Doomed For Metal Reviews

The Medea Project is a doom metal band with origins from South Africa, although according to their Metallum page, they are now based in England.  I first discovered this band way back in 2020, when I reviewed their debut full length album, “ Sisyphus ,” for Metal Temple.  I’ve always wondered what happened to this band—apparently, I missed the fact they have released two EPs since then.   I was certainly eager to make up for lost time and dive into “ Kharon ,” the duo’s second full-length album.  It was worth the five year wait—this album is fantastic!  The sound is rooted in doom but death, black, sludge, and even some folk elements are used in combination–it’s an eclectic sound with its own signature atmosphere.  Their press release calls them “Dark Primal Gothic Doom.”  I’d say that is pretty damn accurate.   The production is impressive—it has a raw DIY feel to it but still manages to sound professional.  The mix is on point as ...

Byzantine are a metal band from West Virginia, who formed in 2000.  Their latest album “ Harbingers ,” is their seventh full-length album.  Over the years, they have also released four demos, a compilation, two EPs, and a split album. I’ve been a fan since 2005’s “ ...and They Shall Take Up Serpents ,” and have very impatiently waited on a new album since 2017’s “ The Cicada Tree .” I really liked the album and it still contains my favorite song from the band, “ Verses In Violence .”  So how does “ Harbingers ,” measure up?  Worth the wait?  Fuck yes it’s worth the wait.  The band has dialed back the progressive elements from “ The Cicada Tree ,” in favor of a much more intense, heavy approach.   The best thing about this album is that it actually gets better near the end.  Even albums where every song is good still tend to be front loaded—this one starts off as a banger and turns into a roaring supernova by the end.   I suppose the over...

Matraque is an extreme metal band from Belarus, who formed in 2023.  Their new release “ Nature Morte ,” is their debut full-length album. Their sound combines doom with death metal and sludge.  All their lyrics are sung in Belarusian, but that doesn’t matter because no one can understand what is being said anyway—good, just how I like it.   This is a really dark, extreme album.  If you don’t like abrasive music, then look elsewhere.  Have fun, you giant whining bummer.  For the rest of us with actual taste, this album will provide endless nightmares in the best way possible.  The tempo is, overall, a slow roll of sludge laced doom that sounds like it was scooped out of a bin for throwaway organs at a hospital.  The guitars and bass are both the kind of sweltering heaviness that borders on surreal in a hypnotic, desperate way.  The drums are loud, rising above the blood drenched muck without being overbearing.   The album opens...

Alukta is a doom/black metal band of international origins from both France and Belgium.  “ Merok ,” is its full-length debut.   The band is actually a duo, consisting of the ever impressive Déhà on all the instruments and Marie ( 1927 , Brouillard , Sphere , Transcending Rites , Vertige ) on vocals. Blackened doom seems less prevalent in the doom scene than some of the other sub-genres so I’m always hungry to discover more.  Alukta is an interesting project, offering a unique twist through a tribal and ritualistic musical path.   According to the press release, the band was formed out of a mourning period mixed with a need to explore old tribal customs.  It’s also inspired by the Toraja people and their special funeral rites in addition to cults and death in general.  After (briefly) researching the Toraja and their death rites, I view this album as a sort of soundtrack of the death process.  The Toraja believe the souls of the departed ling...

  Lights of Vimana is a doom metal band of international origins, hailing from the countries of Italy, Belgium and USA. “ Neopolis ,” is their debut album. The band is new but the members have a lot of experience in the field, so to speak. Déhà (from so many bands/projects that I can’t name them, just do a quick google and dive right in!) provides vocals. He is joined by Jeremy Lewis on bass/guitars ( Mesmur , Pantheïst ) and Riccardo Conforti ( Void of Silence ) on drums/keys.   This trio has created an album that is unique and truly special. They take such adjectives like “atmospheric,” and “sprawing,” and push to levels that no one else has reached this year. The weight of doom metal meets free floating textures to create passages of mystique and mystery, both serene and harrowing. It’s progressive—not in a flashy way but because of it’s dynamic changes and willingness to not even have a box to step outside of in the first place.  Throughout the album, I...

Destruction of Orion is a one-woman funeral doom metal band from Bulgaria. The project was formed in 2023 by musician Tehina Spasova (also of Silent Deep Ocean ), who wasted little time in gracing the scene with the debut album “ Decreasing Brightness .” She has returned to drop unfathomable darkness into the underground in the form of the second full-length album, “ States of Horror .” I was a fan of the debut but “ States of Horror ” is on another level. It takes the elements of funeral doom, elements that were already represented to a stark degree in that debut, and pushes them to a new level of darkness. Can something be darker than black? Can the most depressing, despondent metal genre get even more lost in the void? And while it further sinks, grasped by the tendrils of death itself, can it still present itself as an album with an overall concept that still hits on every level and each song? The short answer? Yes. The long answer? Yes but keep reading. ...

Row of Ashes is a post metal band from the UK. Like a lot of post metal bands they do have a strong hardcore influence but I found this album to be much more groove oriented with a strong punk rock energy within it.  I haven’t heard them before but their latest album, “ Tide Into Ruin ,” is fantastic!   These elements pair very well with the vocals which have a desperate abrasive approach to the yelling and screaming that straddles a line between hardcore and extreme metal. I enjoy how their sound is successful at teetering between a raw, straight forward sound and a dense, atmospheric one. The interplay between these dynamics makes for a compelling listen.  The production is great—it’s tight enough to capture the songs’ details yet open enough to let the band’s insanity shine through without anything to really hold it back other than the finality of knowing it can’t be held back.   We can’t be hurt if we accept it, right?  Wrong. This album will shre...

Lloth is a Greek black metal band that formed in 1995.  They were first brought together by Tristessa (RIP) but her illness put the band on hold.  They continue to honor her through their brand of blackened death with their second full-length album, “ Archees Legeones (Ancient Legions) ." I’ve actually never heard them but their name references the Spider Queen so this band was already cool in my book before I ever pressed play on the promo.  Plus, Greek metal is always fantastic.  Fortunately, this album is very impressive and well-written. Chalk up another addition to the ever growing pantheon of Greek’s metal scene.   While definitely rooted in the classic Hellenic scene, the band is actually quite dynamic in terms of their use of clean vocals and melody.  Every song here is surprisingly catchy with a lot of little subtle details especially with the keyboards. It’s not reinventing the wheel or redefining the genre but it’s an exceptionally well writ...

Obsidian Scapes is a doom metal band from Germany who formed in 2017.  Their latest release, " Death Chants Echo From Aphotic Void ," is their full-length debut album; they have also released an EP.  THIS IS DOOM. The bass slaps like Molten lava striking the ground.  The guitars have a tone that sits somewhere between struggling to breathe and the final height of awareness that signifies one's resignation to a resting death. The drums are the steady beat of an incantation that preludes an apocalypse. The vocals? Priest from a darkened void that cast bleakness in waves. “ Death Chants Echo From Aphotic Void ,” embraces its title and then some. It balances an extreme form of doom with a morose, twisted version of traditional doom. It exists within this world, yet firmly a part of both without letting either side take over.  The production is perfect: loud and hellish but rough like sandpaper. The depravity sinks like a corpse but rises full of rot. It's not a happy lis...

Vaneno is a sludge metal band from Lisbon, Portugal who formed in 2017. Their latest release, “ Chaos , Hostility , Murder ,” is Their full-length debut; they have also released an EP.  Apparently, just when I stupidly think metal can’t get any heavier, I get sent a promo that proves otherwise and further cements my ignorance.  Enter “ Chaos , Hostility , Murder .”  I’m not sure if the title is a reference to what the music sounds like or if it’s some kind of take on the state of the human race.  Both?  Either way, this is one of the most vehement albums I’ve heard as we enter the second half of the year.   While this album is rooted in sludge, it’s sludge on steroids.  If Crowbar worked out and started punching random people, this album would be the result.  Sludge is already abrasive anyway but this is pure,  unfiltered raw metal muscle.   The way the band handles such unbridled aggression is impressive and it really doesn’t ...

Oracle Hands is a doom/sludge/post metal band from Germany that formed in 2021. After releasing a demo in 2023, the band has dropped this slab of meaty metal in the shape of their full-length debut album, “ Dirge For The Doomed .” And it is indeed a dirge. Imagine starving to death while dying of thirst. Safety comes in the cold embrace of guaranteed death in the form of birds coming to eat your half dead body. You hear a rumble, the birds fly off and then some total asshole wraps a chain around your neck and pull you through the barren landscape, temporarily depriving you of death only to give you pain over hope.  Got all that? Read it again. I'll wait. This album is the soundtrack for all that bullshit I just said.  Musically, it can be quite dynamic–going from dreaming sonic adventures to crushing riffs seems effortless for this band. This dichotomy between either ends of their extremes works very well because it feels and flows so naturally. The songs don't sound like dif...

Kiritsis is a doom/sludge band from Indianapolis who formed in 2024; This self-titled album is their full-length debut.  With a runtime of just under 31:19 minutes, this is a short but very powerful release. Their sound has a hardcore influence to it, lending much raucous energy to the tempo. I like their guitar tone a lot—it’s just a little muddy but thicker than one of those fat-bottomed girls that Queen obsessed over.   The bass is just as heavy-handed, the vibrations threatening to shake the foundations of my headphones as I type this. The drums are pervasive, rolling through like thunder while complimenting the songs with enough high octane pressure to make them at the boiling point at any given second. Due to their name and the sound bytes, it’s obvious the story of American kidnapper Anthony George Kiritsis is of an influence to the band and album. I wasn’t overly familiar with the story before receiving this promo but clearly Anthony was a desperate man and I...