Top Ten Obscure Doom Metal Bands
Posted on June 19th 2010 | Leave a commentOkay, bit of a rush job this, no links and stuff, just the band titles and comment. Just throwing it out there to see what the response will be:
10. Elder – doom band from Massachusetts, got an ep and a full-length out
9. MOAB – little known doom band, has an ep called ‘The Dimensioner’ out
8. Black Pyramid – another Massachusetts band, have released a demo, a full-length, an ep and a split with Old One
7. Catapult The Smoke – swedish band, got an album called ‘Unearth’ available
6. Orodruin – New York band, released ‘Epicurean Mass’ full length, and ‘Claw Tower And Other Tales Of Terror’, a compilation of early songs.
5. Maligno – great trad doom band from Guadelupe, Mexico. Two albums out (but hard to get hold of on this side of the world) – self-titled CD from 2006, and ‘Universevil’ from 2008.
4. Nogg (aka Eggnogg) – from Clinton, New York, this band put out their 1st under the name Eggnogg, a tasty, downtuned sludgy slab of Sabbath-channelling. Recently released a followup EP, free to download from their myspace
3. Sloth – released one cd, ‘Voice of God’, in 2001, astonishing collection of bass-heavy, blues-ridden doomtastic tunes
2. Forsaken – from Malta, they’ve release a coupla demos, coupla eps, and 4 full-length albums redolent of Sabbath-worship yet vibrant with an energy and direction all their own. Recently released a split ep with Fall Of The Idols.
1. Krux – this is the side-project of Leif Edling, songwriter and bassist for Candlemass; there have been just 2 Krux albums (entitled 1 and 2) and they are both astonishing, hard, heavy, doom-laden and angry. A new Krux cd is supposedly in the works for this year.
Leave a comment
Musical Grab-bag: Monster Magnet, Porcupine Tree and – yes! – Eggnog!
Posted on December 12th 2009 | Leave a commentJust the time of year, I guess, in which the gigs come thick and fast and strange . Different bands and different sounds make different blends of thought and aesthetic sensation swirl through the brain like the fumes of incense, flowers, and, uh, warm vinyl.
Be ready for an extended period of doomification!
Leave a comment
Paradise Lost: Masters Of Disquieting Metal
Posted on September 18th 2009 | Leave a commentIt goes back to that double album, Draconian Times, which the band Paradise Lost put out in 1995 (heck, 14 year ago), after which I was utterly captivated by their sound, that grimly insistent, riffs-a-plenty style whose tone swung between a kind of moody magnificence and angry despair. Having tipped off Dave Wingrove to them, he sent me copies of the two albums prior to DT, Icon and Shades of God, and they were excellent too. Funnily enough, just as I was getting into them, the band underwent a kind of metamorphosis over the next 3 albums, One Second, Host, and Believe In Nothing, where they radically altered their overall sound, putting aside the metallic mix they’d used up to Draconian Times.
Those 3 albums didn’t really do it for me. They weren’t bad by any means, but purely as a personal aesthetic they just kinda…left me cold. After Believe In Nothing came out, I was pretty well resigned to the feeling that the band had left behind their previous incarnations of sound and texture and mood.
Then in 2002 came Symbol Of Life.
Bloody hell.
It was an astonishing collection of songs, dark and intense and yet somehow gathering together all the additional influences of the previous 3 cds and stirring them into that older dark and gritty sound. The impact was revelatory, even triumphant, all killer no filler, culminating in the near-avant-garde/prog onslaught of Channel For The Pain. Truly, listening to that album was a Not Worthy! moment.
Since then we’ve had the self-titled Paradise Lost cd (2005) and Requiem (2007), both fabulous, both demonstrating an absolutely consistent high standard of songwriting creativity, a kind of visionary intensity focussed into metal music that truly takes you out of yourself. And now the new album, Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us, is due for release on Sept 28th. And until next Friday, the 25th, most if not all of the album is being streamed for listening at the band’s Myspace page, and it is such a joy to hear. It really is some achievement when you think about it, for a band to come out with four consistently excellent albums in succession. I guess we’re just lucky to have them around.
To savour the flavour, click on the link:
http://www.myspace.com/paradiselostuk
Leave a comment