A Sickness unto Death – The Great Escape (2015)

Hailing from Germany, today we have Doomsters A Sickness unto Death and their sophomore release “The Great Escape”. While typical Epic Doom Metal gets pretty boring after 20 minutes or so, this band delivers over 60 minutes of very creative music that while staying true to the genre, manages to incorporate unique elements to keep things fresh and engaging.

Opening with the album title track, we are treated to heavy distorted guitars and repetitive riffs that are quite enjoyable. Tim Ziegeler’s vocals are more on the Epic Doom side with a splash of ICS Vortex making them quite enjoyable and not tiring at all. The riffing at times is a bit less heavy than your typical Doom release, making for some crafty an interesting tracks like the melodramatic “Lost” and October Tide-esque “The Uniqueness of the Two”.

For the folks that expect soul crushing Doom with very low tuned guitars, there are still tracks like “Intoxicated”, “The Atonement Ship”, and the 10-minute behemoth “The Concrete Lake”. The band gives us a certain While Heaven Wept vibe with the brilliant “Judgment” (our favorite) and the dramatic “Purgatory”. Both of these tracks are quite emotional and expertly crafted to captivate the listener. There is even some small use of growls that further expands the band’s versatility.

As the album closes with the soaring vocals and beautiful combination of powerful riffs and acoustic guitars of “Remains of Misery”, we are left very impressed with A Sickness unto Death. This band has the perfect balance of old-school and traditional elements of the genre, mixed in with more melodic and atmospheric elements of bands like Swallow the Sun and Insomnium. If you are a fan of the genre or any of the previously mentioned bands, you are in for a treat with this excellent release.

Label: Source of Deluge Records

Release: November 20th, 2015

Genre: Doom Metal

Country: Germany