Doom Metal

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    Acelsia – Quietude (2011)

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    Making its way from Norway to our little corner of the world, today we have Acelsia’s latest EP titled “Quietude”. In this four-song EP the band shows their very effective approach to mixing Gothic and Doom Metal influences with some hints of Rock. Lead by the enchanting vocals of Malene Markussen, the band delivers 18 minutes of pure melancholic music that will move you one way or another.

    Opening with powerful riffs on “All these Years”, the band nicely transitions with enchanting female vocals and well constructed Doom-like riffs. While the band’s sound is not fully depressive or as down-tempo as regular Gothic Doom, you can still feel the melancholy behind the hearfelt songs presented in this release. “Happiness Prevails” opens with some weaping guitars and quickly transforms, this skill is probably Acelsia’s most interesting feature since the songs morph from one direction to another very seamlessly and effectively.

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    Mournful Congregation – The Unspoken Hymns (2011)

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    Funeral Doom Metal is certainly an acquired taste, but once you can enjoy behemoth 10 to 20 minute songs; this is one of the most satisfying genres of Metal. The Aussies of Mournful Congregation have been delivering crushing 10+ minute songs since 1993, and have engineered some of the most epic tracks of pure depression and desolation. With only three full-length releases under their belt but with several splits and compilation, the band is truly an underground phenomenon to be reckoned with.

    Lucky for American fans, 20 Buck Spin is releasing “The Unspoken Hymns”, a compilation album featuring one ‘new’ song (a remix) and several other tracks only available in hard to find Vinyl split releases. This is a great opportunity to checkout some of the less known but equally devastating tracks of this legendary band. Opening with the “Left Unspoken” remix version, from the “Four Burials” split CD, the band quickly establishes its very slow and agonizing pace with crushing guitar riffing and monumental slowdowns.

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    The Living Fields – Running out of Daylight (2011)

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    In days where most American bands are trying to be as vanilla as they can in order to play what’s popular and/or achieve fame, it is quite enjoyable to get bands like The Living Fields and find that there are still lone warriors trying to combine different genres and produce very interesting (and fresh) sounding music.

    Mixing a hefty dose of Death/Doom Metal with Pagan/Viking/Folk influences, “Running out of Daylight” is one of the richest and multi-leveled releases we have received in 2011 and made us take more than a fare dose of spins before we could actually write anything about it. With the opening “Remnant”, the band quickly delivers a powerful Doom foundation with classical string instruments in a way that bands like Ashes You Leave and Silent Stream of Godless Elegy do in their own respective areas. With crushing guitars and interesting tempo changes, the band dances around the lines of Doom brutality and melody seamlessly.

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    Draconian – A Rose for the Apokalypse (2011)

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    After a few years of the release of “Turning Season Within”, Draconian finally makes their return with another crushing release: “A Rose for the Apokalypse”. With a considerable increase in maturity, the band crafts 10 tracks of the best Gothic Doom Metal in the scene. It is highly un-likely that any other band will rival the quality of this release in 2011.

    Always characterized by the ‘beauty and the beast’-style vocal struggle between Anders Jacobsson and Lisa Johansson, the band builds up on their depressive sound and adds extra elements that make this release even more punishing and beautiful. With a powerful opening, “The Drowning Age” delivers the first blow of brilliance presented in this release. As the song progresses it nicely mellows to clean/harsh/female vocals and engaging guitar riffing.

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    To Cast a Shadow - In Memory of (2011)

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    In the slow and painfully good category today we have To Cast a Shadow and their Doom album “In Memory of”. It has been quite a while since a band has managed to capture the emptiness and bleakness of Death/Gothic Doom Metal, but luckily To Cast a Shadow has given us 10 tracks of emotional music.

    Hailing from Norway, this band delivers a very simple yet effective approach to the genre and with angelic female vocals creates a very powerful atmosphere. Traditional Doom Metal riffs open “Tormented” and all is good until you get the male vocals, to be brutally honest… they suck, but the female vocals greatly make up for this in the rest of the song.

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    The Gates of Slumber – Wretch (2011)

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    The tone is set to heavy with Gates of Slumber’s latest album; the riffs crawl along at a sludge-like tempo with an eeriness weaving in and out of the pattern. Moving away from their usual theme of swords and sorcery and into the real world was a wise choice for their part as well the pick for new drummer, J “Cool” Clyde” Paradis. His drumming has a vibe to it that sounds like it made even vocalist Karl Simon and bassist Jason McCash step up their game a bit.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Forgotten Tomb – Under Saturn Retrograde (2011)

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    After gives us four very bleak and depressive first full-length releases, Forgotten Tomb returns with an equally melancholic release but with a different sonic effect under the name of “Under Saturn Retrograde”. In this album the band moves forward to lands charted by Agalloch, Fen, etc. and creates a very rich listening experience while maintaining some of the dark emotions from the past.

    The opener track “Reject Existence” is both brutal (great harsh vocals) and very melodic due to the majestic guitars and overall pace of the song. The band is not slowing down, and you can hear their earlier influences but they are now polishing their sound in a very interesting way. “Shutter” starts off very aggressive but near the middle of the track the experimentation begins and there are some excellent Doom Metal inspired sections.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    A Pale Horse Named Death – And Hell Will Follow Me (2011)

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    In the ‘meh’ column, today we have A Pale Horse Named Death and their debut album “And Hell Will Follow Me”. Even though the band features Sal Abruscato (ex-Type O Negative) and Matt Brown (Seventh Void), there is not much to enjoy (at least for us) with a lot of dull and repetitive riffs.

    Maybe some fanboys of Type O Negative will try to cope with the loss of Peter Steele and adopt this band, since it sounds a bit like earlier TON albums (sans the vocals of course). But for us it just feels like a very average mixture of Doom/Stoner Metal and Alternative Rock elements that falls short of the caliber of the band’s members.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Deep Desolation – Subliminal Visions (2011)

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    All the way from Poland today we have Deep Desolation and their crushing debut full-length release “Subliminal Visions”. Mixing Black, Death and Doom Metal the band manages to pull it off graciously with a monumental sound and very well crafted songs.

    We have to admit that whenever we get something labeled Black/Doom metal, it usually sucks and it’s a pain in the ass to review since we have to listen to the full CD at least 3 times. With “Subliminal Visions” it was very relieving that we actually enjoyed the CD on the first spin and we ended up loving it the next few times. The band’s take on the genre mixing comes from an aggressive perspective rather than drowning the listener with slow Doom riffs and Black Metal snarls that will make you start snoring.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Ptahil – The Black Fire (2010)

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    In preparation for their upcoming full-length CD for Wraith Productions "For His Satanic Majesty's Glory", we get 3 crushing tracks of nihilistic Black/Doom Metal from one of USA’s newest and most diabolical bands. For 13 minutes we are transported to the depts. of hell, thanks to a raw and thick atmosphere that evolves you in full darkness.  

    With two new tracks and a cover of Beherit’s “Gate of Nanna”, this demo CD has enough sauce to keep fans going until their new album gets released. The crushing track “World Ablaze” kicks off this CD and immediately starts with blasting drums, hellish vocals and a very raw nature to the song that makes it highly effective. We are not sure that this will be the final mix and how the CD will sound, but we dig the rawness of this track.

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