Heavily rooted in the traditional Doom Metal-centered alignment, Athens-based Tèlma has consistently presented melancholic sounds with ceremonial atmospheres. They have been around for roughly eight years and are profoundly inspired by many names across the globe when it comes to musical influences – including Russia’s Scald, Finland’s Reverend Bizarre, and Chile’s Procession – though most listeners probably also can sense some Candlemass-esque hints of references in their sounds.
Since their inception in 2011, Colorado Sludge trio In The Company Of Serpents have slowly but noisily gone about making a serious name for themselves in the Stoner Doom scene. With four albums already under their belts, the fifth comes in the shape of an independently released behemoth, A Crack In Everything.Continue reading
As the summer months finally arrive, and with the prospect of sunshine-filled holidays (tell me you’re from the UK without saying you’re from the UK) and lazy beach days with ice cold beer and rapidly melting ice-cream literally just around the corner, Arizona Doom trio Goya say fuck all that.Continue reading
Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State (Napalm Records) marks Katatonia’s third album without founding guitarist Anders Nyström (editor’s note: his hiatus is now a permanent departure). This leaves Jonas Renske to steer the ship into darker and increasingly progressive waters of melancholy. A formula is in place, and the new guitarists navigate it well. They continue to demonstrate a fearless willingness to bust out a guitar solo with their feet firmly on the monitor, to invoke the era of guitar heroes past. The heaviest element might be Jonas’ lyrics, which retain a sharp bite on this album. The drumming is consistent in playing down solid grooves, allowing the band to back off and create more space for the fragile emotion of Jonas’ croon. The band maintains its persona. Continue reading
The wait for a new Candlemass album can often be slower than their riffs so it’s always a pleasant surprise when an interim release appears on the horizon. Four-track EP Black Star (Napalm Records) might only contain two original songs from the Godfathers of Swedish Doom but, as usual, it’s a tale of quality over quantity. Continue reading
In the world of “caveman battle doom” metal, there may not be much competition, but Conan is the clear champion of this primitive sludge/doom metal genre. The Liverpool threesome has dropped their sixth full-length in the form of Violence Dimension (Heavy Psych Sounds). Clocking in at just under an hour with eight excruciatingly heavy tracks with all of the unga bunga you could ask for is just right.Continue reading
Messa’s fourth album, The Spin (Metal Blade Records), finds the band embracing their inner prog rock guitar gods, and channeling that energy in a few different directions. The first few songs might fake you out as they sound as if the band is heading in a more post-punk direction. The guitars gallop with more tension at a fairly brisk pace. This is certainly a shift from their earlier material that found them as more of a doom band. The vocals are very strong and well-defined from a songwriting perspective, which is the most important element of their sound. The band has always carried a smoky blues-based undercurrent, which is still present, though at times they wander off into more atmospheric shadows, as heard on ” At the Races”. Their guitarist begins to shine on this one, and his heroics do not let up from here. Continue reading
An entire anthropological study could be done on how the region a band comes from affects the sound of any given genre. Continue reading
The worst that can happen by pairing two contrasting ideas is it doesn’t sound or feel pleasing or appropriate.Continue reading
Initially started in 2017 as a solo side project to Lucifer’s Fall by Phil Howlett and later helped out by longtime collaborator Kieran Provis (also of Lucifer’s Fall fame), the Adelaide-bound Solemn Ceremony has been crafting the purest form of barbaric, raw, and obscure old school Doom ever since. Moreover, they have been doing it in the style of the 80s. Equipped with past experiences in songwriting for Rote Mare and Lucifer’s Fall, the ever-talented Phil Howlett brings his listeners a distinctive style of aggression-laden vocals that appear fiendish and savage.