Chris Reifert (Autopsy, Death) and Greg Wilkinson (also Autopsy, Deathgrave) combined bring sixty-one years of experience to the death-metal scene, the former since 1985 and the latter 1998. It’s only fitting that the two would not only come together to form a new band, but to also unleash an album that immediately sounds simultaneously old-school and deep-rooted.
I have a long held belief that predictability is underrated, and it ties in here with the rise in credibility once more of the concept of mono-tasking… rather than the futility of being merely competent in several disciplines there is something to be said in the mastery of a point of focus, and delivering again and again in that field. These words need to be framed with a context that this is not damning with faint praise or providing criticism, but acknowledgement that Unveil In The Abyss (Xtreem Music), the seventh full-length from doom / death stalwarts Desecresy, follows the patterns and symbols laid down by its predecessors, and does so to the expected standards sole contributor Tommi Grönqvist has long established.
Consummatum Est (Messor Grandis Productions) by Grand Harvest, a band once described as ‘Sweden’s most underrated metal band’ debuting a mix of melodic death and doom, with some touches of black metal I was quite interested to hear this. Continue reading
I must admit that for as deep as my love for Doom Metal goes, I’ve always been rather picky about Death/Doom in particular. The subgenre’s dedication to atmospheric melancholy is certainly commendable, but a lot of those bands seem to lack the ear-catching melodies and riffs that drew me to this style in the first place. Hooded Menace has certainly stood out as a leading voice in recent years, but a lot of their past work has been in the “almost there” category for me as a listener. Fortunately, the band’s sixth full-length album offers hints of possible change in this regard.Continue reading
Based way up in The Yukon, Northern Canada – Metal artist Rick Massie knows all about Walking in a Winter Wonderland. He has been dazzling us with a series of releases over the years. His most surprising cut might his latest, an ingenious Doom Metal cover of the Christmas season classic “We Three Kings!” Out today on all streaming DSPs and Bandcamp, check out the track right now!
When it comes to tortured, pained vocals, few do it quite like Dave Suzuki. The Churchburn front man led a cacophony of grimy, cavernous chaos on Genocidal Rite (Translation Loss) , a Death-Doom doozy from the Rhode Island-based foursome. With live musical performances on their minds (and who could blame them?), the group opens with ‘Toll Of Annihilation,’ a staticky and distorted affair that builds up before coming down via creepy bells sounding.
The peculiarity of Technical Death Metal is the capability of exploring itself, yet creativity begins to fade when there’s a vast repertoire of bands of this kind, which have made history on the underground’s music scene. Certain musical groups stick to follow a simple and uncomplicated path, keeping a comparable sound with many other bands that continue to perform in this genre. Let us consider the huge waves of Technical Death Metal in the eighties and in the nineties and how it reinvented itself to the present day. Bands such as Suffocation and Gorguts trace Technical Death Metal’s status as a whole, releasing records and records without losing its own legendary position, carrying bloody and filthy anthems for dozens of years. Continue reading
There was a time where Metal had an ageism problem; the perception prevalent that once heavier bands passed certain milestone birthdays or anniversaries, or wracked a certain number of albums, or miles on the road, they became jaded, watered-down parodies of themselves. The late nineties, and, to be fair, a good chunk of the first decade of this millennium, were not kind to our grizzled veterans, some of whom fed into the prophecy, with stock output outweighing those who could still hold their own.
Midwestern underground Death/Doom supergroup Pulchra Morte features members of Skeletonwitch, Wolvhammer, Eulogy, Abigail Williams, Harkonin, Leagues Below, and more. The band has signed a record deal with Chicago’s Transcending Records and will release a new album this fall. The band released a new track, “Knife Of The Will” via Decibel Magazine earlier this year. The tune served as a taste of the sounds to come.Continue reading
Hot on the heels of ex-bandmate Hamish Glencross’s latest effort with new band Godthrymm comes The Ghost Of Orion (Nuclear Blast), the fourteenth full-length from Yorkshire Gothic Doom royalty My Dying Bride. This year celebrating 30 years as an entity, any pressure the band may have felt is counteracted by an expectedly assured, emotionally raw performance that comes with such craftsmanship and experience.Continue reading