Doomed For Metal Reviews

Haissem is a black metal band from Ukraine who formed in 2014. It is actually a one man project, from the very creative mastermind Andrey Tollock , also from the doom project Sunset Forsaken . " Ad Cor Tenebrarum " is the seventh full length album from the project; two EPs have been released as well. I've followed this band/project for awhile now and ACT is definitely the most adventurous album Haissem has released so far.  The previous album, “ A Sleep of Primeval Ignorance ,” definitely took a more melodic path. ACT , however, takes this melodic approach but infuses it with a lot of blackened rage. This is, at times, a much more vicious affair.  With that being said, much of the melody exists in the extremely well crafted keyboards. The textures created by these keys adds many dimensions to the black metal segments in the songs. But the keys don't exist as just background filler nor do they overtake the songs—they are treated as equals as the rest of the instruments...

Dauðaró is a one man blackened funeral doom metal band from Reykjavík, Iceland.  Since the release of the debut album, “ Af moldu er ég kominn ,” in 2022, Dauðaró has been very prolific.  In total, nine full length albums have been released, in addition to a demo album and three EPs. Those three EPs, the " Hundrað þ​ú​sund þr​æ​lar " trilogy are what I will be talking about/reviewing today.  These three releases each consist of one long song, a conceptual piece of an extremely high quality and songwriting approach.  Each were released this year and although they tell a story together, I will be speaking of them separately in the review. I’m not one hundred percent sure on the actual details and subject matter of the EPs.  I like to interpret music and lyrics myself as it really helps me grow as a reviewer.  As such, I did not ask the gentleman for the details but instead decided to “feel” my way through the music.  Dauðaró ’s brand of doom is extremely...

It has been said that without dark, there is no light and without light, there is no dark.  Finland's Convocation and their third full length album, ' No Dawn for the Caliginous Night ' disagrees vehemently with this quote.  There is another kind of darkness.  A darkness that existed first and will be the last thing to exist.  A darkness so bleak, so black, that light itself is absorbed and spat out, adding to its own growing and ever infinite coldness. For their third full length album, the band still brings funeral doom and long form songs.  However, the up in quality to this album from their previous one ' Ashes Coalesce ' is greater than the distance between that album had from their debut, " Scars Across ."  By finding a balance between the two albums, Convocation have easily created their heaviest album to date yet also the one with the most progression. In small, subtle increments,  Convocation has stretched their sound to a much more dynamic n...

This album is truly a terrifying and evil experience.  This death metal isn't really rotten or filthy to the core but instead just straight up bleak and dismal.  There isn't any hope to be had other than the hope to be pummeled to death while drowning in your own tears.  This has the riffs and energy of ODSM, the atmosphere of a snuff porn, and the despondent requiem of doom metal.   Inward To Gethsemane by Vastum

Who says funeral doom has to be presented in long form only?  Although I love a long song as much as next doom fan, not every song or album needs to break records for the longest piece of music ever written.  It's easy to think otherwise, but the sound of funeral doom doesn't really have anything to do with the runtime of a song.  It has to do with the mood, atmosphere, the approach, and the straight up goddamn permeating miasma of sorrow.   Morning Dead 's ' Desde el Otro Lado ' has all this down to a very fine detail and they don't have to spend twenty minutes per song to get the message across.  The longest song is still under the six minute mark and the overall runtime of these tracks is around 40 minutes.  This is a different approach to funeral doom than most bands of the style would take.  This shorter approach to the genre allows the band to only include what needs to be here.  There isn't any moments of three minute long silences or ...

DYSSEBEIA  play what could be described as progressive blackened death metal.  When the word "prog" pops up in a band's description, a lot of people assume the worst.  Is it going to be pretentious?  Will it have lots of overstuffed filler that only matters to the band?  Will the album be too long, one song stretched across six full-lengths, an EP, short story and a three season tv show that was cut short and ended on a cliff hanger? Joking aside, DYSSEBEIA don't have any of that.  This eight track album has a tight run time of 43 minutes, the band making the most of it.  There isn't any note or passage on these songs that doesn't need to be there and there is nothing the listener needs to skip.  The song structures aren't hindered by conventional means but they still make sense within context of the album.  The album twists and turns as it moves along.  The ever evolving songs feature variations of often gorgeous melodies, ever changing...

      SolNegre ’s ‘ The Spiral Labyrinth ’ is so good I almost cried the first time I’ve heard it.  Doom has been on an upswing in recent years.  Just when I think it may have reached its peak (I’m a damn fool, I know), an album like this comes around and completely blows me away.  My love for anything under the doom umbrella isn’t a secret, neither is the fact this style of melodic Gothic death/doom was the type of doom I got into first.       So it isn’t a surprise that I’m giving this such high praise but this work is so grandiose within every element of its genre, it represents its sound so well, that even if I didn’t like doom or wasn’t familiar with the genre, this would still put me down on the floor.    Considering former Helevorn members Rigel ( guitarist) and Guillem (Bass) are part of this band, I never expected it to be anything less than stellar but this....this is a monumental album. These men, alongs...