Majestic Downfall – When Dead (2015)

ASH128CD_SOFTPACK.indd

Majestic Downfall plays something that is like doom metal but comes off as some sort of mainstream-ish hard rock. Using riffs to have something for the vocals to ride on and war metal sort of riffs interspersed here and there, it seems as if the band is just trying to get by. The fact that the focus of this plague is doom metal only makes it slightly more difficult to see, it is less obvious. More people will welcome this as authentic doom metal just because it is harder or people with short attention spans (yes, even fans of crappy doom have short attention spans) to notice the relation between sections in the long run as they revel in the “heaviness” and “feel” of each part. It is the focus of this music on this moment-based satisfaction of a heavy feeling that give us a hint of a hard-rock-like idea behind this.

This imitative and momentary-feeling-based approach to doom metal lies in the confusion as to what doom metal exactly is, or what it consists off. I assume this comes from the Saint Vitus crowd that don’t realize that that band is only “doom metal” in name and is only slow heavy metal. If nothing is done differently except play the music slower, do not bother changing genre names. A whole vision at a “spiritual” level, has to be different for the methodology to change naturally after it.

When Dead tries hard to be doom metal. The vocals even resemble those by Paradise Lost and even resort to some of their trademark moves in some riffs and corresponding vocal patterns. The crowd-pleasing collection of slow heavy metal, war metal and Paradise Lost that Majestic Downfall presents can be deceiving for those with a shaky (“open-minded”) idea of music, but its vacuity and gimmick will be evident for those with a center.

 

No Comments

Tags: , , , ,

Codex Obscurum – Issue Seven

Having watched this zine grow from humble origins to the reliable source of underground metal feature stories that it is today, the metalheads who comprise the underground — including death metal, black metal, grindcore, and some speed metal and doom metal — now expect high-quality on-point content from this zine, and Issue Seven delivers with style. Now possessing the journalistic weight and audience to command high-profile bands, Codex Obscurum returns with wide-ranging interviews, reviews, features and editorials with adventurous literary fiction as well.

Interviews have always pushed this zine above the rest because of their conversational nature but tendency to explore the thinking behind the musical decisions made by the band, with little attention spent on the surface fluff, but some questions that bring out the personalities of the musicians and explain their connection to the art. In this issue, the biggest name in interviews is Deceased, but perhaps the most powerful interview belongs to Thanatos. Covering both Hail of Bullets and Thanatos, this interview with Stephan Gebedi is as detailed and congenial as death metal interviews get, and covers a lot of history. The Deceased interview will strike most as idiosyncratic because it covers much of King Fowley personally and recent news, with less emphasis on background, but this reflects the general abundance of Deceased interviews on the early days. This updates us on the status of the band including information new to most sources. Other interviews with Wastelander, Drug Honkey, FaithXTractor, Crypt Sermon, Magic Circle, Dawn of Demise, Untergang, Slaughtbath and Blood Incantation follow similar patterns of compiling biographical details and consulting on musical intent, with the Untergang and Crypt Sermon being most compelling. All of these are well-executed and constitute the backbone of this zine.

Issue Seven contains a number of features, one of which takes the form of an interview. Artist Tony Cosgrove gives his points of view in a story which interweaves his images with his words, creating the sensation of being a museum exhibit with slightly longer detail cards. A feature on asymmetrical board games offers a glimpse into a world that overlaps with metal but is too nerdly for the mainstream tuffguy websites to cover. A lengthy write-up of the Kill-Town death fest in Denmark follows, which captures much of the atmosphere without excessive detail, but also skimps on a few vital points and may be the least powerful part of the zine. Then again, fest writeups are nearly impossible because everyone is tired and/or drunk (and stoned) so what remains are hazy recollections and the ability to look through the heaps of scored merch. Possibly my favorite features lurks at the rear of the zine, which is a malevolent and tongue-in-cheek editorial about the nature of battle jackets and how they should be worn. This piece reminds me of the 1980s text-files that hackers used to pass around: it has an off-the-cuff feel to the writing, but the thinking seems refined over time, which creates an interesting casual intensity. One intriguing feature, to my knowledge unique among current zines, comes in the form of a short story. Like a condensed zombie sci-fi horror movie, “Evil Seed” (named for the Morbid Angel tune?) efficiently whips through a haunting mystery of an experience with a powerful organic metaphor. This story not only adds to the zine, but its placement dead in the middle creates a break like that when flipping over a vinyl album to hear side two.

Toward the rear of the zine festers another important section: reviews. For metalheads without much time to wade through the mountains of spurious and often spiteful opinions in online comments, or the completely idiotic sales jobs that mainstream zines and web sites put out in place of reviews, where every release is the greatest ever and will tear your head off or make you look intellectual to the girlies, zine reviews offer peace of mind in purchasing by offering better than even chances that a given release will be a match. This occurs both through qualitative assessment, and quantitative description, both of which are featured here. These take a conversational tone but know when to drop the one or two lines of most vital description, and then an assessment, separating observations from judgments enough that the reader can shop by the relative distance between the taste of the reviewer and their own. In this issue, the selection of reviews is a lot more strategic and covers all of the vital ground for what was released during the press period of this issue.

As Codex Obscurum has grown, so has its proficiency in layout. This is the most readable issue yet, generally sticking a band logo at the start of an interview and then being sparse with other images and keeping the text high-contrast usually of a light grey on black variety. This format works well and the use of distinctly shaped fonts also keeps this from falling into the trap of the illegible muddy blur of a xerox disaster that many zines are. Reviews are black text on grey background for added readability, and whether from rush or deliberation, the black-on-white table of contents is if nothing else clear as a bell. Writing standards have inched upward, too, with tightly edited pieces and almost no typos and spelling errors. All of the above make it easy to pick up this zine, which at half-page size can be handily carried anywhere you would take a paperback, and to relax and absorb the content. It would not be surprising to see someone whip this out at a university library, transhumanist rally or on the international space station, because it has that kind of density of information and yet casual enjoyment factor. It is good to see this zine getting the recognition it deserves and its growth both in size and technique for an intensely professional and yet familiar metal reading experience.

1 Comment

Tags: , , , , , ,

Temple Of Gnosis – Mysterivm Magnvm (2015)

Temple Of Gnosis - Mysterivm Magnvm

Gods of metal, please liberate us from the blithe of samey industrial and doom metal from atmospheric-minded twats! Save us from the ignorance that plagues metal artists and fandom alike! Only then can these empty husks that resemble metal be driven out and seen for what they are. This album is one more kind of subversive tendency under empty pretentiousness that affects those with a penchant for the occult and a short-sighted vision for composition.

Mysterium Magnum consists of four songs of basically the same thing. At points it approaches the industrial sound of Beherit on Electric Doom Synthesis but without the distinct ideas and development. Temple of Gnosis’ music is rather a snapshot of that industrial metal with some minimalist melodies played in subtle keyboard sounds along shadowed vocals that lend to the darkness of the atmosphere. And that’s it. You take that and basically play that moment again and again in slightly different ways. The songs even have more or less the same length, and all equally fail at developing or show any variety. Perhaps the length was the measure stick to decide when to stop the songs.

Temple of Gnosis show us with Mysterium Magnum just how gullible both the industry and the average fan of metal can be. Or how blind and undiscerning the industry takes the metalhead to be. To be honest, this probably deserved since most metalheads show they cannot see past “the riff” or “the melody” in the case of the more mainstream-minded. The average metalhead is still a pop music fan, he sees music as separate moments and what each of them individually make him feel. He is also driven purely by what makes him “feel good”. That means that he will measure the quality of music by the count of how many moments tickled his funny bone. Thus you receive what you asked for, mediocre metalhead.

No Comments

Tags: , , , ,

May 2015: The decent and the rescuable

P0202

 

This is a “best of the month” list for this month, but making the title “Best of May 2015” sounds like giving too much of a spotlight for such a short span of time, and devaluating the word “Best of” somewhat, in my opinion. Therefore I chose a title to reflect reality more clearly: these are the only albums we heard of on this website this month that were decent enough to not be considered utter disgraces to the metal genre (those were in the SMRs or were ignored). The “decent” are those that show consistency in style, coherence, a direction and a clear artistic voice and goals. The “rescuable” are those that are still confused in their composition — unclear, or that seemed to be impeded from development by their own approach to music-making (or that of their own genre).

 

The Decent

  • Ascended Dead – The Advent                                      review
  • Blasphemic Cruelty – Crucible of the Infernum      review
  • Exhumation – Opus Death                                           review
  • Luciferian Rites – When the Light Dies                     review
  • Necrophor – Exterminatus                                          review
  • Nekromanteion – Cosmic Horrors                             review
  • Perversor – Anticosmocrator                                      review
  • Shroud of the Heretic – Unorthodox Equilibrium  review
  • Undead – False Prophecies                                           review

 

The Rescuable

  • Blind Guardian – Beyond the Red Mirror                review
  • Bureviy – Concealed Beyond the Space                     review
  • Dew-Scented – Intermination                                     review
  • Maruta – Remain Dystopian                                       review
  • Undergang – Døden Læger Alle Sår                           review
  • Wende – Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft    review
4 Comments

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Shroud of the Heretic – Unorthodox Equilibrium (2015)

shroud of the heretic_LP2 cover haulix

Skillfully bringing together doom/death, modern atmospheric and war metal styles, Unorthodox Equilibrium is more than a fitting name for describing the musical approach used in this album. Bands playing in any of the aforementioned styles have typically fallen prey to different misconceptions. Some have failed by attempting to adopt an orthodox position simplified to the precept that genre cliches guide songwriting and that the result will be good if it “feels good”. Others have taken a route that attempts to bring more original ideas into the mix but whose ultimate goal is still that each section gives them a certain feeling, an “atmospheric/ambient” effect. We can summarize the cause of these blunders by saying that their approach has been too pleasure-oriented.

In Unorthodox Equilibrium we can hear familiar voices bearing the mark of Worship in Last Tape Before Doomsday, Disembowelment (I refuse to follow ridiculous indications as to what letters should be written in uppercase format) in Transcendence into the Peripheral and Esoteric in Paragon of Dissonance.  Unlike them, though, Shroud of the Heretic only slightly avoids falling into complacency with the immediate effect of their arrangements and instead channels these as methods used measuredly. The band manages to promote a sense of movement in each section while maintaining atmosphere without depending on stagnating in the harmony within one section or getting anchored to one kind of texture or intensity level for too long.  This makes the album an incredibly varied experience within the non-restrictive but focused confines of a florid and eloquently coherent language.

Independently of whether this was a conscious decision or not, the heterodox and non-monolithic composition route taken by Shroud of the Heretic avoids this atmospheric metal trap and represents an excellent indicator of an artistically healthy direction for this subgenre of metal.

No Comments

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Desolate Pathway announce Sorrows Path guitarist to guest on new album

desolatepathwayband02

UK epic doom metal band Desolate Pathway are delighted to announce a guest guitarist for their upcoming album: none other than Kostas Salomidis of Greek stalwarts Sorrows Path.

Guitarist Vince Hempstead commented:

We would like to announce with honour that Kostas Salomidis from the amazing Greek Doom band Sorrows Path has recorded 2 guest guitar solos for our 2nd album planned for early 2016. Last week, Kostas recorded the guitar solos at Fragile Studios in Athens with producer Vangelis Yalamas, and the results are amazing. A great way to connect with our Greek mythology-based new recordings.

 

The band are also due to hit the road several times this year. Dates are as follows:

  • Jun 18th: The Cave, Addlestone, Surrey, w/ Hagstone & Famyne
  • Aug 29th: Power and Glory Festival, Hatfield w/ Stampede, Savage, Martyr, Sacrilege, Lord Volture, Toledo Steel, Salem, Dealer and more
  • Aug 30th: The Carlisle, Hastings, w/ Lord Volture & Toledo Steel
  • Sept 19th: The Carlisle, Hastings w/ Famyne
  • Oct 31st: Fest of Hades, Wakefield w/ Hamerex, Kaine, Aonia, Promethium and more.
  • Nov 13th: The Haunt, Brighton, w/ Temperance, Seventh Sin & Proscenium*
  • Nov 14th: The Anvil, Bournemouth, w/ Ded Orse, Bitter Divide & Seventh Sin*
  • Nov 28th: The Unicorn, London w/ Sir Admiral Cloudesley Shovell

* A Black Phoenix Rising Promotions special

No Comments

Tags: , , , , , ,

Khemis to release debut album in summer

khemis

Denver’s doom metal band, Khemis, is set to release debut album, Absolution, this summer.  The band is said to sport a classic doom/heavy rock delivery that will appeal to “adamant fans of Pete Stahl and Wino”. Khemis’ sound is characterized by the dual, parallel-motion guitar harmonies and big, towering riffs typical of the most popular acts in the style.

Absolution Track Listing:

1. Torn Asunder

2. Ash, Cinder, Smoke

3. Serpentine

4. Antediluvian

5. Burden Of Sin

6. The Bereaved

http://www.facebook.com/khemmisdoom

http://khemmis.bandcamp.com

http://twitter.com/khemmisdoom

 

No Comments

Tags: , , ,

Bathsheba to Release The Sleepless Gods

bathsheba

Doom Metal band Bathsheba will release The Sleepless Gods on May 15th through Svart Records. Bathsheba play a rehashed 1970s “witchy” doom metal that appeals readily to a mainstream audience looking for a moderate and palatable dose of the mainstream and casual “occult” . Women’s vocals accentuate the late 1960s and 1970s horror movie concept of the witch’s covenant celebrating a bloody black sabbath. For fans of average retro music.

Tracklisting for Bathsheba’s The Sleepless Gods:

  1. The Sleepless Gods
  2. Daughter of the Oath

More Info:

www.facebook.com/bathshebakills

www.bathshebakills.bandcamp.com

5 Comments

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Crypt Sermon – Out of the Garden

out_of_the_garden

Heavy-Doom Metal, as I like to call everything that is merely slowed down heavy metal, is not known for being fertile ground for originality. It is a rather narrow sub-genre (more like sub-subgenre) which gives its adherents a very specific and rather primitive set of tools to work with and is at this point a retro-worship of classic and original acts like Candlemass. Hailing from Pennsylvania, USA, Crypt Sermon make no attempt to break off from this role of obvious emulation.

Out of the Garden should by no means be simply reduced to Candlemass-worship, but the influence is unmistakable. This is encouraging as one listens to the album for the first time and finds all the bells and whistles in the right places. The big, epic, long-drawn choruses, the guitar melodies, the climatic solos. It all harks back to the “catchy” selling points of Candlemass.

Once the brume has dissipated as the winds of repeated listens blow in, one realizes that this is everything Out of the Garden has to offer. This makes it a great release for those who want Candlemass without the trouble of having to digest all the meat of acts like Atlantean Kodex. The casual fan of epic heavy metal will have a blast with this new release.

2 Comments

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Classic reviews:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z