Drohm has covered a lot of musical ground since their first demo in 1996. Back then, guitarist/songwriter Travis Lorden was handling all of the musical duties. On the 2000 demo "Everlasting Departure" vocalist Brendan Bean made his debut, and the music evolved as well - instead of a heavy classic-norse influence the songs on Everlasting Departure moved more into a modern black metal vein, mixing in a lot more death metal influence (more brutal riffing, a heavier sound, etc.) and adding a lot of variety to the vocal approaches in the songs. Well, the band has changed again, upgrading from a machine to drummer Eric Cook, and again the music evolved, as shown on their latest release, the "Oracles of Darkened Time" EP. The overall approach has more of a technical flair than in the past, calling to mind bands like Death or Suffocation. There is a lot more rhythmic intricacy in the riffing and the human feel of the drums is a BIG improvement. The guitar work has become even more melodic as well - the demo opens with some great soloing over some mellow acoustic guitar, and the solos and melodic sections of the songs are very unique - It's such an intricate blend of black and death metal approaches that I think this demo almost defies categorization. If I had to describe it, though, I think I'd say it's technical death metal blended with a black metal approach to songwriting and more of a focus on 'darkness' than 'heaviness'. Excellent stuff - very well done. It's a shame that labels sign SHIT while passing over great bands like this that don't fit a mold.

http://www.blackunion.com/drohm/
http://www.mp3.com/drohm/

© 2001 lord vic