The Wounded Kings - The Shadow Over Atlantis

This is easily one of the most grim Doom Metal releases I've ever had the morbid pleasure of experiencing. Hailing from Dartmoor, The Wounded Kings arrive from the black fog with tales of horror, suicide and occult headspace. Comparisons to Electric Wizard would not be too far off...nor to Witchcraft or early Cathedral. This is some dreary, oppressive stuff here.

Atmospherically, it is like like a witches' sabbat, occultist and ritualistic. You don't know what's coming around the corner, and you don't think you really want to...but you proceed anyway. In your explorations, you'll find sinister melodies and frightfully heavy guitars. The reverb-soaked vocals serve more to haunt the music, and subsequently the listener, like a weary, tortured soul as they swirl in and out of the riffs.

Overall, this is a highly recommended release. With better production, better songwriting and a heavier release, I find this better than the debut. If you like your Doom splattered with Lovecraft-esque spirit, night terrors and mind-bending ambience, you can't go wrong with The Wounded Kings. This one will leave a mark.

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The Wounded Kings - Embrace Of The Narrow House

This is a 100 per cent Euro-metal record with the emphasis being on covering the entire history of English doom from lack Sabbath to Cathedral. The Wounded Kings are an excellent stoner doom band from the UK. Their style is comprised of equal parts oldschool Sabbath and freaked out 60s psych. To this tasty brew of influences, they add epic sludge, eerie clean vocals heavy on the echo effects, and more demons, witches and bad vibes than you can shake a broom at. The band oozes with primordial doom and sinister, 70s occult horror vibes. It has the clanging gothic overtones of Paradise Lost as well as the heavy, heavy monster riffs of Electric Wizard and indulges in some leisurely soloing that would go down well with the readers of Classic Rock. A grimly impressive debut.

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Children Of Doom - Ride Over The Green Valley

(Tape limited to 250 copies)

Children Of Doom sound a little inexperienced on this demo but that also means that have room to grow, that points to a really exciting future in the world of Doom because this is a great demo. It has a couple of flaws, the sound is not great as i had to really crank up the stereo to get a good fix on the music. The first thing you will noticed is the guitar work which has a St.Vitus meets The Obsessed vibe about it and then its the vocals. Is this dude Glenn Danzig or what, that is not a complaint by the way but he is the first singer you will think of when you hear this dude. The band has a distinctly 80's feel to them and the songs are extremely well played, the lyrics are also really good. Songs about alcohol and chicks has always worked for me but there is more to them than just that. Musically they play for the most part "text book doom" with no real surprises but they have a obvious love for Traditional Doom Metal and that comes out in the songs. Sometimes you can just tell when a band is genuine about what they do and Children Of Doom are one of those bands.Pay special attention to "Hell's On Wheels" and "Hangover" which are both fine tracks of Doom. Worth keeping a eye on this band when a full length album finally surfaces. ~ Doom Mantia

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Fehler - Adharma

"Adharma" is the debut five-song EP from Dutch trio Fehler (released by Black Death Records), and I have to say, these guys are delivering one of the most literal and unique combination of hardcore/punk and sludgy metal I've ever heard. Dark, discordant textures and winding bass-lines with a mid paced doom/sludge type of vibe are contrasted by frantic, chunky power chords and subtly rocked out riffing delivered in hammering, fast-paced bursts of hardcore/punk energy – while fronted by ultra gruff snarls that work well over any and all approaches alluded to by the instrumentation. On top of that you'll find bits and pieces of searing feedback, a well-integrated sample or two, the occasional spout of ringing post-hardcore dissonance, and even a few more chaotic riffs that almost have a weird black metal feel!? Seriously, there's a lot going on, but what's great is that the band pulls it off perfectly. The songs don't feel disjointed in any way, and the entire 17-minute listen is a shockingly cohesive experience given the breadth of influences they're drawing from.

Awesome.

Rituals Of The Oak - Hour Of Judgement

Rituals of the Oak may be young (they were only formed in 2008 and Hour of Judgement is their first and only album) and they come from Australia, but the band plays very old school traditional epic doom deeply steeped in the European tradition. Candlemass, but even more so Reverend Bizarre, immediately come to mind when the opening title track starts to plod.

Heavy, but rather stripped down, with guitars not overdistorted. The release, entitled Hour Of Judgement features 5 tracks, with some ranging in 5 mins to length and a couple being more than 12 minutes long, the band offers a challenging experience to the listener. On some occasions Rituals of the Oak display a sort of atonal divergence, where guitars and vocals tend to drift along the edges of non-parallel harmonies. If one aims to go up, the other is pointing downward. While unusual at first, this subtle dissonance does not divert attention as much upon multiple listens. The title track does not cause the female lead singer Sabine Hamad to take high notes or stretch herself, but in the drony Childhoods End, where “deadlight seems so far away” her voice inflections and modulations are the main attraction point.

Rituals of the Oak are not only about the molasses-slow monster chords and depressive melancholy. Drown the Wood in Blood showcases much steadier tempo, melody flowing through weaving riffs, hooky chorus and interesting percussion. The course of the song almost forces Sabine to elevate herself and assume leadership. At the same time, the band is also adept at space-rock, almost lullaby feeling with wirebrush on cymbals and jingly guitar in Standing in the House of Suffering. A pair of evident bass lines on this track also can’t be missed.

The closer The Spell of Doom at first embarks in the direction of the title track, but the half-way beginning outro uncorks a melody nobody will be able to soon forget. Rituals of the Oak has an uncanny ability to latch on to this captivating mind-penetrating piece of music and milk it for all its worth, slowly killing the song away, as they are doing it on The Spell of Doom and Drown the Wood in Blood.

An easy pickup for Reverend Bizarre and Solitude Aeturnus fans, being fronted by a female vocalist, Rituals of the Oak present another, more rare, interesting point in doom metal. ~ Metal reviews

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Guehenom - The Fallen Age (1992-1997)

Brazillian Death/Doom. This is a compilation of their first two demos The Rising Of The Innominate Forces and The Phosthumous Meeting.

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Skeletal Spectre - Tomb Coven

From Sweden, comes SKELETAL SPECTRE…3 ghastly apparitions from the voids of eternal darkness. Their goal is a simple one…to play crushing horror DOOM METAL mixed with the classic Razorback influences, putrid death metal and early low budget gory slasher flicks coupled with eerie sounds to come up with something they feel is their own. Prepare to be haunted as the band has just released their debut CD on Razorback Recordings which is titled “Tomb Coven”. Do you hear the sound of the spectre?



It’s coming for you…

The Doomsday Cult

The music played by The Doomsday Cult is slow, powerful doom metal, heavy on the riffs and fluid guitar solos, and heavier on the obeisance to everyone's favorite Birmingham doom lords. But this is not straight old-school! There is a contemporary, even romantic edge that pops up from time to time. Recommended to anyone who loves Mirror of Deception, Candlemass, or even Solitude Aeturnus. (Doom-metal.com)

Samarithans of Misery


A Language for Sad Spirits

Black Manta - Black Manta

This one here is a HEAVY fucker of a demo: "Demo 2001" CD-R by Black Manta from the Maryland abyss (Pentagram, Unorthodox/Asylum and tons of others should be known from that area!). Totally crushing Heavy Rock / Doom that is so thick and heavy (thanx to the production: recorded in the famous Hit&Run studios), I seldom heard similar power!!

The band call themselves BOMB ROCK. Not surprised.

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Black Manta - Fuck Them All But Six

Fucking heavy Maryland doom band influenced by Sabbath and Washington D.C.-area doom legends such as Pentagram and Internal Void. Released a series of self-financed demos, follow by the 2004 album “Fuck them all but six” on psycheDOOMelic records. The track “Days of Yore” was featured in the “Doom Capital.

This is basically a very enjoyable stoner doom EP, and is infact laced with gruff vocals, amazingly catchy riffs and a very very very very downtuned guitar coupled with amps turned to max volume. You'll love it.

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