Orodruin - Epicurean Mass

Orodruin’s first full length album, Epicurean Mass, blends together the finest of the almighty Cathedral and Saint Vitus coupled with their own sparky chic to create a superb and solid album which is both sluggish and smooth, as much as it is eerie and heavy. Here you’ll find the guitars tweaked down to stumps that sound like a volcano churning out lava or some chainsaw fiend put on overdrive, thrusting and prodding itself against your speakers to suffocate you with its doom goodness. It’s tuned down low, to put it simply. The vocals are crispy, no bullshit, with a lot of harmonies. Brilliant riffs are found in every song along with your reliable psychedelic parts scattered about to make a fun listening experience. Combine this with its dismal lyrics, and Orodruin’s songs present this deep crater devoid of any light or spirit. So it’s some gloomy shit, but it works, so be it! The best part about listening to Epicurean Mass is hearing Orodruin flirt with tempos creating roller coaster ride of tunes. Take “Burning the Witch” for example, which is fairly upbeat and bubbly in the beginning, then decelerates sharply only a minute into it. Once the vocals kick in, it starts getting painfully slow. The song is divided by some feedback and then picks up again for a solo only to bring us right back to the beginning riff.

Reviving old school

Orodruin - Claw Tower ...And Other Tales of Terror

This is a compilation of all the Orodruin demos along with a new track.

The album opens with, “Claw Tower” which is the only new song written by the doomed ones. As soon as the play button is pushed, Nick Tydelski and John Gallo let their bar chords ring. This first riff chugs along at a pace and tone that hearkens back to the golden days of metal. The rhythm is mid paced, but with slamming drums and a mini blues solo, this song has a movement made for driving the expressway.

The next song, “Creation Through Death (reprise)” is a remake from the first demo. This track moves like a George Romero zombie. Heartfelt lyrics and slow funeral dirges capture the emotions one may feel during a time of bereavement. A sluggish solo breaks in at the end.

The next track, “Unspeakable Truth” is a live version. It would take a careful listen to determine that this is not a studio track because the production values are very solid. The bass really stands out in several places on this song. Near the four minute mark, the tone softens and Puleo’s voice rises and falls with the harmony of his bass. The bass line combined with the shorter beat of the drum builds tension. This tension is aggressively released once the guitars pounce back into the mix.

Track four is a cover of Quartz’s “Stand up and Fight.” This one has a Seventies hard rock feel it. It is heavy, but in a Di Anno Maiden or 1970’s era Priest sort of way. “Stand up and Fight” ends the first chapter of the album.

The next chapter of Claw Tower is titled “The Beginning,” and showcases the band’s early days. This chapter starts with two tracks from their 2002 Demo. The guitars sound is very dirty on “Epicurean Mass.” Sometimes poor production hinders a demo’s sound, but not in this case. For this style of metal, the dirtier the guitar sound, the better. The same can be said about “Pierced by Cruel Winds.” The bass is amazingly heavy here, and the vocals are very depressing. Also, there is a creepy organ fuzzily played through a processor near the middle of the track. An acoustic guitar accentuates the morbid feeling of the organ, and is played until the end of the song, like drifting into a never ending sleep.

The second part of Chapter 2 highlights the 1999 Demo. “Sons of Nature” is introduced with a soothing acoustic guitar passage. Heavy riffs break up the lethargy to prove that nature can be both beautiful and destructive. The original version of “Creation of Death” is next. This track appears twice on this album, but rightfully so. The two versions contain the same riffs and lyrics, but the production, the vocal styles, and tempo all differ.

Orodruin stands out as one of the best bands in the Doom Metal genre which plays a breed of doom I love, slow and emotive.

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