Two things: the name of this band is Doomraiser and their first show was at 'Bikini Test'. So get ready for a wild ride through the immensely varied universe of doom metal with a band that can easily stand beside the greats like Ufomammoth, Sleep and Candlemass. Prepare to indulge yourself into an hour of downtuned, psychedelic and alcohol fueled sleaziness, brought to you by some of the hardest workers in the industry.
Doomraiser has been around since 2004 and seemingly they have been doing nothing but recording and touring during those years. They've seen almost all of Europe and played with an impressive amount of bands, including Venom, Crowbar, Orange Goblin and Electric Wizard. At first, their focus was on paying homage to the doom genre and to their predecessors, without claiming to be original. However, along the way Doomraiser evolved into a doom version of a tribute to the entire world of metal.
All the elements of doom are present in this album. Solid, slow riffs, pounding drums, droning bass and both clean vocals and grunts. Yet, these Italians also incorporate a healthy dose of thrash, rock 'n' roll and punk. All these elements blend into something that sounds both vintage and modern at the same time. Besides the typical doom influences, bands like Coroner, Godflesh, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains shine through. The result is simply stunning. These are not just doom songs, this is rock 'n' effin' roll with an attitude to be proud of.
The album opens with 'Addiction' and quickly becomes just that. The immense amount of variation on Reverse is quite surprising as well. On 'Dio Inverso' there's even some post-rock elements in the almost grotesque wall-of-sound Doomraiser creates. The tempo is usually a bit faster than most bands in this genre but that doesn't affect the power or the intensity of the songs. At least not in a bad way. It makes 'Apophis' an amazing track, blending both modern day doom and the symphonic version of the late nineties. This symphonic element is present in most of the tracks but never reaches the 'goth'-calibre some bands in those days had. However, 'In Winter' could have been an early My Dying Bride song.
It seems clear that most of the bandmembers have had experiences in other bands before and that they're still listening to a lot of different musical styles. These influences make Reverse a brilliant album and an excellent tribute to the (doom) metal scene. This definitely is a highly recommended album for everyone who's into decent metal, whether it be doom, thrash, stoner, heavy or progressive (ok, maybe not for death and black metal fans).
Serge
Doomraiser has been around since 2004 and seemingly they have been doing nothing but recording and touring during those years. They've seen almost all of Europe and played with an impressive amount of bands, including Venom, Crowbar, Orange Goblin and Electric Wizard. At first, their focus was on paying homage to the doom genre and to their predecessors, without claiming to be original. However, along the way Doomraiser evolved into a doom version of a tribute to the entire world of metal.
All the elements of doom are present in this album. Solid, slow riffs, pounding drums, droning bass and both clean vocals and grunts. Yet, these Italians also incorporate a healthy dose of thrash, rock 'n' roll and punk. All these elements blend into something that sounds both vintage and modern at the same time. Besides the typical doom influences, bands like Coroner, Godflesh, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains shine through. The result is simply stunning. These are not just doom songs, this is rock 'n' effin' roll with an attitude to be proud of.
The album opens with 'Addiction' and quickly becomes just that. The immense amount of variation on Reverse is quite surprising as well. On 'Dio Inverso' there's even some post-rock elements in the almost grotesque wall-of-sound Doomraiser creates. The tempo is usually a bit faster than most bands in this genre but that doesn't affect the power or the intensity of the songs. At least not in a bad way. It makes 'Apophis' an amazing track, blending both modern day doom and the symphonic version of the late nineties. This symphonic element is present in most of the tracks but never reaches the 'goth'-calibre some bands in those days had. However, 'In Winter' could have been an early My Dying Bride song.
It seems clear that most of the bandmembers have had experiences in other bands before and that they're still listening to a lot of different musical styles. These influences make Reverse a brilliant album and an excellent tribute to the (doom) metal scene. This definitely is a highly recommended album for everyone who's into decent metal, whether it be doom, thrash, stoner, heavy or progressive (ok, maybe not for death and black metal fans).
Serge
