Doomed For Metal Reviews

Melodic yet raw to a degree....progressive a bit too with great song structure. This is prime example of what modern black metal should be. https://oubliette.bandcamp.com/album/the-passage

Oceangrave is a death/doom metal band from Italy, a project headed by one band Matteo Manfredini. Daniele Lupidi (Valgrind, Hateful, Huronian) once again provides bass and he is also did the album's excellent cover art. As solid as their debut, "Fall Breathless To No Where" was, this second full length album, "The Buried Inheritance," is huge leap in bounds of quality in any way that an album could be measured on. Although the base of their sound is built around death metal, this album is rather melodic with a lot of beautiful passages interspersed between the heavier moments. The rhythm section is tight as hell--neither the bass or the drums are overbearing for the sake of being heavy. Each instrument does what it needs to do to let the melodic moments shine while doubling down for the more aggressive sections. The production is smooth, letting each instrument be heard but it isn't so slick to take away the gloomy atmosphere. The album opens with ...

Lord Mountain's full length debut album is absolutely fun to listen to. It is old school/epic doom but the production is open and wide. The bass slaps, vocals are catchy, and the riffs and drums are solid as hell. It is hard to believe this is their full length debut! This young of a band and already this good? Hell yes! THE OATH by Lord Mountain

The new Katatonia album, Sky Void of Stars, is beautiful upon first play through. If you're looking for an experimental Katatonia that steps outside of the box, you won't find that here. But you will find a very guitar driven album that is their most doom metal work they have done in years. The production is very warm and inviting. It is too clean perhaps but it works for this album's sound, which is full of catchy songs and great h ooks. The singles led some to believe this album was moving away from their depressive sound but nothing could be further from the truth. The album isn't as...drab as their others but that only means the darkness is better Illuminated and now you can see what is killing you. This is a very different album than 'City Burials,' which is to be expected since every Katatonia album is different frome each other. This album seems to be very focused on the songs themselves rather than the overall atmosphere. As s...

Shores Of Null have released three solid albums since fheir formation in 2013. In March, they will be releasing their fourth album, 'The Loss Of Beauty." Below is one of the singles from that album. The song is melodic and catchy but with plenty of heavy doom elements and a great rhythm section.

ASHEN HORDE is a progressive black/death metal band from Hollywood that formed in 2013. “Antimony” is their fourth full length album; they have also released seven EPs. The pedigree within the band is of the utmost quality—members of ABHORIA, INFERI, EQUIPOISE, and NORSE play on this album and they definitely keep the same high quality work they are known for throughout the album’s nine track, fifty one minute run time. Whatever album I happen to be reviewing at the time of writing a review is usually my most played album—obviously I have to give an album multiple listens to fully absorb it. But long after I listened enough to form coherent thoughts to put onto the page, “Antimony” remains my most played album this year so far. The band’s brand of extreme metal is a varied one with a lot of dynamics. The clean vocals give the album a modern sound and might help people not used to this style ease into it more. Musically, the band is definitely built upon a blackened base but strong ...

  TRIBUNAL  is a two person Gothic doom band based in Vancouver, British Columbia.  “ The Weight Of Remembrance ,” is their debut EP. I’ll go ahead and start the review with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but:  “ The Weight Of Remembrance ,” is a gorgeously dark and stunning album.  I can’t believe it is a debut; the band sounds wise beyond their established years.  I almost feel guilty reviewing this album because doom is my favorite genre overall and Gothic doom in particular was the style that got me into it initially.  How could I not like this?  How could any doom fan not like this? Listening to this album brought me back to the times when I was first discovering bands like  MY DYING BRIDE ,  TRISTANTIA ,  PARAMECIUM ,  DRACONIAN , and  THEATRE OF TRAGEDY .  “ The Weight Of Remembrance ,” fits right at home with the early records of these bands and finds that sweet spot between merging ethereal Gothic el...

  ENCRYPTMENT  is a Swedish death/crust metal band from Sweden.  They formed in 2015 and “ Dödens födsel ” is their full length debut album; they have also released an EP and a demo. I have never heard of this band before and this album was a surprise from deep within the unending promo pile.  I can confidently say that “ Dödens födse ” is a pleasant surprise—this album is savage as hell.  The unrelenting battering ram that is death metal smashes into the unlimited energy of punk—-the result is some damn extreme crust that leans in heavy with the death metal elements. Punk and metal are both uncompromising in their own ways yet this album embraces the two styles, mashes them together, and pushes them out the other side as the most beautiful waste.  Marcus  is the only guitarist and he does a great job in filling up the band’s sound—this album is chock full of tasty riff work.   Joe  and  Anton ’s rhythm machine is one that stay...

(ECHO)  is an atmospheric death/doom metal band from Italy.  They formed in 2007 and “ Witnesses ” is their fourth full length album; they have also released two demos. This album has been one of my most played albums since I received the promo a few weeks ago.  I discovered  (ECHO)  about a year and a half ago through their 2019 album  “Below The Cover Of Clouds .”  While that album is great, the band blows it out of the water with this new album—they have improved their sound tenfold.  The composition/arrangement of the songs is what really stands out on this album.  The band displays many moods with a lot of layers to the instrumentation but it never feels rocky or disjointed—after the unimpressive  intro track, the album builds a flow that is among the best I heard all year. That intro track, “ Lethargy ,” is nothing more than a waste of the album’s runtime.  It goes nowhere for nearly a minute.   I have a major issue ...