Doomed For Metal Reviews

Gli Alberi (Italian for “ The Trees ”) is a metal band from Turin, who formed in 2012.  Their latest release, “ Maturafine ,” is their third full-length album.    This is my first experience with this band, but it has been a fantastic surprise and pleasure to experience this album!   Their sound blends several genres together, pieced and threaded together by some of the best dynamics I’ve heard in a while.   The vocals alone have more variety than most albums.  Cleans, both male and female, blend seamlessly with the more extreme side of the genre.  Every vocal line, every word is just drenched in emotive textures and performances that really feel genuine.   Having these different vocals really works in favor of the storytelling, especially since the album is a concept album about deserts.  That’s a unique premise, in and of itself.  I’m paraphrasing the band here quite a bit but basically the album takes the concept of a dese...

Sallow Moth is a progressive death metal band from Dallas, Texas who formed in 2016.  Their latest album, “ Hydrophilous Brood ,” is their fourth full-length album; they have also released seven EPs, a split album, and a demo.   This is my first experience with this band but an experience that is impressive, nonetheless. What really sticks out for me in “ Hydrophilous Brood ,” is its songwriting approach.  While this is proggy and technical, it doesn’t present itself as such in an obvious matter.  None of the tracks are too ‘out there’ or meandering—they don’t get lost in their sound and remain tightly focused on the task at hand.   I expect an album of this nature to have a lot of depth and many reasons for the listener to come back to it several times.  Sallow Moth has outdone themselves with this—this is an album that demands repeated listens.   I don’t mean that because it’s hard to get into or it takes a while to warm up.  What I m...

Doubleplusungood is a sludge/doom metal project from the owner of Doomslayer records, Eric Crowe .  The moniker’s debut release is the debut album, “ Loathsome Christ .”  I suppose it is more of a compilation per say but, regardless, it is over 55 minutes of music so as far as I’m concerned, it’s a full-length album. The three songs that comprise this album were originally created under the banner Her Name Is Death and remained hidden away for over 20 years!   Crowe has re-recorded them and has brought them to the surface.  These three songs are nasty, and the light will do nothing to remove their darkness.  This is abrasive, festering extreme doom/sludge and there isn’t anything safe about it. The project’s name actually comes from the novel 1984, where language is disintegrating and words are being built using smaller words.  It’s a dystopian notion and that fits right at home with this music. I like the production and mix a lot.  It isn’t overly r...

It’s crazy how sometime bands, even those who are legendary in their scene, can have such long careers and still go unnoticed to some people.  Well, in this case, a person.  Me.  Sorry.  I’ve been listening to metal for over 25 years and yet “ Screams from Beneath the Surface ,” is the first Monstrosity album I’ve heard.  Of course, I have been aware of the band forever but, still, this is the first time ever jamming with them.  Goddamn, what a poser, right? Anyway, this album is the band’s seventh full-length album since forming in 1990.  Hey, I was only seven in 1990 so my apologies for not buying their first demos back then.   Their early days and first two full-lengths featured Corpsegrinder on vocals and that’s cool and stuff but life moves on and so did the band.   With that being said, this is apparently the band’s first effort with vocalist Ed Webb (ex- Massacre , Generichrist , among several others) but considering this is my fi...

Daemonium Regni is a blackened doom metal band from Sweden, who are making their debut with their self-titled full-length album.  Well, I shouldn't say 'their" because it is actually a one-man band, with the musician Micke Jansson ( Unanimated , Contempt of Light , Born for Burning ) handling everything. This album is put together very well. One-man bands are very common in the scene but this album in particular feels like a full-fledged band/project.    There isn’t any filler—-the album consists of 8 songs across a runtime of just under 45 minutes. No intros or outros to be found…. just a man, his vision and glorious blackened doom.    The atmosphere is perfect for the style too.  It is, obviously, a dark album but it isn’t what I would call cavernous or overly depressing.  The doom elements meld perfectly with the black ones so well this album truly feels like a mix between the two styles, rather than an album that lends to one side or another....

Godthrymm is a doom metal band from the United Kingdom, that formed in 2017; their latest album, “ Projections ,” is their third full-length full album; they have also released four EPs.  The band was formed by Hamish Glencross , who was in My Dying Bride and released quite a few really good albums with them.  Oh, and former Bride drummer Shaun Taylor - Steels is also a member.  Cool, huh?  So yeah, the man has immense talent.  But, for whatever reason, I’ve never been a huge fan of this band.  Why?  I can’t say for sure.  Sometimes music just doesn't stick for some ineffable reason.   All that has changed with the release of their new album, “ Projections .”  Hamish and co have finally grabbed me—and aren’t letting go.  The songwriting chops on this album, and the musicianship that allows us to hear it, is pure energy and fire. “ Projections ” dips into various styles of the doom genre, oftentimes sounding quite Gothic, parti...

Hecate Enthroned is a black metal band from the United Kingdom, who formed in 1995.  Their latest release, “ The Corpse of a Titan, a Lament Long Buried ,” is their seventh full-length album; they have also released a demo, two EPs, and four splits. This is their first album in seven years, so I expected them to make quite the statement…. but goddamn, they blew my already high expectations.  From the cover art all the way down to the last second of music in the final song, this product absolutely drips and bleeds quality.   This was obviously a labor of love with a renewed energy and focus—and the payoff is immense. I used to be a production whore back in the day…. I wanted (needed) every album to sound good.   But as the years went on, I realized there isn’t a blanket production job that fits every band/album.  Some bands, or bands within a certain genre, need a happy, shiny production and mixing job.  Other bands need something quite a bit rougher.  ...