The Digital Pen Flowed with this edition I welcome thee to Enjoy..
Mortiferum -Disgorged From Psychotic Depths- Digital/CD/ LP (Profound Lore )
Bludgoning , Crushing, Suffocation these are words that need to be brought to life with a band like Mortiferum. There is Death metal infused with Doom then there is Doom metal that has a love of slow punishing Death metal. This is the realm Mortiferum sits very much in the throne alone. I love the guttural and ultra low vibe that you get from them with love of bands like Winter, Disembowlment, Bolt Thrower and Tomb Mold . The Have that very finnish Death Doom thing going on you know what bands were talking about Hooded Menace, Demigod, Krypts etc. This is some impressive stuff and then it going into that grinding Doom sound that again bands like Disembowelment have mastered. Mindblowing yes, Epic yes, Skullcrushing yes. Folks you need to hear this excellent musical journey for sure.
Novembers Doom- Nephilim Grove- Digital/ LP/ CD (Prophecy Productions)
Chicago's own Novembers Doom are back with new album and 30 yrs of making some of the most innovative Dark, Doom , Melodic Death metal filled adventures a band can produce. Now with a new label and a proper label for a band of this calliber Prophecy Productions. They seems very lost at a label like The End Records over the last few releases. Are you fans of bands like My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, Amorphis, October Tides, Edge of Sanity, Silent Engima period Anathema etc. Pauls mix of Sung and Grunts are just stunning The Twin guitar assaults of Vito and Larry form fragile acoustics to blistering Death Doom all with a melody and harmony that just will not leave the brain. Those rhythms from the warm full bass lines and the prog meets death metal drumming. How this band sounds this fresh and forward thinking is something not many can do after double digit releases. Novembers Doom thank you for the memories though out the last three decades and I hope more to come from the next .
Völur / Amber Asylum - Breaker Of Rings / Blood Witch- Digital/LP/CD (Prophecy Productions)
A split release from two very avant and experimental wonderkin. 1st up is Volur from Toronto Canada. This is full on Dark Neoclassical meets Pagan folk and from the first moments is giving me those chills I use to get in late 90's and early 00's from bands like Arcana, Canaan, Vidna Obmana, 3rd and the Mortal, Dead can Dance, The Rachels, Hagalas Runedance, Elend, Blood Axis and Of Wand and the Moon. Volur is Minimalist, Epic, Bleak , Dark, Spiritual, Heathen, Folkish and the list is going on and on. Damn those strings are so hearbreakingly beautiful, intense and moving at times you feel like you at a classical theatre performance. There is even this very Darkwave meets Post Doom element through out the four tracks. Moving on to San Francisco's own Kris Force driven Amber Asylum. This is Classic music for those that like it Avant, Prog, Gothic and Mind altering . The things this band does with simple percusiong, strings, bass lines and acoustic are second to none. Now layer that ambient electronic and post modern feel to it all and for 20 plus years Amber Asylum has been blowing musical boundaries apart . Kris, Jackie and Erica are a three women tour de force and if more is needed to be said then that , then get to listening to thw dozen plus releases before this ultimate gem. Cultured or Heathen this will inspire both to look at music in a whole new way and at the end of the day isn't that what good music is suppose to do. Change idea's, feeling and inspire you !!!
Reido-Anātman- CD/ Digital (Aesthetic Death)
When listening to a band when I start with Epic and Otherworldly were do you go from there. This is the definition of Funeral Doom. Lumbering, Somber, Sonically echoing and Deep and Pulsing tones that never move from a crawl and you clearly would never want it to. These musical alchemist are from Belurus a former Eastern Soviet Block nation now on its own for the last few decades with a new frontier and path to etch it out on its own. Skepticism, Shape of Despair, Evoken, UN, Dolorian all come to mind when listening to this. I can feel the power and fury in my very bones on and album like Anatman. Doom is in my blood and this just feels like a warm blanket and home for my ears. Reido not sure where or what you have been up to now but moving forward you are on my radar and list to check and out forever more. The Ethereal and Gothic overtone mixed with the Post Rock flavor really work well. Haunting and Chilling are were the Doom winds blow with this ..
Starles Domain- EOS- Digital / CD (Aesthetic Death)
Spacial, Sci Fi Blackgaze is that is coming into focus from this force from the USA. It starts of ambient and minimal and then throw you in to a full on Blackgaze, Post Black, Black Noise cluster fuck of inspiration , nightmares, atonal hearbreaks and a wall of sonic destruction. Starles Domain is a collection of 4 Noisy Blackened tracks ranging from 10 to 16 minutes and they are here to make you submit and question all that has come before it.There is this frightening caustic melody that is going on through out all the tracks that makes this kind of Black industrial metal clamp it's hooks onto the very flesh and not allow you to let it from your clutches. The tormented and screeching blackened crys give me a Havoc Unit/ And Oceans vibe to it as well if not Mysticum and Vond feeling. This is one of the most unsettling listens I've had in while and those difficult and not going to be for a major listening base if you hear it and like it this will be an aural travel you will want to make over and over again. Aesthetic Death is a label that likes to take risks on impressive fringe artist and we need more labels like this for music to thrive and grow.
Blood Incantation-Hidden History of the Human Race-Digital/LP/Tape/CD (Dark Descent Records)
Complexity and Creativity and Catchy are three items that do not come in the same package . With Denver's Blood Incantation we have what I want to and will call Progressive Sci Fi Death metal and it works on all levels . Blood Incantation does the same thing bands like Tomb Mold Outer Heaven and Krypts are doing mixing Guttural, Tech, Melodic Death with Scifi and Eastern and Oriental sounds into something that feel like its from home and a far off land at the very same time. Just for one moment imagine Voivod, Nile,Orphaned Land and Incantation all at the same time creating a band of bands and you have Blood Incantation . I will clearly say at this time I never want this kind of music to end and its doing all the things bands like Atheist, Cynic and Pestilence were going for and just never got to completeing . This is the next wave of the redefining of what Death metal for the next decade of metal is going to work torwards.
Bison Machine- Seas Of Titan- Digital/CD/LP (Small Stone)
I love 70's vibing fuzzed out Heavy Prog as much as the next guy but I'm getting this is just too retro and groovy of the side of the music I normally love. What Bison Machine is doing is extremely well done . Just wish it was more like the Svart records side of that 70's vortex I love like like the stoner Rise Above/Meteor City end of the spectrum. I see this is going to be a shorter review as I'm 4 songs into this album for the 2nd time and its just not moving me in ways other bands on Small stone have. I want more Thin Lizzy and Deep Purple and less Grand Funk and Jimmi Hendrick's . Oh well you can win them all and even at this its not terrible so I can just say my piece and move on lol.
The River-Vessels Into White Tides- Digital/CD (Nine Records)
This UK Female fronted unit last proper album was a decade ago and here we come with the 3rd one in December of 2019. " Vessels into the white tides" is a mix of Post Metal, Somber Doom, Shoegazing, Post Punk and Dream pop into something that is warming, chilling, challenging and exploring into where dark heavy gothic influenced Doom can move into and have lush and beautiful movement and at the very same moment be dense and crushing in tone and effect. The waves of gloom and hope that over wash this album are too many to mention are you fans of bands like Madder Mortem, Curve, Gospel of the Witches, 3rd and the Mortal and Chelsea Wolfe then my friends this going to be an album you will not be able to put down. From Frail to Monolithic is where a band like The River go too and comes from. There are so many influence from bands like Lycia, Mors Syphilitica and Faith and the Muse too. I would say at times there are vibes that come from The Gathering too. I just find such majesty in the tone and arrangements from The River we need to make this band much bigger its on all of us to do so .
Noekk -Waltzing In Obscurity-Digital/LP/CD (Prophecy Productions)
MMMMMM. ANother Decade in the making and I have never forgotten the Dark and Delicate Beauty of Noekk. Empyrium's Helm and Schwadorf have come back to give us another round of Death Rock, Prog Rock and Symphonic Metal interludes. Are you fans of Devil Doll, Katatonia, AntiMatter, Tenhi, Sisters of Mercy, Evergrey and Ayreon this is all the magic and mystery that I hear form the brilliant arrangement and touching musical mastery. I really do not want to gush too much on this album but I'm going to and it's because when you hear the stunning complexity and deep dive in to so many styles that just work well together it's needed to get that level of respect. The Bass lines, organs, synths, Melancoly vocals and tasteful drumming all just overwhelm the senses at times and with all this comes the driving and harmonious Guitars and so so much more. When you listen to this Noekk is so much more an experience than just a musical force. I hope you hear and feel the same I do and can fall in love with a record too. We all need that from time to time.
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