Doom Metal

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    Gravewürm - Blood of the Pentagram (2010)

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    Legendary USBM act Gravewürm have returned with their 7th full-length release titled “Blood of the Pentagram”. In this album the band continues to create their very disturbing sound by combining raw Black Metal elements with Thrash/Doom/Death Metal influences that give the band’s sound a little edge over the rest of the average sounding BM bands these days.

    However, not everything is enjoyable in “Blood of the Pentagram” since this release tends to get a bit too simplistic and repetitive in nature. The band exploits the raw and lo-fi approach to things and creates a very creepy sound, but it fails to deliver when the music tends to get boring and super repetitive.

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    Dusted Angel - Earth Sick Mind (2010)

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    Hailing from the USA, today we have one of the dullest and most generic bands we have received in quite a while: Dusted Angel. The band plays Doom/Stoner Metal with almost no sense of originality and creativity, crafting seven songs that will surely be forgotten the moment you stop listening to this album.

    We know that Doom/Stoner Metal are two genres that do not have much to have drastic changes and elements that would make a release be completely out of the ordinary, but when the band just plays very similar riffs over and over and the vibe of the music feels a bit stale and uninspired.

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    While Heaven Wept – Triumph:Tragedy:Transcendence – Live at the Hammer of Doom Festival (2010)

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    As one of the most under rated bands of the USA, today we have While Heaven Wept and their very impressive live CD/DVD “Triumph:Tragedy:Transcendence – Live at the Hammer of Doom Festival”. With a career of over 20 years and only three full-length releases, we are usually excited when we can get anything new from this amazing band.

    In this release (the audio portion), the band presents seven of their most epic songs and provide amazing renditions of each one of them, especially the older songs that in this release feature Rain Irving on vocals. With half of the “Vast Oceans Lachrymose” album here and some of the band’s ‘greatest hits’, this package features an amazing value for all the countless fans of the band.

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    Witchsorrow – Witchsorrow (2010)

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    Keeping the Doom Metal flame alive, today we have Witchsorrow and their self-titled debut album. Invoking the spirits of great bands like St. Vitus, Candlemass, Penance, etc, Witchsorrow shows their cards with this very solid debut release. With “Witchsorrow”, you will get a 45 minute dose of crushing Doom Metal with some psychedelic influences like in the old-school days.

    As you can expect, the guitar work is monumental and it creates a very thick atmosphere. Typical for (good) Doom Metal releases, the band goes balls deep into crushing riffs and songs over 9 minutes long. By doing everything by the book, and adding some psychedelic guitar sections, you can’t really argue about the efficiency of “Witchsorrow”.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Fangtooth – Fangtooth (2010)

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    Featuring two members of Exhuman, today we have Fangtooth, a Doom Metal band from Italy that blends traditional elements of the genre with some Stoner/Southern Metal influences and craft an interesting sound. Featuring six track totaling around 38 minutes of music, this self-title release shows a promising band that is still trying to find their sound.

    While the genre is full of great bands, the younger bands struggle a bit to find their own identity. This is exactly what happens with Fangtooth in their debut full-length release; the band tries too many different things and ends up a bit short in achieving something very cohesive.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Place of Skulls - As a Dog Returns (2010)

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    Tennessee doomsters Place of Skulls return with another traditional Doom Metal combined with Rock release that will surely take you by surprise thanks to its groovy riffing and brilliant guitar solos. The band formed by Victor Griffin of Death Row/Pentagram fame gives us 9 very interesting tracks that will have you listening to them more than once in order to understand them completely.

    As we listened to “As a Dog Returns”, we quickly identified a single issue that caused some confusion when listening to this album. The ordering of the songs is a bit odd and it tends to cut the flow of the album, creating a very uncomfortable but yet intriguing listening experience. The differences between “The Maker” and “Breath of Life” (tracks 1 and 2) are pretty drastic, since the first song opens things up in a groovy powerful fashion and the second one is more of a slower-paced ‘doomier’ song that kind of kills the flow of this release. This issue also happens further in the album, but if you don’t mind about the flow of a release then this should not be a problem for you.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    A Dream of Poe – Lady of Shalott (2010)

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    Doom Metal is a an art that has been slowly dying in the last few years with more bands switching to the more ‘lucrative’ Gothic Metal scene or just starting off as a Metalcore band. Luckly today we have A Dream of Poe, as you can expect and Edgar Allan Poe inspired Doom Metal band from Portugal with members of In Peccatum.

    In this 5 song and 36 minute EP the band does a great job in crafting crushing songs that will make you want to dig up your older My Dying Bride albums and get on full-on melancholic mode. Starting with the slow (it’s Doom Metal!! what do you expect!) self-album-titled song “Lady of Shalott” the band quickly sets the tone in terms of down-tuned guitar riffs and mournful vocal atmosphere.

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    Doomshine – The Piper at the Gates of Doom (2010)

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    Epic Doom Metal is a genre that has been getting little to no attention in the last few years. With only sparse releases by While Heaven Wept, Candlemass, and others, we can count with two hands the albums that have been released in the last 2 years. Doomshine hailing from Sweden adds their contribution to the mix with a crushing release names “The Piper at the Gates of Doom”.

    As you can expect from any Epic Doom Metal release, chugging down-tempo riffing, epic singing and tight drumming is exactly what the doctor ordered. Doomshine pretty much excels in every single department and created 73 minutes of crushing music that will please even the pickiest fans of Candlemass and similar bands.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Ramesses – Take the Curse (2010)

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    All the way from the UK, today we get on our review queue Ramesses latest crushing releases “Take the Curse”. While we are huge Doom Metal fans, we tend to go for the Death-Doom bands rather than the Sludge/Psychedelic Metal bands. Ramesses falls on the second category and while not our favorite band in the world, they do a great job in creating 10 solid tracks for this new release.

    The problem most people might have about Sludge/Doom Metal is the lack of ‘originality’ and diversity than most bands present. We rather look at Sludge/Doom Metal releases from a perspective of effectiveness rather than originality or diversity, and Ramesses is a very effective band in our opinion. The band creates a very bleak and sometimes trippy atmosphere that not everybody pulls off these days.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Heaven Grey – Falling Mist (2010)

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    Hailing from Latvia, today we get a very impressive Doom/Gothic Metal self-released album with Heaven Grey’s “Falling Mist”. We are suckers for Doom/Gothic Metal and everything in between, but when the genres are combined we get even more excited. Heaven Grey had most of the ‘activity’ in the late nineties, and because of line-up issues split-up in 2000. Recently reformed the band set up to record “Falling Mist”, their second full-length and one of the best Doom/Gothic Metal albums we have heard this year.

    Combining lyrics in both English and Latvia, the band sets up a very bleak and depressive atmosphere with their music. We particularly love the language combination since it’s very nice to hear bands embracing their own language when it comes to writing songs. The music is very bare-bones and does not require anything fancy to make it excellent. Mainly driven by the weeping guitar work and depressive clean vocals, Heaven Grey’s music is right up there with As Divine Grace, Thorns of The Carrion, Castle, etc. when it comes to creating depressive music that will keep you engaged for the duration of the full-album.

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