Doomed For Metal Reviews

Hanging Garden is a melodic death/doom/Gothic metal band from Finland, who formed in 2004. I discovered them with their “ Into The Good Night ,” album when I reviewed it during my tenure at Metal Temple—and I’m very excited to be able to review their latest, and ninth overall, full-length album, “ Isle of Bliss ,” on this blog.  “Isle of Bliss ,” sounds amazing, both in terms of songwriting and production. The album’s overall sound is loud and full, packing quite the punch during the heavier moments and providing a bottomless depth during the melodic ones. The vocals are particularly well produced—the growls and screams are visceral and the cleans shine through with emotional clarity.  " Isle of Bliss ,” continues the trend of what any Hanging Garden fan knows: the band does what they want and each album sounds a little different than before. Although rooted in doom and Gothic metal, this album isn’t afraid to explore faster tempos or more nuanced soundscapes. Across t...

Perhaps one of the coolest collabs I’ve heard, funeral doom metal bands Pantheïst and Dauðaró have teamed up to release this massive album titled “Af holdi og malmi,” a concept album exploring the philosophical tension between humanity and artificial intelligence.   If you don’t know who the legendary Pantheïst are, then do you even like doom metal? They have been putting out some of the most expansive and intelligent doom for a long time now and, thankfully, show zero signs of slowing down. Dauðaró is one of my favorite modern doom metal bands and the one-man project has been steadily building his own legend with a butt load of great albums behind him.   What I like about this album is that it is, for the most part, SLOW. I know doom doesn’t have to move at glacial speed but the best kind does. This collaboration feels like a love letter to both the styles of each band and for funeral doom, in general. If this style is your jam then prepare to dive into qui...

Prophets of Thwaites is a doom metal band, based in Friesland/Groningen, formed in 2024. After a demo and a couple of live studio recordings, the band is ready to drop their debut EP “ Vulnerant omnes ultima necat .” The album’s title translates “All things wound but the last kills” which, in turn, is a reminder of our mortality–each passing hour brings us closer to death. Hell, even the band's name is a sign of our never ending march off a long cliff: the band takes its moniker from the melting Thwaites Glacier—a sign of never being able to turn back damage. But even as your body continues to crumble to dust as your mind collapses into madness, I think you should still spare 14 minutes of your impending doom to check out this short but sweet (well, not really sweet since this is doom after all) EP. It is always quantity not quality--and these Prophets definitely bring the quality. The band plays a dynamic sound on the two songs. There are definitely elements of psych and stoner ...

  Alkhemi is a black metal band from France, who are releasing their second full-length album “Häxen.”  The album’s sound incorporates a lot of melodic and atmospheric elements but in a very smart way.  These elements expand the album into an epic sound that remains rooted in the cold, frightening side of black metal.  In essence, the melody/atmosphere highlights and exposes the raw nerves of the band’s sound without compromising an inch of what makes black metal so powerful and dangerous.  There are a lot of layers to this darkness and I have found “ Häxen ,” to be an album that gets better and better every time I listen to it.  It isn’t necessarily a complicated or convoluted album, but it does have a lot of depth, so it is rife with wonderful discoveries, and each listen feels like a different journey.  The production/mix is exactly how I like my black metal.  It has a raw feel to it without actually being raw but it's certainly dense and rough...

Dissentience is a melodic death/thrash metal band from Pennsylvania, who formed in 2013.  Their latest release is the EP “ Kaiju .”  They have also released a demo, another EP, and one full-length so far.   This is my first experience of the band, but this short but tight EP has convinced me that it won’t be my last.  Across four songs and a runtime of just under 24 minutes, this is a rousing blast of energetic metal that is easy to burn through multiple times. Their Metallum tag of being melodic death/thrash is pretty damn accurate too.  It is full speed ahead most of the time, but the guitars still manage to throw in catchy, melodic passages that go a long way in fleshing out their thrash-based sound, for a full experience that is as high quality as a full-length. It’s a very modern production and I find that is what the songs need, as it makes the melodic aspects stand out yet the album feels very weighty and dense.  The first song, “ Obsidian Tomb ...

Winter Eternal is a one-man black metal band from Greece, who formed in 2000 as Unveiled NightSky but changed to the current moniker in 2011. The musician behind all this is Soulreaper , also from Without Guidance and formally of Convixion , Nightbreed , and Regulus. Winter Eternal ’s black metal is cold and bleak but also melodic and surprisingly infectious.  With 8 songs and a 30-minute runtime, it is a focused album that knows exactly what it is going for.  A lot of the melodic guitar is memorable across this frozen landscape, but the gritty speed of the genre’s foundations is just as present, so this album packs quite the punch within its well-written songs.  It's pretty groovy too but not in the usual way but because the riffs and melodies go so well together. As they play off one another, each song builds up a wall of sound. As the harmonies grow towards the rising action, the songs pour on their melancholic leanings but never forget the power a blackened riff hol...

Dense Fog is a one-man black metal band from China, who formed in 2022.  After releasing two demos, the band has released their full-length, self-titled album.  It was originally released in October of last year in digital but 2026 will see it getting physical formats.  The band plays an atmospheric style of Black metal that has as many quiet, beautiful moments as it does blackened ones. The liminal spaces in between the softer notes offer a stark contrast to the otherwise bleak, distorted passages of the album. With that being said, the light and dark elements have a regal interplay between each other. Clean keys get just as much playtime as heavy riffs and rapid-fire drums.  The songs aren't very fast but that doesn't stop the drums from giving it their all. I appreciate that the album is heavy and extreme without being truly aggressive.  It is also highly melodic, but more in an atmospheric sense than in a catchy or bombastic way. It is a very even album that...

Cryptic Shift ’s “ Overspace & Supertime ,” is a planet. It’s a living, breathing world rife with discoveries and stories. Across its long journey if 5 songs that run 1 hour and 20 minutes , the deep dive that is required to listen to this beast is insane. I don’t know if listening is the right word…this is exploring. Or being. This isn’t a death metal album that you put on for a few minutes at a time as you blow through the tracks on a piecemeal basis.   This is the epitome of progressive death metal and you must give it a lot of your time because even if you devote your undivided attention to its length, not everything can be absorbed in one setting. This could be a very good thing or a very bad thing, depending on your perspective.   But I’m a big fan of doom and prog so the long songs don’t bother me but with that being said, this is an esoteric experience and not everyone is going to be able to handle this. But if you’re willing, nothing here is a...

Dwellnought is a blackened doom band from Italy, who formed in 2023. After a demo last year, they have now dropped their full-length debut album “ Monolith of Ephemerality .” The word ‘ephemerality’ actually doesn’t have a single definition but it is most often seen as a concept of things existing only briefly and, academically, it describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences.  “ Monolith of Ephemerality ,” is an experience and then some. Its concept may revolve around transitions but the darkness is here to stay. This is a raw album, a concept in of itself that graces black metal often but something I feel we need more of in doom. However, as raw as it is, isn’t to the point of determinant. If anything, it makes the album better. If this darkness is a part of ephemerality then it needs to be as massive and bottomless as possible—and those elements work best in this style as a rough presentation of the dangers.  The mix is still on point too. The bass ca...

Necrofier 's “ Transcend Into Oblivion ,” is an album that balances a classic, straightforward black metal approach with the more melodic side of the genre with plenty of atmosphere, without going overboard with any one of these elements. Throw in some good ol 'heavy metal influences on top of all that, and what is presented here is quite dynamic, with a lot of details and depth. It's a hefty album too– 12 songs that come very close to hitting the hour mark. I'm a doom fan so long albums aren't anything new to me but the album does require patience if you aren't used to the long winded side of the genre. But I appreciate this aspect. Not every album is meant to be dived into for a quick fix and picked up later. I love albums that require attention to pick up its own attention to details and this album delivers on that notion. The album is divided up into three sections, with two interludes to separate them and then a final song to cap it all off. The songs in ...

Ennui is a funeral doom metal band from the country of Georgia, who formed in 2012.  Their latest album, “ Qroba ,” is their fifth full-length album; they have released two splits. Where has this band been all my life?  How did I miss them until now?  This album is goddamn fantastic.  “ Qroba ,” has the length and depth one would expect with funeral doom, but it doesn’t plod, or spend too much time trapped in its own world.  It’s slow (as it should be) but every second, every song, has a purpose that moves the songs ever forward. I’m feeling the production/mix a lot too.  It’s open and dynamic, allowing the changes within the songs to not only be hurt but also FELT.  The bass sets perfectly amongst the other instruments too—bass should be the most important instrument in any genre but especially for doom and on this album, it is enthralling and monolithic.  I love the natural and effortless flow to the songs.   Just check out the opening song...

Sleeping Giant is a stoner/doom/sludge band from Reykjavík, Iceland who are dropping their full-length debut album, “ The Beauty of Obliteration .”   This album fucking smokes. Riffs for days. No, wait. Riffs for years. And groove. And bass that could shake apart Mt. Doom.  Sleeping Giant has a very accessible sound, and I don't mean that in a bad way. But it is instantly infectious and takes doom/sludge/stoner to heights that can be as blistering as they can be hazy. I love it when bands of this style have an old school approach with the instruments but an extreme approach with the vocals. The death growls/screams are fantastic and their contrast with the more classic passages of the band brand of doom/sludge/stoner sounds GREAT. The album has more than a few moments that lean towards an aggressive nature—the tempo can hit whiplash speeds when you least expect it. The production/mix is on fire—every instrument has a pocket universe in which they live, and thrive, while ...