Indigo Raven – Looking For Transcendence
Indigo Raven plays a style of Doom/Post Metal rooted in Chelsea Wolfe’s heaviest excursions, contrasting atmospherically monolithic guitar chugs and slow burn rhythms with ethereal vocals and occasional electronics. Those vocals in particular help the French trio stand out, putting on a passionately bluesy performance that differs from the more vulnerable approach of peers like Frayle and Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard.
While relying on these elements could make Looking For Transcendence (Argonauta Records) out to be a one-trick pony, the songwriting allows for them to be expressed in different ways. ‘Our Sacred Soil’ and ‘Where Lies Our Heart’ bookend the album in ritualistic fashion, ‘Small-hearted & Blind’ injects some extra aggression, and ‘The White Knight Syndrome’ and ‘Nightshade Winds’ add some extra creepiness. It would be stronger with some more impactful hooks but it’s a very solid work of spooky Doom Metal overall.
7 / 10
Witnesses – The Collapse
Maintaining a prolific presence across multiple genres, The Collapse is the third Doom Metal-oriented album from Witnesses and is driven by a similar mix of melancholic atmosphere, sluggish tempos, and morose vocals. However, the album stands out for having a more Ambient presence compared to the preceding Doom II. Along with the keyboard-driven ‘Entrance’ and ‘Interlude,’ songs like ‘Repose’ and ‘They Giveth And Taketh Away’ incorporate lengthy Post Rock-esque builds and pregnant pauses amidst the brooding riffs and heavier drums. This can admittedly make the songwriting feel a little jumbled at times, but it picks up toward the end. The riff set on the closing ‘It Will Come For You, It Comes For Everyone’ certainly lives up to that Doom-tastic title.
7 / 10
A Pale Horse Named Death – Infernum In Terra
For the most part, A Pale Horse Named Death’s fourth album is right in line with its predecessor, 2019’s When The World Becomes Undone. The mood is considerably less distraught this time around, but the band still delivers its Alice In Chains meets Type O Negative style with slow motion rhythms and drawn out vocal lines. Unfortunately, those elements continue to work against the band as Infernum In Terra (Long Branch Records) suffers from instrumentation that is often too plodding for its own good and pacing that stretches the hooks too far for them to leave any discernible impact. It’s hard to tell if the band needs to up the tempo for the sake of the hooks or perhaps adopt a more experimental edge if they stay in the slow lane, but where they currently stand remains rather uninspired.
5 / 10
Chrome Waves – The Rain Will Cleanse
Chrome Waves releases are getting to be like clockwork now, putting out a full-length of six songs every year with each album gradually moving further away from their Black Metal roots. The Rain Will Come pushes this trend to its furthest extents yet, focusing on a near exclusively clean vocal performance and doubling down on the Post Punk and Shoegaze influences. But while a similar stylistic shift has proven controversial in the hands of Deafheaven, it’s a smoother execution here thanks to the already established priorities on bleak atmosphere and muscular drum work. The depressing yet anthemic ‘Sometimes’ is a standout, ‘A Future’ puts in a sturdy trudging rhythm, and a sense of urgency returns for the closing ‘Aspiring Death.’ There may be bigger names in the Post Metal scene, but Chrome Waves continues to be among the most reliable.
8 / 10
CHRIS LATTA