Doom Metal

  • Griftegård – Solemn.Sacred.Severe (2009)

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    When I first saw the name of the band I assumed they played Black Metal or something related to BM, but to my surprise this relatively new Swedish band plays Doom Metal in the vein of Candlemass and While Heaven Wept.

    “Solemn.Sacred.Sever” is the debut full length album from this band, and to be their debut release is pretty solid, but it does not have a single gram of originality in it. And while their particular style is not 100% to my liking, they still manage to pull of an album that I would not mind listening from start to finish.

  • Syrach – A Dark Burial (2009)

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    Hailing from Norway this band plays some kind of mix of Doom Metal and Death Metal. The overall sound of the band is very old school as you cannot find any elements of modern metal in their music, and while sometimes this is a good thing it does not work too well for Syrach.

    “A Dark Burial” presents us with 6 tracks of ‘slow’ death metal that will bore you until the albums best song “A Mourner’s Kiss”. I was lost and found my self checking how long did the song had left for the first three tracks, then got to the best song, and again into the same droning trance that was about to put me to sleep.

  • Ahab – The Divinity Of Oceans (2009)

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    After their killer debut “The Call of the Wretched Sea” I had been waiting impatiently for the bands next album and luckily I got their latest opus “The Divinity Of Oceans” in the mail a few weeks ago.

    I must say I have never been a huge fan of Funeral Doom Metal, because I think is really boring, when I heard Ahab’s debut I could not claim this at all, the band’s debut was very heavy and slow in nature, but the band is very skillful at creating intricate and complex songs that last for what it seems a few minutes but in fact they are pretty long.

  • Ava Inferi – Blood Of Bacchus (2009)

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    Having formed in 2005 Ava Inferi presents us their 3rd full length album. The band shows great maturity and improvement in their already characteristic sound, with “Blood Of Bacchus”.

    Ava Inferi’s mixture of Doom Metal with Gothic elements is unparalleled, blending the traditional Doom riffs with mesmerizing female vocals provided by Carmen Simões, and the guitar work is provided by none other than Rune "Blasphemer" Eriksen from Aura Noir (the self labeled ugliest band in the world) and Mayhem, which he left in order to fully concentrate on Ava Inferi.

  • Ashes You Leave - Songs Of The Lost (2009)

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    Seven years!!, yes seven years have passed since “Ashes You Leave” released their last opus called “Fire”. While that album showed the band’s transition into a more Gothic influenced Death Doom Metal, it was still a masterpiece that is always in constant rotation on my Ipod, and checking right now with my Itunes library, it’s the most played album on my device.

  • Brown Jenkins – Angel Eyes (2008)

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    Brown Jenkins was a Texan one man band. I say was because it ‘split-up’ late 2008, probably because of creative differences with the voices in his head. I must say that I don’t get this type of bands that play the same (or very similar) guitar riffs for one full album. While I’m always open to hear different types/genres of music, there are some releases that I either don’t get or just plain suck.

  • Candlemass - Death Magic Doom (2009)

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    While I’ve never been a big fan of this band, I have to admit the legendary status they achieved by influencing many doom metal bands. “Death Magic Doom” is clearly one of their finest releases, musically speaking. One big improvement over the past albums, and the reason I did not liked their music was their old vocalists, Messiah Marcolin, was just annoying. And Robert Lowe has better versatility and his vocals go better with the music. Since they kicked out Messiah from the band in 2006, I’ve started liking their releases.

    This album features the typical Epic Doom metal style that the band excels at, but at some points it even sounds like ‘slow’ heavy metal!!, and Robert Lowe’s vocal range is perfect for this. The production of the album is stellar since you can listen to the album several times and still discover new things within the music.

  • Cantata Sangui - On Rituals And Correspondence in Constructed Realities (2009)

    This is one of the most interesting bands I’ve found recently, apparently they have been around for a while releasing several demos in a span of several years, and just now released their debut album through Seasons Of Mist.

    This band hails from Finland and features members from Enochian Crescent, and their musical style is very unique I must say, they mix death/black and gothic metal in a very weird way.

  • Sculptor - Temny Oktyabr (2009)

    This release from a Russian one-man band is what I would call: a terrible one. I’m a big fan of doom metal, but when it’s done right here the music is uneventful and boring, not slow and depressing.

    The vocals are just plain bad since when he tries to whisper it sounds pretty bad the same for the clean voice and the growls.

    The only thing I can say positive about this album is that it’s not that badly recorded.

  • Diathra - My Endless Sorrow (2009)

    My Endless Sorrow is the second album from this band from Belarus, and in my opinion is a very strong second release. This band is clearly influenced by earlier work from Theatre Of Tragedy and Tristania among others.

    Diathra’s musical style is by no means original but it’s executed perfectly. While there are some “Beauty and the Beast” type of vocals in a few songs, the rest of the album mainly features the talents of Shiyka Dmitriy, their female vocalists.

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