Hanging Garden – At Every Door (2013)

Continuing with their surprising evolution into a more Gothic Rock-inspired sound, today we have Hanging Garden and their latest release “At Every Door”. On their debut release “Inherit the Eden” the band jumped into the scene with a very melodic Death/Doom Metal and was praised by fans all around. With their second effort “TEOTWAWKI” the band started to mix more Gothic and different elements to make their music more accessible to a broader audience, something that they gracefully continue to do with this release.

Opening with the trippy “Ten Thousand Cranes”, the band delivers electronic elements with clean vocals making them sound like current Paradise Lost and Tiamat. Not all is lost since their original sound is present underneath everything with powerful riffs and excellent growls. Thankfully the new vocalist can do the growls as deep and powerful as their original one. “Ash and Dust” starts a bit more powerful than the first track, and the atmospheric details added by the keyboards work very well with the song.

The weird “Hegira” has some drone-like elements mixed into powerful doom riffs, making it an initially odd song that grows on you after a few listens. The Gothic Rock undertones can be heard in songs like “Wormwood”, “The Cure”,and “Evenfall”, which have plenty of clean vocal sections that remind us of Lacrimas Profundere and Katatonia’s and their latest work. The band does keep a very melancholic vibe that while different from their first release, keeps the general vibe of the band intact.

“To End All Ages” closes this release, and this track is our favorite one of the album as well. The band delivers a very Doomy 10 minute epic that has some Sludgy sections similar to what one would find on a Neurosis release. In general, the band is slowly evolving their sound while staying true to their roots and we can appreciate that a lot. “At Every Door” is quite a solid release for people that like to see bands evolve and like dark music with very melancholic undertones. If you are a fan of the band’s earlier work and Katatonia’s latest stuff, you should definitely save some of your holiday money to buy this album in January.

Release: January 24th, 2013

Genre: Melodic Doom Metal / Gothic Rock

Country: Finland