Somewhere around here I have the split LP Denouncement Pyre did with Diocletian. Like many I mainly got it for the Diocletian tracks but, truth be told, the Denouncement Pyre side is a bit more worn today than the other. It’s a close tie but Denouncement Pyre has the win.
Denouncement Pyre hail from Melbourne, Australia. Listening to it’s music, however, I do think you would have a hard time figuring it out straight away. Sure, there are some give aways but, seriously, what blasting and thrashing metal ov death doesn’t sound a bit Australian? The guys pretty much invented that field.
Denouncement Pyre play brutal & thrashing metal ov death noir and they rarely give you a chance to breathe. From "Black Womb of Magdalene” the band forces it’s music down the listener’s throat with such force that when you finally get to "Invitation of Poison” you are pretty much worn out.
However, the band is not the kind to let you go easy and I think people will be drawn to this album more than just one time around. If you are looking for hard and well played black death metal then this is the band for you.
Band: HOODED MENACE
Country: Finland
Title: Never Cross The Dead
Label: Profound Lore Records
Year: 2010
Style: Doom Death Metal
Review:
Finland’s Hooded Menace’s debut "Fulfill The Curse" was such a impressive album that i thought it would have to be all downhill from here for the band. How could they possibly follow such up a classic slab of crushing Death/Doom like that. As unbelievable as it is, they have done it with the new album "Never Cross The Dead". Better artwork, better production, chunkier guitar sounds and songs that flow a little easier than the first album makes "Never Cross The Dead" a worthy companion piece to "Fulfill The Curse". The Hooded Menace sound remains intact, Cathedral, the Doom/Death riffing of Asphyx, the atmosphere of early Candlemass, the brutality of Autopsy and of course the love for all things in the realm of obscure cult horror movies. The band led by Lasse Pyykkö on guitars, bass and vocals breathes new life into the Death Metal scene especially for those sick and tired of cookie-cutter bands with pro-tooled fake-ness. Hooded Menace also give Doom Metal a kick in the ass by delivering twisted, deranged inflections of groove into their plodding, morbid mesmerizing slog-fests. Add to that languid string bends, waves of orchestral sweeps, morose roaring vocals and sorrowful melody lines and you have a soundtrack for the morbid and the downright insane.
Starting out with the title track "Never Cross The Dead", the album wastes no time in filling your room with a vibe of deathly woe and torment. The music is punishing with the buzz-saw guitars that slowly cuts away at your flesh for almost 9 minutes. The opening riff is a funeral march to insanity and when the bellowing vocals make their first appearance, the overall effect is one of sheer devastation. Hooded Menace are renown for their haunting grooves but its also the lead guitar work on this album especially that give the band a sinister vibe that is all their own. The opening of second track "Terror Castle" is so creepy, it makes Saint Vitus sound like Motley Crue. While its mostly slow, churning grooves there is the odd burst of energy and "Terror Castle" has that in passages that verge on Progressive Rock. The thickness of the grooves especially at the halfway point to the end of the track are overpowering and just when you think you have heard it all, there is even tortured female screams inserted into the final minute of "Terror Castle" just to add a even more sinister vibe. One of the best tracks has to be "Night Of The Deathcult", it pays tribute to bodily dismemberment not only in the lyrics but also in terms of sound. This track crushes everything in its path and the tempo changes within it are purely inspirational. What sets this album apart from "Fulfill The Curse", is where as that album had the killer guitar sound, "Never Cross The Dead" has a fuller, richer sound from all instruments, no more so than on "Night Of The Deathcult".
"The House Of Hammer" has the strongest melody lines Hooded Menace have ever produced along with a mid-tempo shift into a pulsating groove with guitar virtuoso bits that are way beyond anything found on their first album. "Rituals Of Portal Cremation" has a Doom Metal orchestral vibe that is unlike anything i have heard, while bands like Skepticism come close to it, in my opinion Hooded Menace not only nail the technique, they take to a place its never been before. While its all extremely gloomy, they have a strong sense of Heavy Metal craftsmanship in the way melody lines are delivered. Creating atmospheric music like this without resorting to using keyboards is a achievement in itself and even though the songs are real long, dragged out slabs of morbid deathly doom, they hold your interest right up the last thunderous notes of each track. "As The Creature Ascend" is equally as punishing as anything on the album, seething with threatening malice it takes the Death/Doom genre to its ultimate degree of catastrophic, depressive heaviness. "From Their Coffined Slumber" continues in the same twisting, turning fashion as the previous tracks. Swirling, mutated riffing and the trademark guttural vocals spreading their tales of horror and the morbid curiosity for zombies and rotting flesh in general. Still there is a kind of harrowing beauty behind the wall of sound, like the crunchy, catchy riffing that fills up most of the second half the song. This is infectious while remaining as heavy as anything around in the scene today.
The final track is the biggest eye-opener of the bunch, its the "Theme From Return Of The Evil Dead" and its a monumental tribute to all the "dead" films. At only a tad over 3 minutes long, its the shortest and most direct track on "Never Cross The Dead" but a fitting way to finish this masterpiece. Without a doubt, Hooded Menace are the consummate Death/Doom band, the bar has been set ever higher with this release. Despite the long running times of 7 of the 8 songs, it never drags or gets boring. The atmosphere of the album is maintained throughout without ever getting bogged down by repetition, even the vocals which stay the same throughout the entire album suit the music perfectly. This is a landmark album for Hooded Menace and for the Death/Doom genre as a whole, its also a album you can listen to over and over again. It also presents a problem to me the reviewer, "Fulfill The Curse" got a 9 rating from me which i still think is justified so "Never Cross The Dead" has to get a 10, this makes me want to re-think my whole rating system for albums. Very few albums exceed expectations but Hooded Menace have done just that, in my opinion this is the best album ever made in the Death/Doom genre.
Reviewed by Ed
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Band: SPIRIT DESCENT
Country: Germany
Title: Doominion
Label: Selfreleased
Year: 2010
Style: Doom Metal
Review:
There has been a bit of a revival of Traditional, Epic Doom Metal in the last couple of years and the world of Doom is much better off for it, but there is still not enough of this brand of Doom in the world especially in the U.S.A. Spirit Descent from Germany are one of the new shining lights in the scene and judging by this album, they are destined to be one of the most appreciated. Take Note doomsters, this album will be at the top of play-lists by the end of the year. If not there is something seriously wrong with the ears of listeners out there, this album is a instant classic statement of Epic, Crushing Doom Metal. Spirit Descent come from the old-school of classy song-building, progressive rock arranging and quality production. They avoid the tendency to down-tuned everything to a sub-sonic level but they make up for that by delivering quality crushing riffs and incredibly exciting melodies. The influences are obvious because its fair to say, Spirit Descent are not original in any way but it never hurts your listening pleasure of this fine album. The influences i am guessing are Candlemass, Black Sabbath, Solstice, Solitude Aeturnus and the heavier side of 70's Progressive Hard Rock.
"Doominion" is such a complete piece of work that highlighting individual tracks is almost pointless, the whole album is a magical experience from the opening of the first track "Greed" to the hidden surprise track that plays out after a lengthy stretch of silence at the end of the disc. At the end of the album, let it run people because you will be amazed by a gem of a track that awaits you. Within a minute of opening track "Greed" you are swept away by a titanic wave of crushing, thunderous Doom Metal. Like i have already mentioned, its intensely heavy with resorting to down-tuning to Z and the immaculate work of ex-Cold Embrace man Andreas Libera on guitar, bass and vocals is simply inspirational to hear. The vocals of Jan Eichelbaum is very much in the mold of Robert Lowe and he has a commanding, powerfully controlled melodic voice and the drumming and the drum sound in general is huge. "Greed" is a very quick 6 minutes that never loses any momentum, it even has a mid-tempo section that causes you to head-bang uncontrollably. Showing that they are not a one-trick pony, they follow that piece of metallic gold with "Land Of Tears". Here a straight-forward riff is used to perfection that displays they have a knack not only for the technical but good old fashioned solid Metal as well. "In Hatred" and "The Path of Doom" doesn't let you down either with unrelenting ominous riffing and majestic melodies.
On "Demon", Jan Eichelbaum shows what a talented, multi-dimensional vocalist he really is with a amazing vocal performance. By the time "A New Dawn" comes creeping out of your speakers, if you are like me you will be wondering where has this band been hiding. One classic track after another, they seem to have a endless supply of ideas and a passion for Doom Metal that is hard to match. "Of a Nation Forlorn" and the last track "Stranger on Earth" continue in the same vein without ever sounding repetitive. Then after a lengthy pause you get to the bonus hidden gem and its a mind blowing slab of metal greatness. Now if that is not enough already, they have recently been joined by Randy Reaper from The Lamp of Thoth on guitar. That might just be total overkill, can Spirit Descent get any better than what they sound like on "Doominion", the answer is properly not but the thought of Reaper on guitar in this band is just the icing on the cake for a band that is pure Doom Metal excellence. From Ambient, Acoustically driven passages to Experimental type sections to monolithic crushing axe swinging, this album has it all and more. I have nothing but praise for this awesome slab of Doom.
Reviewed by Ed
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Band: WITCHSORROW
Country: UK
Title: Witchsorrow
Label: Rise Above Records
Year: 2010
Style: Doom Metal
Review:
Holy Crap, this is one heavy album from UK's Witchsorrow, after delivering a interesting but patchy demo in 2008, they have got all their Doom Metal elements together for this beast of crawling, seething monolithic Doom Metal. The line-up of Nick "Necroskull" Ruskell on guitar and vocals, Emily Witch on bass and Morrellhammer on drums have all the passion and doomed intensity required to play Doom Metal in all its stripped down, raw, bare-boned glory. This album is out on Rise Above Records and i don't know how much Lee Dorrian has to do with the actual recording but its very similar in mood to the first Cathedral album. Influenced by the true greats of Doom Metal like Saint Vitus, Candlemass, Black Sabbath, Reverend Bizarre and Trouble, the band sound closer to Electric Wizard more than anyone else but even the Wizard would struggle to come up with this crushing.
Opening track "The Agony" is indeed the pure musical meaning of agony. The bass-driven sound that Witchsorrow has is the perfect backbone for producing this kind of depressive sloth-rock. It barely moves along at all, rather it crawls along like a drunken snail. There is no real change of pace at all throughout its 9 minutes but there is a killer riff and mood change 6 minutes in with some real sick moaning lead work from Ruskell. The comparisons with Electric Wizard don't just end with the music, the vocals are also in the vein of EW but this is not a recycled effort in any way at all. "The Trail Of Elizabeth Clarke" opens with a riff not too far removed from Sabbath's Iron Man etc etc but its played at such a slow tempo, not even Sabbath could play this slow even if they were on heroin with broken arms. Needless to say, i crave this kind of Doom Metal. The monotonous tempo is truly hypnotic, capturing the true essence of what Doom Metal is about but wait for the mid-paced tempo change at the 6 minute mark in the song. Catchy, infectious while remaining 100% heavy, these type's of grooves give you goosebumps...magical.
The shortest track at a measly 6 minutes is called "Gomorrah" and for the first time on the album, you are greeted with a mid-paced burner for a while at least. Again its a infectious rhythm showing they have more than one trick up their collective sleeves. A great, fuzzy solo in the middle of "Gomorrah" pushes the track to a new level of grooved based hippie rock before it winds its way back to the monolithic, grinding Doom Metal that is heard on the start of the CD. "Thou Art Cursed" continues in its very orthodox style, true to say Witchsorrow are not reinventing anything or doing anything original but its played with real heart and a obvious passion for this genre of music we love so much. "Thou Art Cursed" has a more of a Psychedelic Doom edge compared with the rest of the album, maybe in the way the song takes you to a peak and holds you there in anticipation for something. That something doesn't happen till the 10 minute point in the song where they launched in another one of their mid-tempo doom grooves, again the result is a stunning piece of infectious neck-wrenching axe-swinging.
"Impaler,Tepes" is the final track on this monster of a album and its a killer tune. More drawn-out Sabbath riffs played with the Electric Wizard down-tuned level of heaviness are what is on show here and they keep up for over 9 minutes. They could have made it 60 minutes and i would be sitting, listening with jaw dropped to the floor. "Impaler,Tepes" is split into three separate parts of Stoner Doom wonderment, the first is the mid-tempo groove they have obviously perfected, the second is a atmospheric, medieval passage and then the final section turns into a seething, swampy dirge of colossal proportions. When the final fade comes to be, you are left with a album that will stand the test of time in the minds of the Stoner Doom fan. With slow, pummeling riffs, catchy mid-tempo shifts and lyrics about medieval witch trials, the question remains - what more could you ask for?
Reviewed by Ed
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