Doomed For Metal Reviews

Mortuaire is a death metal band from France, who formed in 2021.  They have wasted little time in getting their music to the underground, releasing their debut a year later in 20022.  Just a few years afterwards, and they are debuting their first full-length album “ Monde Vide .”  I am unfamiliar with their EP but “ Monde Vide ” is a solid romp of nasty death metal that includes a lot of doom elements.  The band takes the route of Asphyx or Incantation , alternating between faster tempos and sprawling passage of slow, crushing doom. However, they have their own sound that is as dismal as it is brutal.  This album is surprisingly catchy in a lot of places—more catchy than music this damn disgusting usually is.  Of course, it’s riff based so the focus remains on the guitars but I can’t discount the bass and drums either—a powerful rhythm duo that never lets the song be anything other than sounding like you’re dying alone in a cave while rats eat your insides....

Vspolokh is a black metal band from Russia, who formed in 2004.  Their latest release, “ Мрьтвоземъ ,” is their third full-length album; they have also released a demo, three splits, and an EP.   I’ve never heard this band before but this album made me a fan.  I find this to be an unique album in some ways.  On the surface, it doesn’t do all that much to distinguish itself from other black metal bands.  However, as I listened to the album more and more, its depths began to grow until I was completely devoured by it.   It’s actually quite melodic and melancholic, a sort of “smooth” style of playing that flows very well.  Even though it’s abrasive and extreme, it also seems to just sort of wash over with its musical paintings, created by brush strokes lined with violent tragedy.  The use of clean tones, distortion, and even some of the leads keep it just outside the box enough without things getting too weird.  The first song, “ Kapa ...

Dawn of Solace is a doom metal band from Finland, who formed in 2005.  The band is one of many projects from the highly prolific musician Tuomas Saukkonen , also from Wolfheart , Before The Dawn , and Black Sun Aeon , among others.  Joining him on this doomed out musical path is clean vocalist Mikko Heikkilä , from the band Kaunis Kuolematon (who released a very good album in 2023).  “ Affliction Vortex ,” is the band’s fourth full-length album.  Across the album’s 9 song, 40 minute run time, Tuomas provides all the instruments and harsh vocals and Mikko gives an incredibly poignant performance with his always wonderful cleans.   There seems to be a greater use of growls/screams on this album—nothing but a good thing, to me.  It seems Red Moon Architect’s keyboardist Saku Moilanen provides keys as well.  In addition, Jukka Salovaara supplies lead guitars, though I am unsure to what capacity.  The duo’s music can be described as melodic dea...

Pathogenic is an extreme metal band from the United States, who formed in 2004.  Their latest album, “ Crowned In Corpse s,” is their third full-length album; they have also released three EPs. Their metallum page says they were black/death and now play extreme progressive metal/djent now but I’d say their sound hits a lot of different genres so all that still applies to varying degrees.  The important thing is that “ Crowned In Corpses ,” is a fantastic album with a lot of well-written songs.   To be honest, this album is my first experience with them so I don’t have any real basis for comparison.  But that’s ok because they have a sound all their own so the album, while fresh to me for obvious reasons, will still sound uniquely itself to even the most loyal fans.  It’s also catchy with a lot of cool hooks—music this abrasive yet this engaging is always a good thing.   There is a deathcore influence as well but it works in their favor, especially...

Canadian death/thrash legends Sarkasm have returned once more with their second full-length album, “ Carnival of Atrocities .”  After spending the 90’s pushing out demos, the band finally debuted their first full-length in 2023.   Admittedly, thrash metal isn’t a genre that I keep up with as I just find it has such a low number of quality bands and releases.  It seems everyone and their grandmother is putting out a thrash album and most of them sound like, well, someone’s grandmother putting out a thrash metal album.  But I don’t hate the genre and I will always give credit where it is due—and “ Carnival of Atrocities ,” deserves a lot of credit because it’s just, simply put, a damn good album.   What sets this album apart from both the old guard bands and all the new ones is that its so heavy.  Yes, speed is a factor but their sound forgoes the paper thin riffs for guitars with real heft and crunch to them.   The bass is also beefy and...

At Doomed For Metal Reviews, my goal is, and always will for long as this blog exists, to promote the metal underground.  However, there are exceptions to every rule— Lacuna Coil and their 10th studio album (11th if you count the re-recording of Comalies ) “ Sleepless Empire .” They might not be known to the average soccer man or be playing a Superbowl halftime show anytime soon but Lacuna Coil are pretty big for what they are and definitely no longer underground.  So why them?  What makes Lacuna Coil so special that I would stop writing about all the death, doom, and black metal out there to speak of them? Because of what they mean to me and my tastes.  In my burgeoning late high school years when I first started discovering the crazy world of metal, Lacuna Coil were among the very first metal bands I ever got into.  Unlike a lot of other bands of that era, this band has never fallen off the radar for me—I still listen to them and have enjoyed every release sin...