some really heavy chugging moments spoiled by some really bad groovy ones. The guitar solos are particularly average. This whole CD sounds a bit dated in today's environment.

For every "serious" death/doom release you need at least one that is not afraid to wear its love of b movie horror on it's sleeve, right?  "Never Cross the Dead" works on two levels for me.  Firstly, the relentless groove of the riffs just floors me every time, bending my mind with every string strike and contorting my eardrums with every bottom-end bend to the riffs.  Secondly, the album has a real sense of tongue in cheek delivery.  Playing like a soundtrack to some "Best of..." Hammer Horror movie compilation with its menacing gloom and promise of evil intent.  Take all the Doom of Candlemass and blend it with the crunch of latter day Entombed and add some clunky, awkward elements of Autopsy to proceedings and you're getting close to the experience of "Never Cross the Dead".

Opener and title track stomps around in my head literally for days after just one listen.  The melodic yet acutely distressing work of the solo a stark contrast to the catchy riff that makes up the main core of the track.  Lysse Pyykkö's gruff and guttural vocals cementing everything in place like some churned cement mix.

The menace continues into the brilliantly named "Terror Castle", that perilous edge to the riffs just loitering with nefarious intentions, like some undead teenager kicking his mate's decapitated head against your back wall.  The ham continues across tracks such as "The House of Hammer" and of course "Theme from Return of the Evil Dead" which closes the album.

For all the plodding dirge of the album you still get sufficiently crushed during the fifty-plus minutes of its running time.  It is an album that walks the full soundscape of death/doom very well being memorable yet never predictable somehow.