doom metal
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By now, most of us should realise that our society is completely doomed. Conflicts, sins, hypocrisy and many other problems with human behaviour are causing crisis after crisis and it doesn't seem to get any better. That's mainly the message in this album: All of our evil activities are being stacked upon one another, creating an immense monolith of sorrow. On top of that monolith lies the solution but since it grows every day, it's getting impossible to reach it, no matter how much we climb. So the only other solution might be taking the whole thing down, destroying it with whatever good and positive is still inside of us. That last sentence is my personal addition to the concept, probably because I'm in a pretty good, and positive mood today.
This is already the fourth album by this German project, founded by Pierre Laube, and as you can probably imagine, we're dealing with a doom metal band here, somewhere between death and funeral doom. So don't expect any fast, lively metal but get ready for a leaden trip trough thick fogs or wrath, sorrow and despair, a trip accompanied by growling vocals and crushing guitars. In six songs, Doomed brings us some intense music, filled with grief but the way they do it, is quite brilliant.
The album opens with the longest track, starting with piano and slowly turning into an amazing piece of funeral doom, reminding me of bands like Esoteric, Funeral or Officium Triste. In fact, the entire album reminds me of the slowest and bleakest of the nineties. With guest appearances by Johan Ericson (Doom: VS) and Ed Warby (The 11th Hour) Laube clearly places himself somewhere within that scene as well, which is always a decent move (in my opinion - yes, I love funeral doom).
'Our Ruin Silhouettes' brings more gloomy atmospheres and riffs and includes one of the greatest pieces of guitar play I've heard in a while. I guess this will be my favorite track on the album. This special, a-typical approach of guitars is amazing and returns in the heavy metal inspired solos on 'Euphoria's End', a song that already drives on slowed down death metal riffs. 'The Triumph - Spit' brings yet more originaly in the riffs, becoming a surprising but very strong track. At the end, it crosses the genre between doom and death metal by becoming a fierce, blast beats driven steamroller.
'Looking Back' digs some more in the melodic doom metal scene of the nineties and early two thousands and incorporates a more traditional style. In most of the other songs, Doomed shows a bit of his experimental style but not really in this one and it doesn't matter because this is again a solid, high quality doom metal track. Closer 'I'm Climbing' tries to reach the top of the monolith and tries to destroy it by coming up with some punishing sludge elements besides the traditional sounds. As far as I'm concerned, this song might indeed tear the monolith down with its mighty sound.
As expected with songs of this length, there's a lot of space for elaborate instrumental passages, often also incorporating electronics, samples and piano. This, along with several earlier mentioned aspects, makes the album varied enough to remain interesting for the entire duration and probably also for several consecutive listens as well. That being said, this is probably one that will end up in my top-ten list of 2015.
Serge
This is already the fourth album by this German project, founded by Pierre Laube, and as you can probably imagine, we're dealing with a doom metal band here, somewhere between death and funeral doom. So don't expect any fast, lively metal but get ready for a leaden trip trough thick fogs or wrath, sorrow and despair, a trip accompanied by growling vocals and crushing guitars. In six songs, Doomed brings us some intense music, filled with grief but the way they do it, is quite brilliant.
The album opens with the longest track, starting with piano and slowly turning into an amazing piece of funeral doom, reminding me of bands like Esoteric, Funeral or Officium Triste. In fact, the entire album reminds me of the slowest and bleakest of the nineties. With guest appearances by Johan Ericson (Doom: VS) and Ed Warby (The 11th Hour) Laube clearly places himself somewhere within that scene as well, which is always a decent move (in my opinion - yes, I love funeral doom).
'Our Ruin Silhouettes' brings more gloomy atmospheres and riffs and includes one of the greatest pieces of guitar play I've heard in a while. I guess this will be my favorite track on the album. This special, a-typical approach of guitars is amazing and returns in the heavy metal inspired solos on 'Euphoria's End', a song that already drives on slowed down death metal riffs. 'The Triumph - Spit' brings yet more originaly in the riffs, becoming a surprising but very strong track. At the end, it crosses the genre between doom and death metal by becoming a fierce, blast beats driven steamroller.
'Looking Back' digs some more in the melodic doom metal scene of the nineties and early two thousands and incorporates a more traditional style. In most of the other songs, Doomed shows a bit of his experimental style but not really in this one and it doesn't matter because this is again a solid, high quality doom metal track. Closer 'I'm Climbing' tries to reach the top of the monolith and tries to destroy it by coming up with some punishing sludge elements besides the traditional sounds. As far as I'm concerned, this song might indeed tear the monolith down with its mighty sound.
As expected with songs of this length, there's a lot of space for elaborate instrumental passages, often also incorporating electronics, samples and piano. This, along with several earlier mentioned aspects, makes the album varied enough to remain interesting for the entire duration and probably also for several consecutive listens as well. That being said, this is probably one that will end up in my top-ten list of 2015.
Serge