The Cephalophore project is the same band that brought you the excellent but extremely bleak and haunting "Ghosts" released only 2-3 months ago. Like that great album, this EP is also released on Barren Meadows Recordings. Putting together back to back recordings is no easy task but here Cephalophore have kept up the same fine quality that is present on the full length debut but with some subtle but important differences. This EP is around 28 minutes and consists of 3 tracks, one brand new and two remixes of very early tracks, dating back to when Cephalophore was known as rVn. As a added teaser you also get a forth track which is samples from the "Peccatoris" full length album that is coming this summer. The EP starts with "Cycle" with reverberating sounds, humming and haunting. It drones its way along for 13 plus minutes setting up a hypnotic atmosphere but also kind of un-settling. The industrial edge that the band had on "Ghosts" is even more to the forefront on this EP with a lot of distorted and clanging metallic sounds. It is pure ambiance but very much on the vein of a bleak, cold droning soundtrack for the disturbed person inside all of us. The title track "Bacteriophage" is perhaps even more disturbing, it reminds me of sitting in a forest on a extremely windy, rain-soaked day. Again its very haunting with sounds that range from heartbeats, bird noises to echoing wind noises. I don't know if this was intentional as what you get out of this music is up to your own imagination but this gives me the feeling of being alone in a very unforgiving environment.
The third track "Blink" is the most noise laden track on the EP in some ways and the most industrial with bass sounds pushing the bottom end up to levels o sheer intensity. Fuzzing, distorted static sounds buzz and vibrate giving off the feeling of being trapped in some kind of electrical force-field. This could be some kind of radio transmission sent from aliens in a faraway galaxy, once again what you hear is up to your own imagination and i hear something different with each spin of "Bacteriophage". The teaser i spoke of earlier in know here as "Peccatoris Extractions", it is basically from what i can gather samples from the future full length album. If this is anything to go by, the album should be a serious mind-warp of a album. Some of the sound textures are terrifying as they cut, stab and cause some serious damage to the senses. There is even some spoken word to add some color to the sound-scapes. Cephalophore have a kind of sci-fi edge to their droning ambiance, other worldly to the extreme. There will be people that wont be able to handle this for more than 2 minutes, lets face it, drone and the various ambient musical styles are a acquired taste that you have or have not but it must be said, if you are a droning, ambient fan then this has winner written all over it. Available now as a free download so you got nothing to lose from grabbing a copy of this EP.
Band: CONAN
Country: UK
Title: Horseback Battle Hammer
Label: Throne Records
Year: 2010
Style: Stoner Doom Metal
Review:
Big thanks goes out to my good friend Tony for sending me a CDR version of this soon to be released EP from Conan from the UK. How can words describe the over-powering, beyond down-tuned heavy sound this band has got on these four tracks. This EP is up for pre-order right now with the official release date being anytime soon so you will want to get your hands on this beast. The sound on this EP is enough to peel the paint right off your walls and down-tuned enough to make you psychically ill if you crank it up enough. The bottom-end guitar sound comes crashing over you in oscillating waves and this isn't just another reviewer's cliched words, this thing is brutal to the extreme. To be honest, i don't know much about the band except what people have told me and that has always been, check them out, they will crush you with sound. How true that is with this EP called "Horseback Battle Hammer".
The EP kicks off with "Krull", the wall of bottom-ended noise engulfs every inch of your body within seconds of this track launching. The slo-mo sludge attack is minimalist in terms of musical arrangement but huge in its devastating ability to fill your room with a pure wall of sound. I first played this EP whilst driving in my car and it felt like my car was being lifted off the road with the brute force of the thicker than molasses riffs. The vocals are of the distant, singing from a mountain-top variety but they fit in perfectly in every way on "Krull". "Satsumo" continues the monolithic sludge attack, a bit shorter and straight to the top compared with "Krull", this monster is a bit more up-tempo but no less destructive. The gyrating, swirling riff locks in with the pounding drumming and never lets go, hold on tight because you are in for a bumpy ride! "Dying Giant" is another monster of down-tuned with what sounds like a 1000 amplifiers burning up in over-driven abandon. After a another devastating intro, the song takes off in a mid-tempo bombastic direction that drives the song along, taking no prisoners along its journey. The final assault comes in the form of "Sea Lord", like you really need another track after the first three monsters. "Sea Lord" delivers the sludgy goods once again, more of the same but equally as crushing as the rest of the EP.
Conan are a band that defy descriptions, talking about influences is also a unnecessary point of discussion. Conan stand tall by themselves and such reference points are useless when trying to describing a band that has as much sonic power as this. They have been signed up by the Throne record label who are doing the vinyl release and Aurora Borealis who are releasing the CD. Save your pennies for this because it will leave you devastated.
Reviewed by Ed
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Band: DISSEKTOR
Country: Colombia
Title: Ritual
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2010
Style: Thrash Death Metal
Review:
South America was, is and always will be filled with great metal, but Colombia is somehow behind countries like Brasil, Peru or Mexico in what concerns the number of relevant bands that break through to Europe's ears until now, so I must say I'm glad I have the chance to listen to something from this country.
Dissektor was founded in 2001 and so far they have only managed to release a demo in 2008, and this promo CD to announce their debut album, "Ritual". So what we get here, I guess, are 3 tracks from "Ritual", 3 tracks lasting for a quarter of an hour, made into the pureast old-school Thrash Death Metal form, a strong, powerful display of meaty riffs, fat bass lines, aggressive drum patterns and two tipes of vocals, brutal growls and brutal Thrashy screams. The guitar leads and solos are delicious enough to make you want for more, and the perfect answer to this is the release of their debut album planned for this year. Recommended!
Reviewed by Adrian
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Band: DUSTEROID
Country: UK
Title: Tyrannosonor
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2010
Style: Stoner Metal
Review:
The band with one of the most ultimate names for a stoner band has to be Dusteroid, don't know why but i have always loved that name. Classic band names aside, Dusteroid has been around since the early 90's but have only released one other CD that i am aware of and that was back in around 2005, that CD was called "Albedo Zero" and in my opinion was a run of the mill stoner rock release, it wasn't bad but was so generic, it was instantly forgotten about. One thing that is immediately clear with the new album, "Tyrannosonor" is the actual songwriting has improved out of sight. There is still nothing original about the band but the actual songs are full of much stronger hooks, better riffs and solo's. I must first mention the packaging though, before even putting on this disc this automatically grabbed my attention. This CD is packaged in a stunning multi panel fold out cardboard sleeve complete with artwork of a flaming asteroid and it looks incredible. More bands should package their albums this way, it looks amazing. Seeing that this is a self-financed album, the level of professionalism is right up there with any major band and this CD has the production to match the packaging, simply put, this CD kicks ass.
Within the opening minute of the first track, "Defy" you know this band means business. Musically they are somewhere in between Orange Goblin, Clutch, Sabbath and Down. Big fat riffs, solid grooves and a thundering rhythm section to back it up. The guitar solo's come right out of the Tony Iommi songbook and the vocals are like a rougher version of Down's Anselmo. The band still do their fair share of recycling riffs but they are killers, "High Rollers" and "Tomahawk Storm Troopers" are classic stoner groove tunes based around bluesy riffing with plenty of twists to keep you interested. The first major shift in direction comes in ""Whiskey Overdose" that has a jazzy interlude part, something that Black Sabbath was famous for in their earliest years. The lyrics are not exactly thought-provoking and could even be considered cheesy in a way but its not something you think about much with all the killer, stomping grooves that are present in the first 4 songs. The first weak moment comes in the next song called "Imprisonment", here they show a different side to the band, darker and more emotional but it just didn't gel with me even though it has some cool chugging bits, it just seems to spoil the way the album flows up to that point.
The band hit the gas pedal once again for the next track, "The Rolling Head". Its a beer-fueled hell raising track in the same vein as the earlier tracks and it even has everybody's favorite stoner rock instrument, the cowbell which is given a serious workout. "Holy Sin" is a another great track which showcases the band's southern rock tendencies, there is a type of Alabama Thunderpussy southern groove going on in this track and despite being totally unoriginal, it's still wipes the floor with most other bands within this genre of rock. The final track packs a real wallop, called "Dusty Road", it has a punky Orange Goblin vibe and then after some 53 minutes, its all over. The most negative thing i can come up with for "Tyrannosonor" is the obvious reworking of other band's riffs, i am pretty sure this wasn't intentional, it is just displaying their influences. The other problem could be its 8 songs spread over 53 minutes with pretty much the same groove on nearly every song, because of this its impact is weakened by the end of the album. However, this is still a great CD to party to, down a few beers to or crank up real loud when cruising down the highway. If you are tired of waiting around for the next Orange Goblin album or maybe bands like Clutch are not doing it for you anymore, then check out Dusteroid's Tyrannosonor. It rocks!
Reviewed by Ed
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Band: EREB ALTOR
Country: Sweden
Title: The End
Label: Napalm Records
Year: 2010
Style: Viking Doom Metal
Review:
Ereb Altor formed way back in the 90's by Isole members, Crister Olssen and Daniel Bryntse. This is their side project where they share all the instrumental and vocal work making Ereb Altor a true two man band. Compared to Bathory by a lot of people and i can hear why but this a much more Doom inspired release rather than the viking-obsessed Bathory era material. There is a lot of sounds though that seem to be lifted straight from the works of Quorthon, the male choir chanting, the mixture of electric and acoustic guitars and even the drumming which sounds like pure Bathory at times. Despite the comparisons, they still have a few tricks of their own on this album. Most of the elements that make up a "Doom" album are here, long songs that are sometimes drawn out, some repetitive sections and moments where not much happens at all except build intensity and atmosphere. If you are aware of the sound of the members working band "Isole", you will hear a lot of similarities also, the overall sound isn't that far removed from that band. I guess this will fall into the Viking Doom category as its not your plodding, crawling Doom Metal, its a slightly faster, Black Sabbath tinged style of Doom but played with more traditional Heavy Metal/Black Metal elements. The album begins with a 4 minute intro piece titled "The Entering (Myrding Prologue)" which flows into "Myrding". The highlight of the song is the vocal performance during the chorus which has a majestic, soaring, moaning climax which is amazing to hear. "Our Failure" and "A New But Past Day" both have great guitar work and arrangements that build and climb with intensity despite the slower tempos. However about halfway in to "A New But Past Day" you get the feeling the band are not only taking the Bathory worship too far but they are also ripping off themselves. There is not a lot of variety here and the songs become a little like a copy of themselves, its still good stuff but it the songs a little short on ideas. The highlight of the disc is without a doubt the title track which is split into 3 parts taking up 24 minutes of the album. Here the band get it right on so many different levels from Epic,Viking Metal to sorrowful Doom Metal, the track is a captivating journey from start to finish. While the 3 parts of the song sound vaguely similar, they also each have a separate identity giving the album some real character which it is lacking in the first half of the album. The sound on this album is huge, mixing keyboards with a monster of a guitar sound works throughout and acoustic instruments are only really used to set the mood before the crushing electric guitar is applied. Lyrically its all about viking myths and legends and if you are a Bathory fan of the "Hammerheart" era, you would have heard it all before but it is well written and entertaining. I found the album to be split into three parts of varying quality, a great start, a dull middle and a absolutely awe-inspiring ending. The end will appeal to both Epic Metal fans and Doom Metal fans but also the more traditional Heavy Metal fan should be able to get something out of this, hardly original but rather exhilarating for the most of the album.
Reviewed by Ed
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Band: ETERNAL IDOL
Country: UK
Title: Blunt Force Trauma
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2010
Style: Doom Metal
Review:
Eternal Idol from Aberdeen in the UK came together to fulfill a long time dream of playing doom, Jay the guitarist came from the hardcore metal bands "Forever Tied" and then "Choose Your Fate" with bassist Steve being totally new to bass playing and being in a band. These two formed the nucleus of the Eternal Idol, the pair starting jamming in November 2008 learning and mastering the doom metal craft along the way. After a long search, Ash was found to take on drumming duties and they enlisted "Choose Your Fate" bassist Christy as the vocalist. With the band line-up settled, the band went to work on creating a gritty sludge/doom band and they have gone from strength to strength ever since. Their first EP titled "Blunt Force Trauma" is now up for free download from their Myspace page, the link is posted below and is well worth your time downloading as it is a fine piece of dirty sludge metal. The EP starts off with a intro that has a dirty, stomping groove setting things up for the first real track, "Blunt Force Trauma". A great dirty groove is unleashed after a squeal of feedback and we are away on a crust-filled sludge metal journey. The crustiness comes mainly from the screaming, grimy, bellowing vocals of Christy but the guitar is not exactly clean either, its some gritty, swampy dirge which acts as a perfect vehicle for the musical assault they deliver. You would be a stretch of the imagination to call this original but it has a unrelenting groove about it that is hard to resist if you are a sludge metal fan. A few bands spring to mind when you listen to this EP and they are all American, Weedeater, Sourvein, Ol Scratch to name just a few. Eternal Idol keep their UK tendencies to a minimum and provide a sound that is rich is southern sludge, USA style.
"No Honor Amongst" is a bone crunching pounder with thick sounds coming from the guitar and bass, a lot of bottom end in this baby. Christy stretches his vocal chords from deep in the grave growls to terrifying screams and the song is interspersed with feed-backing guitar and tempo changes that go from heavy to heavier still. "Sleep When Dead" begins with the mandatory squealing guitar before a filthy doom riff crawls its way into the proceedings. Seething, plodding and with its fair share of malice, this is a immense track. The slightly off kilter guitar work adds a touch of evil to "Sleep When Dead" that echoes Saint Vitus and Eyehategod in small doses. "Respect Where Respect Is Due" is the final track and its a keeper. The epic of the EP, its a slogging sludge-fest with a mid-tempo opening section that is pure ear candy to a sludge metal fan like myself. The track soon takes a turn to sloth paced doom for the later half and i don't know if this was totally intentional or not but it disappears completely for a few minutes. False ending maybe but when the music reappears, it is a monolithic riff that is worth waiting for. My pick as my favorite part of the EP, this is a riffing section to die for but the total absence of any sound for a few minutes is a bit hard to sit through especially for me with my utter lack of patience. In conclusion, this EP promises great things for the future for this UK sludge/doom band as they dish up some killer riffage, monolithic vocals and a solid rhythm section. Its also produced well with all instruments being easy to hear, nothing is buried in the mix and thus provides a mighty ear-full of a sound. This should be high on everyone's "must download" list, check it out.
Reviewed by Ed
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Band: GNAW THEIR TONGUES / PAINFORGED
Country: Holland / Germany
Title: A Confession Of Worshiping The Depraved And Perverse Human Psyche In An Insalubrious And Pathological Context
Label: Shadowgraph Records
Year: 2010
Style: Experimental Noise Black Metal / Ambient Doom
Review:
This spilt album from Painforged and Gnaw Their Tongues called "A Confession Of Worshiping The Depraved And Perverse Human Psyche In An Insalubrious And Pathological Context" came packaged in a DVD case with the recording on a black CDR. I say came because it was limited to 100 copies and it close to or maybe completely sold-out. I hope they make more of these because it is a essential purchase for fans of Gnaw Their Tongues and the band Painforged are a excellent match for the demented sounds of Gnaw Their Tongues. Painforged are clearly influenced by Khanate, Skepticism, Corrupted and Gnaw Their Tongues so its fitting they get a place on this split album. Painforged deliver three tracks with some of the longest song titles i have ever seen, the first track from them and the first on the album is "The Achievement We Are The Crawling Filth Descended From This Planet and Our Own Funeral Creators", Track two is "A Confession Of Worshiping The Depraved And Perverse Human Psyche In An Insalubrious And Pathological Context with track three from them with a equally catchy title is "Grotesque Revelation Of Anthropogenic Atrocitys Through Necrophilia And Cannibalism". Similar to Gnaw Their Tongues they are a blend of Black Metal noise with metallic ambiance, throbbing processed sounds, gigantic vocals, demented samples, buzzing low-end bass and strange experimental guitar work. More ambient than anything else but at times frightening, they produced a sound that i want to hear a lot more of in the future. Gnaw Their Tongues need no introduction, if you have this band before you know what to expect. Sometimes industrial, sometimes blackened Doom but extremely cinematic and dramatic at the same time. Their music is scary stuff with buzzing guitars and with crashing, destructive drumming. They have a sound of their own, its not for everyone and a band made for the extreme hardcore Doom, Ambient music fan. Its amazing how much recording this band has done since 2006, if you count up full-length albums, EP's, split albums and demos, they have made something like 22 different recordings and this split with Painforged is a worthy addition. This is must-have for everyone but you may have to beg, borrow or steal to find a copy. Brutal stuff indeed.
Reviewed by Ed
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Band: HOUR OF 13
Country: USA
Title: The Ritualist
Label: Northern Silence
Year: 2010
Style: Doom Metal
Review:
About two years ago now Hour Of 13 released one of the most memorable debut albums of the last 10 years which established them as one of the new leaders in occult-driven doom metal. "The Ritualist" not only is a great follow up to that album but in some ways, its even better through stronger production and doom tunes that are rich in catchiness. What sets the band apart from so many others in the doom metal scene is their total devotion to genuine sounds from the past, everything from Sabbath, Pagan Altar, Witchfinder General, Candlemass to more traditional heavy metal bands like Mercyful Fate and Judas Priest but make no mistake, this is doom metal in its purest form. It is great that the vocals of Phil Swanson are here, there was some talk it wasn't going to the be the case but thankfully they are on this album and he delivers a flawless performance. His voice may be one-dimensional but he has a natural charisma in his vocals that offers a dramatic, emotional edge to the songs. The first thing that becomes clear is the guitar sound has been giving a extra boost of chunkiness on this album and the overall production is more polished than the debut offering.
The next thing that becomes obvious a few songs in, is this album has more variety in the song structures but the lyrical content remains the same. "The Gathering" kicks off the album in a psychedelic style with a guitar and organ sound straight out of the early 70's. "The Ritualists" puts the band into a pure plodding doom mode however but with great melody and a spacey atmosphere, this one of the more Sabbath inspired moments especially in the guitar department. "Naked Star" sees the band in a more chugging headbanging mood which summons up the classic sounds of Judas Priest but with a much more doomier edge. You have to keep in mind that Chad Davis plays all the guitars, bass and drums on this and its a seamless performance throughout the whole album. His bass and drum work may be a little basic but they still provide a solid driving force behind his incredible guitar work which shines more on here than it did on the debut, especially when it comes to solo's, there is more of them on "The Ritualist" than on the debut and they shred, kill, twist and turn. <br /><br />"Demons All Around Me" is the most "Mercyful Fate" sounding track that the band has ever done with a multi-part arrangement, catchy riffs and a chilling chorus. As the album moves into the second half, it becomes more varied even though "Evil Inside", "Soldier of Satan" and "Possession" are still rich in Iommi worship riffing. The main riff in "Possession" sends a chill up the spine as not only is it heavy metal at its best but also reeks of the kind of class mostly only heard from supergroups of the 70's and early 80's. Just like all classic albums, they have to finish on a highpoint, a epic finale of sorts and Hour Of 13 do it on here with a track called "The Crawlspace". Like most of the songs on here, this one takes some unexpected twists and turns and also deliver classic riff after classic riff for all of its 9 or so minutes. A lot of bands are playing in this retro style these days but not many of them nail it quite like Hour Of 13 do on "The Ritualist". Totally old-school right down to the production while remaining seriously heavy, this album should gain a wide audience of thrilled listeners. The musical technical ability of the Chad Davis combined with the charismatic charm of Swanson's vocals makes this a all round winner. If you plan on buying just one retro-doom rock album this year, its hard to go past this one.
Reviewed by Ed
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Band: IRREVERANT SOUL
Country: USA
Title: Irreverant Soul
Label: Satanica Records
Year: 2010
Style: Black Death
Review:
Side project of the Horner family, Eric and Jessica, known from their Throne Of Malediction band, Irreverant Soul recently released this debut EP, a 6 tracks material situated on the old-school Black Death Metal path. Its sound is raw as hell, rehearsal-like, and I guess it has no mixing or mastering whatsoever, so straight from the rehearsal room. That's ok with me as I'm an old-school kinda metalhead, but the drums are unfortunately horrible, and that not from the sound point of view, but from the performance, Eric tries a lot, and that's nice, but the synchronization is not there, there are a lot of mistakes, delays and nonsense tricks... On the other hand I was blown away by the vocals, pure '80's like Thrash Death kinds of raspy evilish screams, a type of vocals we don't hear too often (if ever) nowadays. Also Jessica adds her strong but still warm (here and there) vocals here and there, and I think it's a very good combination between the two. There's no bass here, only drums, guitar, vocals, and some keyboard backgrounds, and that adds more roughness to the material. Regarding the guitar lines those are pretty simple, sometimes melodic, sometimes really metallic.
I consider this EP more as a rehearsal-demo and hope Eric and Jessica are not going to release another rehearsal-recording in the future just for the idea of being raw and true, they can do this in a studio and maybe the result would be even more underground and raugh, but with a better sound and more sync.
Recommended only to those of you familiar with the '80's demo tapes and their sound.
Reviewed by Adrian
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Band: IRON MAN
Country: USA
Title: Black Night
Label: Shadow Kingdom Records
Year: 2010
Style: Doom Metal
Review:
Iron Man's debut album "Black Night" has always been one of the most sought after albums from the original "Hellhound Records" back catalog. Originally released in 1992, it is a timeless document of the Maryland scene of the early 90's. The reason i am reviewing it now is it has been re-mastered and re-released by Shadow Kingdom Records. The other reason i am reviewing this early masterpiece of Stoner Doom is the some of the reviews i have been reading for this reissued album. The reaction from some of more mainstream websites like Blabbermouth ( Blabbershit more like it ) has been nothing but negative. What some people don't get is how ahead of its time, this album was. The amount of bands more or less copying this style these days is staggering and i think if you were not part of the Maryland scene back then or didn't follow what was going on back then, you cannot appreciate what a great album this was and still is. Its a album that has been largely forgotten by most people so its awesome that Shadow Kingdom has given this album a re-birth that it so deserves. The Iron Man line-up back then of Iron Man lineup of Al Morris, Larry Brown (bass), Ron Kalimon (drums) and Rob Levey (vocals) had their roots firmly planted in Black Sabbath style Heavy Rock but this debut album showed the band developing its own sound while still retaining that traditional approach to Metal. Tracks like "Choices", "Life After Death" and "A Child’s Future" still sound fresh as they were back in the day of its original release. Iron Man made no apologies about ignoring the musical trends of the time, there is no Grunge, Thrash Metal or Hair Metal influences here. They were underground and proud of it, the album captures a sound that would be prove to be a major influence in years to come. If you only recently discovered Iron Man after Shadow Kingdom released their last album "I Have Returned" last year then its time to go back and discover where it all started. Give up on trying to find the original Hellhound version, chances are you wont find it anywhere these days and if you did it would be from someone on Ebay basically ripping you off. The album might not be their best piece of work but it is easily their most important giving the era in which it was released.
Reviewed by Ed
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Band: IRON VOID
Country: UK
Title: Spell of Ruin
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2010
Style: Doom Heavy Metal
Review:
Iron Void was originally formed back in November 1998 by Sealey as a total old school doom metal inspired by the likes of Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus and Pentagram. Since then they have worked hard doing many live shows and releasing their 1st official demo in October 2008, entitled "Live 2008". The sound and feel of that live recording was pure old-school, heavy as hell but with a classic sound that showed the band has no weak points even in a live setting. The original lineup consisted of Sealey on bass, Andy Whittaker on guitars, Paul Whale on vocals and Diz on drums. The original line-up didn't last long with Diz being replaced by Russ Thompson on Drums in September 1999. This lineup played a total of 16 gigs, before disbanding in early 2000. Andy Whittaker is currently the guitarist for another old-school doom band, The Lamp Of Thoth. Iron Void was brought to life in July 2008, with the current lineup consisting of 2 ex-members of the original Iron Void (Sealey & Diz), Steve Wilson (ex-So Mortal Be, R.I.P.) & Simon Guy (ex-Sermon Of Hypocrisy). This is a review of the EP, "Spell Of Ruin" which should be available very soon, its being distributed by Doomanoid Records who already have a amazing roster of bands to their name.
The title track kicks off the EP in suitably plodding, heavy crunchy doom fashion with slothful riffing, wailing solo guitar work and apocalyptic vocals. As the lyrics suggest, they have indeed "sold their souls" to doom metal rock and roll. The band are proud to be influenced by the doom greats and it shines in this and the other songs on the EP, they have a natural feel for the music so it doesn't sound forced at all. "Spell Of Ruin" has a time-honored riff, hardly ground-breaking but classic doom metal in every way, it flows nicely over its 8 minute running time. The vocals even have a slight "Wino" vibe about them and the bass/drum combo of Sealey and Diz lock into a tight, solid groove that is a perfect background to the monolithic riffery of Simon Guy. You couldn't ask for a better opening number but Iron Void are not a one-trick pony so read on. Second track "Final Resting Place" picks up the tempo a bit, the mid-paced pace and groove harks back to a more mid 70's Sabbath kind of vibe. Catchy, infectious rhythm's and a great sense of melody push the song into a more traditional heavy metal direction, fans of Witchfinder General should dig this tune.
"Conflict Inside" fuses melodic guitar passages with sonic driven doom riffing, the guitar lines are very beautiful as soaring melodies blend in well with the crunching main riff and once again the vocals compliment the song. The mid-tempo shift that comes in at the 4 minute mark of the song pushes the track to a dramatic level with swirling riffs and rolling drums, one of the highlights of the disc as this is a very well written piece of not just doom metal but classic rock. How can you not like a track like "Demon Drink"?, this is song that only the British can do. It seems bands like Iron Void, Lamp Of Thoth etc have a natural flair for songs like these. Its like a anthem for all the boozers out there but it also seems to be a warning of what the dreaded alcohol can do to you if you are not too careful. More great riffs and melodic lead work carry the song through different tempo changes and sound textures and while the song seems to carry a serious message, its also a fun track to listen to. The production on the EP is strong and clear with every instrument pushed up to a satisfactory level but its also a pretty short disc so the desire to hit the repeat button is immediate. One can only hope a full length album is not too far away because we need to hear a lot more from Iron Void. If the songs on the live demo are anything to go by, they have the material for a full album so hopefully we wont have to wait too long. This is further evidence as to why bands from the UK seems to capture the classic doom rock vibe better than most, maybe its the beer. This is a essential purchase for all doomsters, check it out.
Reviewed by Ed
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