Sonny's Reviews
This, the latest album from one of the leaders of the currently in vogue space black metal movement, is another terrific slice of atmospheric music, so suiting to accompanying a flyby of the solar system that if it had been out thirty-odd years ago then they would have had Voyager I playing it as it went off on it's journey to the outer reaches!
Despite the demo-quality sound of the recording (or maybe because of it), this manages to be both atmospheric and exceedingly heavy Sludge / Doom Metal that laid the groundwork for their brilliant 2017 debut full-length, Cosmic Doom Ritual.
Gorge are a sludge / doom band from Connecticut who sing about the bloody and distant history of the North American continent. This tale of the earliest migrants into Alaska via the eponymous ancient land bridge from Eurasia is their first full-length release and, with a flash of inspiration, was recorded live deep within the heart of the Tariffville gorge. This has given the album a unique atmosphere, the sheer titanic enormity and timelessness of this geographical feature has lent it's gravitas to the crushingly huge riffs of the music these three delvers into prehistory have spewed forth like primordial lava oozing from the seas to form continents. A genuinely impressive debut release and one of the heaviest albums of 2019.
Despite forming in 2009, these French doomsters have only now in 2019 released their first full-length album. Presumably they have spent the previous decade honing their song-writing skills because these are not songs written by fresh-faced, naive young musicians. These, instead, are carefully crafted and expertly performed, with their ambitious vision of blackened death doom producing songs of variation and complexity on a level with any Tarkus or Close to the Edge of yesterday's prog visionaries. The albums layout is very symmetrical (intentionally or not, I don't know), the central third track and metaphorical eye of the storm is a gentle acoustic piece that provides a soothing respite from the intensity of the rest of the album. Second and fourth tracks, Embers and The Downward Stream respectively are both ten minute pummellers, that incorporate elements of dissonance into their death doom vibe that owes much to the icelandic BM scene. The opener, Smouldering Darkness and closing track Monolithe both weigh in around the twenty minute mark. These two tracks, however, are no monotonous lumbering beasts, but are vital and complex in their structure as the band forge their entire sonic arsenal into a couple of hugely satisfying and impressive epics. The album as a whole flows superbly well and has an almost narrative feel to it, as if illustrating a particularly profound tale.
As a side note, the digital version is inexplicably "Name Your Price" on Bandcamp, so no-one has an excuse for not owning a copy!
Melo-death-thrash that sounds like Vader run through a 90's-thrash filter. No bad thing in my book and I've heard a lot worse in recent times.
This cracking slab of historical black metal is, surprisingly, only just now seeing the light of day despite being recorded way back in 2010. I don't know why this would be, but it certainly isn't because of any lack of quality. It catalogues the fall and rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, a tale that undoubtedly has a kind of affinity with black metal sensibilities. The music is both ascerbic and melodic, dealing up just over half an hour of synth-enhanced imperialistic savagery and majesty.
This is one of two terrific thrash albums released on the same day, Kreator's Gods of Violence being the other, when usually we're lucky to get two in the same month. This harks back to those heady post- Reign in Blood days of the latter half of the 80's when a few thrash bands were beginning to evolve an even harsher, more brutal sound that would eventually mutate into death metal. I haven't followed the modern thrash scene too closely in recent times, but if this is indicative of what's on offer it's now time to return in earnest.
Another of the early nineties classic down 'n' filthy death doom albums. Super-downtuned, bordering on subsonic with one of the most guttural growlers in death metal. Winter, Autopsy, Cianide, Rippikoulu, Ceremonium - great times indeed!
Five tracks of blackgaze that triggers emotions of hope tinged with melancholy. Feels like when someone is undertaking a new stage in their life, filled with optimism yet thinking of a lost loved one and wishing they could share the experience with them - wistful black metal.
By now everyone knows the story of the genesis of Syntheosis, a collaboration between Oranssi Pazuzu (one of my favourite black metal bands) and Dark Buddha Rising (about whom, before this release, I knew absolutely nothing) for a Roadburn commision that was intended as a live only entity, but took on a life of it's own, finally resulting in this studio release. Musically it's extremely difficult to pigeon-hole, as can be evidenced by the disparate genre tags on this very site - I'll go with blackened, spacey, atmo-sludge, heavily-influenced by the 1970s, of particularly King Crimson, but there are also traces of Hawkwind and even Tangerine Dream in there. The three vocalists allow for great variety from gurgling black metal shrieks to the almost post-punk female-sounding singing on Wake up the Possessor and the twin drummers hammer out some extremely compelling tribalistic rhythms. I have found myself increasingly drawn towards albums that focus heavily on atmosphere and this certainly falls into that bracket, the whole feeling like the soundtrack to a journey through some unsettlingly dark dimension similar to the one visited by the Event Horizon in the film of the same name. I must admit that whilst listening to the album I found it extremely easy to imagine it being performed live and although this is an impressive listen, I can't help feeling it is even more so in a live setting. One of 2019's must-hear metal albums.
I feel certain there is a hefty tome to be written concerning the relationship between the tales of HP Lovecraft and metal. Doom metal in particular is suited to HPL's tales of lurking horrors and creeping terror, as it is most successful when creating an atmosphere of unease and melancholy.
Burial in the Woods are a solo doom metal outfit of Germany's Gerileme, a veteran of several underground doom and black metal bands such as Idisenfluch, Osteon and Ravnsvart and are one of the most recent bands to plough this particularly fruitful thematic furrow. This, the debut release under the Burial in the Woods moniker, consists of fairly orthodox, slow doom riffs in the vein of Lord Vicar, Apostle of Solitude et al with skirling guitar work layered on top and black metal-influenced low, shrieking vocals. There are several well-worn tropes of Lovecraft-related metal - chanted, ritualistic vocal sections and a liberal use of (seemingly real) church organ (particularly on the instrumental Ecclesia Dagoni) meant to exemplify the blasphemous rituals of the devotees of Dagon and others of the Cthulhian canon. This may all sound a little clichéd and underwhelming, but Gerileme has managed to weave these prosaic elements into a whole that has the, presumably intended, effect of producing an atmosphere of unseen horror and dread, blasphemous rituals carried out in delapidated New England fishing village chapels as befits the source material.
The twenty-four minute closing track, Gölgeler Alemi, is a reworking of a song from the solitary album by one of Gerileme's old band's Negatum which, other than the length, with it's lyrics telling of an unseen Purgatory for departed souls, doesn't differ greatly from the rest of the album either thematically or musically.I
These Parisian death doom merchants have been a favourite of mine since their Where Wolves Once Dwelled demo ep, but this has exceeded even my expectations. I mean, what kind of balls does it take to begin a debut album with a drum solo? Chthonic rituals indeed, the vocals gurgle up as if from some Lovecraftian charnel pit and the doomy riffs suggest long-forbidden rites of summoning. This is death doom with a real old-school vibe, taking the listener right back to the heady days of the late 80s and early 90s.
I know nothing of musical theory. I have no idea what microtonalism means. I don't know what a polyrhythm or a tempo ratio is. Adam Kalmbach (aka Jute Byte) does however and offers a baffling (to me, anyway) introduction to this album discussing how these things relate to this record, on the album's Bandcamp page. Of course, all this goes right over my head. However, what I do know is that all this makes for an original and challenging black metal record that breaks away from the endless imitators and plagiarists of the modern BM scene, going against the current trend of making black metal more accessible (and, presumably, profitable). This is not an easy listen and, I suppose, you'll either love it or hate it but, as such, it should be applauded for getting under people's skin and dividing opinion in a way that extreme metal and black metal, in particular, used to.
Thunderin', pummellin' death metal, kicking off with the killer "Beg for Life" that leaves us doing just that and doesn't let up until the closing notes of the incendiary "Heat Death" a mere thirty-eight minutes later. This is my idea of death metal, an album that references back to early 90's death, retaining some of the elements of thrash, but with a thoroughly modern ethos.
One of the better thrash albums to emerge since the early 90's sounded the death knell for the genre that changed the face of metal forever. It seems that South America has now become quite a hotbed for "the genre that just won't die" and these Chileans may just have trumped most of the other Latin neo-thrashers with their neck-snapping, fist-pumping debut. It's no hyperbole to claim that Misconception doesn't feel hugely out of place when weighed against early classics by the likes of Kreator, Sodom and even Metallica - the Cliff Burton-esque bass work of Ignacio Arévalo is of particular note. Throwing out incredible riff after incredible riff then melting your inner ear with his searing solos lead guitarist Felipe Alvarado must be absolutely knackered after this, which is probably why he keeps the vocals to a minimum (although they are perfectly fine). It will take a bolt out of the blue to produce a better thrash album this year. Count me impressed!
Aggressive and muscular thrash that also borrows from death and black metal, similar to the band's compatriots Blood Tsunami. There are very few tempo changes or variation, but a guarantee that your ears will be relentlessly pummelled for thirty-odd minutes which, as you know if you are any fan of thrash, is no bad thing. The downside is that the production sounds muddied and blunts the assault a little but, to be fair, this is a minor niggle. Recommended for fans of Kreator, Slayer, Sodom etc.
Andavald are another band to hail from Iceland's burgeoning dissonant black metal scene. This five-track album is book-ended by a couple of unsettling piano-led instrumental pieces, the meat of the album being three tracks lasting a bit over thirty minutes of well-written black metal. The album's slightly uneasy atmosphere isn't merely down to the dissonance employed on the tracks, but also the pacing which is, in the main, much slower than is usual for black metal. I really like the album's overall effect and prefer it to quite a few of it's more illustrious counterparts.
This is classic funeral / death doom material with the album's four tracks clocking in at a mammoth 83 minutes. Thematically, the album deals with the human race's apparently suicidal need to be the instrument of it's own destruction through unmitigated consumption of the planet's resources and pathological voyeurism. These themes are very much suited to the morbid and sorrowful atmosphere created by these french alchemists, the towering walls of sound washing everything away to leave the listener overwhelmed, exhausted and resigned to their fate, like the people of the album's cover queueing passively for their own execution. Absolutely recommended for fans of Esoteric, Evoken, Bell Witch et al.
With vocals straight from the early-Burzum "anguished, tortured soul" school of singing and a dissonant guitar that sounds like it was recorded in some long-forgotten subterranean crypt, Sortilegia summon the true spirit of black metal, unholy and disturbing!
Soaring guitar work, anguished vocals and a particularly pleasing drum sound make this a terrific addition to the genre. Despite the obligatory delicate instrumental track (To Transcend) and the addition of Alexandra Morte's haunting female vocals on closer If You Leave, the album doesn't sound cliched or forced, but rather the natural expression of a band on top form.
Crawling, dense doom metal with a seriosly heavy bottom end. More straight-up doom than the Irishmen's last couple of sludge-tinged releases. Featuring earth-shaking riffs and echoing, incorporeal vocals that seem to seep up from the earth's depths, this should satisfy any lover of true, undiluted doom metal.
An hour of epic medieval-themed french black metal. Black metal blended with medieval folk music certainly isn't an original idea, but despite this these two guys have managed to make an album that sounds fresh and exciting. The songwriting is first rate with some really nice melodies. Tulzcha's playing is exemplary throughout and the vocals aren't overly harsh. Personally, I found it to be a stirring release and can't recommend it enough.
Two lengthy laments that weave together elements of Post-Rock, Sludge, Doom, Black Metal, Ambient and more into a couple of mournful tapestries of despair. Both tracks begin serenely enough, but soon descend into anguish as the grindingly heavy riffs and shrieking vocals kick in, which subside back into introspective calm, followed by more anguish - real Bipolar Doom.
Despite the length, neither track becomes boring, with more than enough going on to satisfy all but the most impatient of doom-heads.
Over an hour of brilliant doom / black metal that has a very progressive feel to it. The integration of the doom and black aspects of the tracks works very well and is the product of a band that appear to understand both genres instinctively. The production isn't the best, but adds to the atmosphere of the music, and particularly the vocals, with their almost whispered blackened delivery, sounding like a disembodied voice beseeching the listener from the beyond. As a lover of both doom and black metal, this album is like a gift from the Outer Reaches.
OK, so it's no departure from the female-fronted doom template laid down by the likes of Windhand and Blood Ceremony but I honestly love this shit and still haven't yet had my fill, so Doom On!
Another worthy addition to the Italian Doom canon from Sicily's Haunted. With huge riffs and great vocals from singer Cristina Chimirri, the Windhand influence is unmistakeable, which is certainly no bad thing as far as I'm concerned, seeing as Dorthia Cottrell & co are one of my favourite bands and can't put albums out fast enough for my liking! Proper Doom for Discerning Doomheads...
The Flight of Sleipnir's 2017 album, Skadi, is one of contrasting sounds, not merely concentrating on the heavy, doomier side of things. Opener, Awaken, starts off heavily enough, but then changes pace with a nice, mellow, clean-vocal section before kicking down the door again. Second track, completing side one, Tenebrous Haze is the only unrelentingly metal track, complete with mighty riffs and harsh vocals. Side two opens with Earthen Shroud, the first half of which is a laidback psychedelic number, reminiscent of bands like Procul Harum, but steadily the track builds up to a crescendo, fired by anticipation. Voices is, ironically, a pastoral, acoustic instrumental number, that projects an air of quiet calm before best track Falcon White closes out the album in epic style. Unusually for a doom outfit, this has quite an uplifting tone and is one of the most positive-sounding doom albums I've ever heard.
I love HP Lovecraft's tales and I'm always partial to a short catchy number, so Arkham Witch's 2015 full-length is right up my street. Coming on like a doom metal Ramones, or the unholy spawn of Cathedral and The Misfits this album is chock-full of genuine sing-a-long metal. Twenty tracks in all, most clocking in at only two minutes and change, each based on a different HPL story. To be honest, I've never been 100% sure if AW aren't just taking the piss, but who gives a shit, if they can knock out an album that's just this much FUN..
A fairly insipid slice of gothic doom that becomes tedious way before the almost 70 minutes of the album are done. The songs are so similar that it all merges into one long dirge. Like gazing at a grey sky on an interminable, drizzly day.
This follow-up to 2011's Tahoma is another triumph of US nature-themed black metal. The songs segue effortlessly from pastoral folk-influenced acoustic passages to blistering BM, evoking the dual-faced spirit of the natural world, in both it's beauty and brutality. Impressive.
Atmospheric Black Metal is one of my favourite musical genres when done well and here Alda do it very well indeed. Like compatriots Panopticon, Alda manage to conjure up visions of forests, streams and mountains in the mind's eye using only basic black metal instrumentation (with the occasional acoustic supplementation) and a whole lot of skill and imagination. The tracks on offer here are just so well done that you never even notice how lo-fi it all is, either. Excellent stuff and if you're at all interested in USBM then check it out.
Ahab's second album and follow-up to Call of the Wretched Sea is not as relentlessly crushing as that monstrous classic of funeral doom, the atmosphere relieved by passages of lightness with cleaner vocals and softer acoustic sections and although I understand the band's wish to develop, for me, this is a step down from the debut and a dilution of their sound. Don't misunderstand, this is a very good album and when the band do lay on the heavy funereal dirges, then they are still able to crush the air from your chest with a mountain of sound, it's just that I wanted more of that!
This second full-length album from Sweden's Stilla, takes an avant-garde sound similar to the kind of things Ihsahn did on his first few solo records and forces it into a more straightforward black metal template. The resulting dichotomy makes for an original voice in the crowded BM scene. It's refreshing to hear a band doing something a little different and not just rehashing old Mayhem or Darkthrone riffs or wandering into the overcrowded realm of atmospheric BM. I must admit, I wasn't initially gripped, but give it a chance, as I think it's an album that rewards patience and just gets better with each subsequent listen as it's complexity is unravelled. It may not be completely successful 100% of the time, but credit the band for having the integrity to play music they believe in.
My two favourite music genres are doom and black metal and nobody combines the two better than Yith. Throw in a Lovecraftian bent to the lyrics, musing on long-abandoned ancient ruins and unseen lurking terrors and the result may be my perfect album. A bleak and hopeless contemplation on the insignificance of man's existence in a universe that measures the passage of time in eons.
Was and still is, my Album of the Year for 2018.
Huge, heaving swells of sound, a growling, gurgling voice from the oceans very depths and the huge malevolent eye staring from the album's cover can only really point to one theme - the emergence of the dread lord Cthulhu from deep within R'lYeh and the impending destruction of all mankind. At once conveying both the crushing pressure of the sea depths and the expansiveness and sheer mind-destroying scale of the inter-stellar spaces, there are few better examples of a real atmosphere of iminent and inescapable doom. The final ambient track, Entreaties to the Primaeval Chaos finishes the album perfectly, documenting the ritual chant to raise man's nemesis and his answering stirrings. All in all this is a true classic of funeral doom that has few equals.
Skogen are yet another band of a growing number, who are breaking out of the artificial genre confines imposed on them by metal's conventions. Their nature-themed, atmospheric black metal sound has been expanded with elements of folk, progressive and doom metal. This can only be a good thing for extreme metal as we are spared endless regurgitation of the same basic concepts and can once more look forward to new releases with a genuine excitement and anticipation.
One of the best trad metal albums I've heard in absolutely ages, as we should probably expect from a band with this kind of pedigree. Their uniquely off-the-wall sound certainly helps set them apart from the rest of the herd. Let's hope that what bands like Slough Feg and Smoulder are doing heralds a new Golden Age for traditional heavy metal.
I love DoN's take on the atmospheric black metal genre and bought this after hearing their 2015 album Umbras de Barbagia. This EP is an excellent precursor to that absolute classic of an album and one I would recommend to any lover of Cascadian Black Metal in the vein of Wolves in the Throne Room.
A hefty dose of swedish "true" doom that is as understated as it is intense. The six tracks are driven by a super-solid rhythm section, on which the disembodied vocals and sometimes crushing, sometimes airy, guitar work of Thomas Jäger are hung. To sound so heavy, seemingly so effortlessly, is a real achievement, like watching a genuine artist painting a masterpiece and thinking "Fuck, I wish I could do that". Impressive.
With a lighter production job and a couple more psych moments, this is not quite as ball-crushingly heavy (and awesome!) as previous album, the high-watermark Vaenir, but still a very good slab of Scandi-True-Doom from one of it's primary proponents.