Doom Metal

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    To Cast a Shadow - In Memory of (2011)

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    In the slow and painfully good category today we have To Cast a Shadow and their Doom album “In Memory of”. It has been quite a while since a band has managed to capture the emptiness and bleakness of Death/Gothic Doom Metal, but luckily To Cast a Shadow has given us 10 tracks of emotional music.

    Hailing from Norway, this band delivers a very simple yet effective approach to the genre and with angelic female vocals creates a very powerful atmosphere. Traditional Doom Metal riffs open “Tormented” and all is good until you get the male vocals, to be brutally honest… they suck, but the female vocals greatly make up for this in the rest of the song.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    The Gates of Slumber – Wretch (2011)

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    The tone is set to heavy with Gates of Slumber’s latest album; the riffs crawl along at a sludge-like tempo with an eeriness weaving in and out of the pattern. Moving away from their usual theme of swords and sorcery and into the real world was a wise choice for their part as well the pick for new drummer, J “Cool” Clyde” Paradis. His drumming has a vibe to it that sounds like it made even vocalist Karl Simon and bassist Jason McCash step up their game a bit.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Forgotten Tomb – Under Saturn Retrograde (2011)

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    After gives us four very bleak and depressive first full-length releases, Forgotten Tomb returns with an equally melancholic release but with a different sonic effect under the name of “Under Saturn Retrograde”. In this album the band moves forward to lands charted by Agalloch, Fen, etc. and creates a very rich listening experience while maintaining some of the dark emotions from the past.

    The opener track “Reject Existence” is both brutal (great harsh vocals) and very melodic due to the majestic guitars and overall pace of the song. The band is not slowing down, and you can hear their earlier influences but they are now polishing their sound in a very interesting way. “Shutter” starts off very aggressive but near the middle of the track the experimentation begins and there are some excellent Doom Metal inspired sections.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    A Pale Horse Named Death – And Hell Will Follow Me (2011)

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    In the ‘meh’ column, today we have A Pale Horse Named Death and their debut album “And Hell Will Follow Me”. Even though the band features Sal Abruscato (ex-Type O Negative) and Matt Brown (Seventh Void), there is not much to enjoy (at least for us) with a lot of dull and repetitive riffs.

    Maybe some fanboys of Type O Negative will try to cope with the loss of Peter Steele and adopt this band, since it sounds a bit like earlier TON albums (sans the vocals of course). But for us it just feels like a very average mixture of Doom/Stoner Metal and Alternative Rock elements that falls short of the caliber of the band’s members.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Deep Desolation – Subliminal Visions (2011)

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    All the way from Poland today we have Deep Desolation and their crushing debut full-length release “Subliminal Visions”. Mixing Black, Death and Doom Metal the band manages to pull it off graciously with a monumental sound and very well crafted songs.

    We have to admit that whenever we get something labeled Black/Doom metal, it usually sucks and it’s a pain in the ass to review since we have to listen to the full CD at least 3 times. With “Subliminal Visions” it was very relieving that we actually enjoyed the CD on the first spin and we ended up loving it the next few times. The band’s take on the genre mixing comes from an aggressive perspective rather than drowning the listener with slow Doom riffs and Black Metal snarls that will make you start snoring.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Ptahil – The Black Fire (2010)

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    In preparation for their upcoming full-length CD for Wraith Productions "For His Satanic Majesty's Glory", we get 3 crushing tracks of nihilistic Black/Doom Metal from one of USA’s newest and most diabolical bands. For 13 minutes we are transported to the depts. of hell, thanks to a raw and thick atmosphere that evolves you in full darkness.  

    With two new tracks and a cover of Beherit’s “Gate of Nanna”, this demo CD has enough sauce to keep fans going until their new album gets released. The crushing track “World Ablaze” kicks off this CD and immediately starts with blasting drums, hellish vocals and a very raw nature to the song that makes it highly effective. We are not sure that this will be the final mix and how the CD will sound, but we dig the rawness of this track.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Ptahil – Anti-Flesh Existence (2010)

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    “Anti-Flesh Existence” marks the band’s debut full-length album, but it only includes 3 tracks and the version we got for review has the two tracks of their “Ortus” EP (which we reviewed here http://www.infernalmasquerade.com/?q=reviews/00743-ptahil-ortus-2010). With such a weird way of presenting your first full-length, we will discuss these three brutal tacks in depth as part of this review.

    “In Ritual to Yam” we get an old school Black Metal track in the vein of Bathory, Venom, Hellhamer, etc. With such a raw and powerful sound it quickly makes and impact on the listener, but we feel that it’s somewhat sub-par compared to their songs in “Ortus”. However, this track does set the tone for the following aural assaults that will shake you out of your seat.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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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.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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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.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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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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