50. WHELM “A Gaze Blank and Pitiless as the Sun”
Unfairly underrated doom metal band from Denmark Whelm
recorded their freshmen full-length just to split up, seemly, before it was released.
Somehow their 2006 demo passed through my ears some years ago without standing
out. This new album “A Gaze Blank and Pitiless as the Sun” is however pretty
haunting with crushing and slow marches of doom metal riffs featuring some
black metal guitars along it. Powerful, ruthless yet sometimes atmospheric doom
metal that you should not let pass by.
49. TONER LOW “III”
Toner Low just got better with their third effort. This is
ultra-heavy music focused in delivering the best dosage of doom riffs. Since
the album is instrumental almost in its entirety your mind is completely
captured by the slow riffs that depicts a mastodon clumsily walking and
destroying everything. A more simple formula than other instrumental stoner
doom bands since few other elements are added, keeping the album from sounding exaggeratedly
psychedelic that you feel coerced to smoke some weed to enjoy it.
48. ABYSMAL GRIEF “Feretri”
I really mean it when I say that one of the things in my
bucket list is watching Abysmal Grief playing live. It is not only because the
dude singing and playing keyboards is a devil look-alike, but it is also
because their music is so effective and catching that the funereal atmosphere
created must be even more overwhelming with all the candles and stuff they set
up in their live shows. I’ve been loving each release of this Italian band,
they deliver a pretty original sound that can bring in mind since UK’s goth
masterminds Nosferatu to funeral doom legend Skepticism specially because of
the awesome intense use of organ. A quite dark album, perfect for a burial
ceremony.
47. GRIME “Deteriorate”
Nowadays it is hard to find good sludge albums filled with
the hatred that was almost a mandatory inside the genre in the 90’s. All that
happy pop sludge that some famous bands like Torche and Baroness have been
making in the last years just makes me sick. Hailing from Italy, here’s a band
called Grime that is ready to deliver raw, aggressive and angry sludge doom to
erase the smile in your face. Yeah, they play slow and unpolished riffs with a
lot of distortion and vocals that are more black-metallic rather that a copy of
the scream-the-lugs out style of Grief’s Jeff. You should check out this album,
you’ll find no trace of joy here.
46. THE BODY “Christs, Redeemers”
These guys in really strive to make their music twisted
enough even for the average avant-garde ear-drums. This is the first album I
listen from this creepy duo from the US. It is drenched in aggressive stuff:
either you hear extremely distorted riffs or you find yourself in the middle of
an electronic harsh noise attack. But the gloom is created by puzzling female
chants, unusual drums and the desperate tortured screams that bring the
signature sound to the album. I am sure that not everyone will like the
vocalist, his screams are just another love-it-or-hate-it case. This is a quite
chaotic album recommended for fans of bands like Menace Ruine.
45. THE STARGAZER LILIES “We Are the Dreamers”
I’m just astonished about this album. This is a pretty dragged
soundpool of guitar effects, melodies, ethereal vocals and just raw shoegaze.
All songs here are downtempo, forget about the shitty indie rock happy drums,
in this album drums are slow and pulled to the background letting the utterly
distorted noisy guitars to lead this beautiful experience. The melancholy in
the soft females whispers is awesome, used as another instrument ornamenting
the wall of sound… Folks, trust in me, in these days shoegaze has become into a
cliché for lots of hipsters and it can be a pain in the butt trying to find
worth listening bands. Do yourself a favor and have a listen to this one.
44. EVERLASTING “March of Time”
Debut album of this Russian young band called Everlasting.
They may not be the heaviest band in the world, but they are so crestfallen
that the singer can barely scream growls in the usual fashion! Yeah, they are
into the funeral doom subgenre and their music is in the kind of bands like
Mournful Congregation, focusing in the weeping melodies rather than in
heaviness. Their debut “March of Time” is quite beautiful, with all that
melodies helped by a constant use of keys, weeping guitars and, of course,
slowness, deep-rooted slowness. As above mentioned, vocals are striking because
the singer seems to speak throughout the album but sometimes his voice sounds
more like growls. This is the hopeless element that makes the difference. This
is the first of several Russian doom metal bands in this list.
43. WĘDRUJĄCY WIATR “Tam, gdzie Miesiąc opłakuje Świt”
Well, you got me, I copy-pasted the name of this band and
the title of this their debut. These guys hail from Poland and are not the only
band from that country in this list. This debut album is an atmospheric black
metal piece with a subtle touch of folk metal elements. The outstanding aspect
is the songwriting work in the melodies that makes it so haunting. The cold
forest atmosphere is created by these melodies and a nice work on keyboards. As
a nice atmospheric black metal album the fast blast beats contrast with the
beautiful melodies and with the occasional acoustic guitars. Another highlight
of the album is the recording quality which is not the best in the world adding
a raw feeling to the combo. You better go look for this one and make sure of
having a Polish-to-English dictionary on hand.
42. SAÅAD “Orbs & Channels”
This is a baåarren, lifelee̊es, saåad album, as the name of
the project suggests it. This is the latest effort of the French experimental
duo Saåad. Travel with these guys through a journey of desolation and
nothingness as they create a bunch of plain soundscapes based on the misery of
guitar feedback and electronics. By playing the album at a high volume you’ll
be able of almost touching the sound of vibrations that will lead you to
nothingness. The engaging part of the album is that the textures can move
through different stages but always remaining ethereal and in slow motion,
vanishing from low frequency gloomy drones to beautiful sounds close to the
voices effect in keyboards.
41. DEVIL “Gather the Sinners”
Hailing from Norway, Devil is a band that despite their
not-so-original name have earned a nice amount of listeners inside the doom
metal scene. This year they released their sophomore album with a coarse
production that fits so well with the idea of delivering a retro grooving riff jam.
This is one of those albums that are built upon a killer riff with a basic
structure on drums. The result is awesome and actually it doesn´t sound like
another uninspired copy of Black Sabbath (as Orchid does). Instead, Devil has
features taken from the so-called occult rock. In fact, lyrics are one of the
highlights of the album with a pretty doomed occult feeling. Striking is the
song “They Pale” with a 70’s classic sound-alike melody (doom’n’roll?). If you
are into the proto-doom stuff you better go get this album, you’ll love its
primitive sound!
40. WEED PRIEST “Weed Priest”
The Weed Priest is here for a sinister riff ceremony. This
young Ireland-based band offers its first full-length album drenched in slow
crushing riffs, downtempo drums, some fuzz effects and an awesome vocal work
placed between clean and harsh, much in the vein of Pombagira. That’s perfect
in a genre like this stoner doom. The whole wall of sound feels like a ghost
haunting an occult ritual, this is helped by the plus that the album is always
trapped between down and mid tempo, bringing a whole doom experience.
39. NONSUN “Sun Blind Me”
Ukranian drone-worshipper duo Nonsun have been throwing out
gloom and drones since 2011, “Sun Blind Me” is their second EP. These gentlemen
appear to be great fans of late Sunn O))) works but they are far from being a
clone band. In fact, their sound is as original as murky. The summoning of
ghosts is of course led by ultra-distorted guitars with a lot of feedback and
slowness, but the spooky atmosphere is helped by a nice use of organ,
ritualistic melodies, tortured vocals and marching drums. As you can see, the
artwork is not the only well-baked thing in this album. Really interesting
music that you should check out if you are into drone.
38. RUSSIAN CIRCLES “Memorial”
Russian Circles are huge, each album they put out blows my
mind. The trio from Chicago has released their fourth full-length album which,
personally, has become into my favorite from their roster. This piece of album
is proof of their skills as songwriters, hosting a delightful crash of
heaviness and beautiful melodies. The distorted riffs that can be paired with
Pelican meet charming shoegaze guitars to bring that melancholic feeling. This
paramount blend is more consistent here than in their past albums which I find
it pretty cool. Of course, the album is almost instrumental until the ghosty
beautiful voice of Chelsea Wolf (who is also in this list) appears at the
homonymous track. This is, in my opinion, the Russian Circles apex!
37. NOOTHGRUSH / COFFINS “s/t” (split)
What can I say? You have read it, Southernlord made a favor
to the world and launched a split of these two insane bands. And the result is
a short EP of pure hate to humanity. It’s astonishing to see Noothgrush
releasing new stuff with the same attitude from the early 90’s and with an
almost intact sound. In their 3 tracks, Noothgrush deliver perfectly written
and executed sludge riffs that are eargasmic to anyone inside this kind of
music. Meanwhile, Coffins is here with two tracks of more dirty and harsh
sludge with brutal vocals. Personally, I am not a great fan of Coffins because
I find their music pretty plain and sometimes even uninspired, but they are a
killer band anyway. However, this EP is worth buying even only for the three
Noothgrush tracks.
36. URNA “Mors Principium Est”
One more band hailing from the country of the boot in this
list: Urna, who are launching their fourth studio album. What we have here is a
stunning jam of doom metal elements that develops a pretty chaotic yet elegant
atmosphere. A post-modernist scene is depicted by programmed drums and nice
guitar effects and noises but always maintaining the slow funeralish riffs. The
result is similar to Tyranny but with a more majestic atmosphere, perhaps
closer to late Void of Silence. The vocal work is kind of spooky with several
entities and stages. This is quite an interesting album of well-worked doom
metal.
35. VIN DE MIA TRIX “Once Hidden From Sight”
Astounding debut from the Ukrainian doomsters Vin De Mia
Trix. This is a melodic death doom metal with some fresh ideas. The band seems
to have a weighty influence of Saturnus with all that romantic weeping guitars
and a great job on keyboards. Vin De Mia Trix has however flavoring their music
with a pinch of jazz and other experimental stuff. For instance, you can find
some slapping bass moments in the album as well as weird bass lines which make
this album different from the bunch of melodic death doom bands out there.
34. WINDHAND “Soma”
Even though “Soma” doesn’t stand for “Stephen O’Malley”,
this album bears such a heavy load of low toned bass and guitars. “Soma” is the
sophomore studio output of the Virginia-based band Windhand. The album features
slow yet not monotonous drums and clean stoned vocals but these two elements
are pulled back by a wall of ultra-heavy riffs whose tone is low enough to put
your speakers in risk of blowing up. The originality of the sound of Windhand
is based in its formula which is clearly effective and catching, actually
“Soma” is a pretty easy-listening album with a nice repetition of melodies on
vocals. One just can’t stop listening to this album once one has first tasted
it.
33. APHONIC THRENODY “First Funeral”
Aphonic Threnody is a new project run by five gentlemen who
have been involved in other well-known doom metal acts like Gallow God,
Pantheist, Urna and Arcana Coelestia among others. Hence, as you can see, this
is not their very first funeral. It is however their first studio output
together as Aphonic Threnody. The album is based on the blend of death/doom and
funeral doom, perhaps Ahab can approach here. Nevertheless, this album is
endowed with the keyboards of Pantheist's mastermind Kostas Panagiotou bringing a
gloomy melancholic atmosphere. Important is to mention that the structure of
the songs if far from being boring and borrowed. Drums have a considerable
change of tempos as well as guitars can move through different passages keeping
the band from joining the long list of uncreative Ahab-inspired doom metal
bands out there in the genre.
32. OFFICIUM TRISTE “Mors Viri”
Six years and some line-up changes have passed since
Officium Triste fed our ears with “Giving Yourself Away”. Last year these Dutch
doomsters shared a split with Ophis in order to prepare us for the long-awaited
full-length that was about to be launched. The album is here and is called
“Mors Viri”. This is a clear successor of “GYA” with that extremely romantic
doom drenched in aching melodies, weeping guitars, pianos and the perfect
alternation of growls and clean vocals. However, this album has a more polished
sound with higher recording quality. This time Officium Triste scratches the
gothic metal genre with not-that-slow songs. But don’t be afraid, “Mors Viri”
is still enjoyable for romantic doom metal fans.
31. THE BESNARD LAKES “Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO”
That’s a weird album title! Canadian dreamers The Besnard
Lakes have entitled like that their fourth full-length effort. The popularity
of the band has been increasing this year and it shouldn’t be a surprise, this
album is extremely beautiful in substance. The guitar of Jace Lasek waves with
delicate shoegazer effects building unforgettable melodies. The motion of the
album is pretty slow which brings a touch of melancholy though this is not the
focus of the songs. Vocals are stunning too, featuring both female and male
voices. The Besnard Lakes provide a well-worked album in both execution and
songwriting. This is an utterly mature shoegazer record.
30. OLD WITCH “Come Mourning Come”
Enter to the spooky realms of the Old Witch. Not much is
known about this band, just that they are based in the US and that this is
their first release. The album has a raw darkened sound in which everything is
severe and sharp: guitars are extremely distorted close to the harsh noise
status, drums are ultra-slow all the time, vocals are harsh black metal screams
and keyboards are used not only as an ambient plus but as a main element of
each song. The result is an intense experience and a dense grim darkness in
which you won’t be able to see anything. Adding a rough recording quality, this
is an album that gets its own way.
29. THE NIHILISTIC FRONT “Procession to Annihilation”
Australian apocalyptic duo
The Nihilistic Front assaulted
this year with their brutal version of death doom metal. This is a quite
chaotic album focused in bring you through a journey of city destruction. Here
you’ll not only find tons of debris but also a blend of quite interesting
elements: very heavy guitars with a distortion enough to satisfy
Corrupted fans;
a touch of industrial feeling that is
also reflected in the twisted vocal work adding some weird clean vocals to the
predominant brutal growls; and a nice alternation of death metal fast blasts
crashing with ultra-slow sections. If you are into aggressive death doom bands
like
Disembowelment you will surely enjoy this one.
READ THE WHOLE REVIEW.
28. PALMS “Palms”
So many things have passed since the tragic demise of Isis.
The coupling of several ex-members of Isis with Deftones’ Chino Moreno is
without doubt the most successful (not necessary saying that the best) affair
after Isis split up. The sound of Moreno and ex-Isis fellows’ child is pretty
stunning. Basically, Palms brings a bunch of post-rock melodies, mostly driven
by clean guitars, and these entwine with the unique vocals of Chino Moreno who
makes an amazing job here. Not afraid of comparing with Isis, I can say that
the influence is notable but it is clearly different, it is actually less
heavy. The songwriting is without doubt a main aspect in this album in which
you’ll find that each song could be easily released as a successful single. I
hope this project keeps on going forward and this album won’t become into a
chance encounter only.
27. THY LIGHT “No Morrow Shall Dawn”
Some years ago the Brazilian project Thy Light earned a nice
amount of followers in the underground fields due to a demo that was haunting
the web, so much so that I knew about it because of my ex-girlfriend. This year
Thy Light launched their first full-length output with a less rough recording
quality and with a more atmospheric and polished sound. Even we are in
depressive black metal lands, Thy Light is not really mattered about ultra-raw
and chaotic atmospheres. Instead, the keyboards play an important role
throughout the album. Of course the black metal riffage and the screams are
present, but what in really hook me up are those acoustic guitars that bring
the folkish brushstroke to the melancholic picture, just in the way that
Agalloch does it.
26. BLACK SABBATH “13”
What Black Sabbath has made this year is just astonishing.
Few bands with such a huge trajectory and renown dare to record a completely
new album after a long, extremely long time of throwing only compilations and
live albums and still do it right. Forget for a while about the absence of Ward
and stop waiting for another classic of the size of “Paranoid”, let’s come down
to earth and see the current situation of the band and the music scene itself.
The master Iommi sounds great with a pretty similar riffage to the one found in
“The Devil You Know” with Heaven and Hell, Ozzy is still able to do it and
bring the darkness he brought to a complete genre, but is Geezer fucking Butler
who takes “13” to a new level with his heavy bass lines. Black Sabbath had the
balls to record a new album even with Iommi fighting cancer and the result is
not disappointing at all. Long live Black Sabbath and long live the traditional
doom metal riff!
25. VASTUM “Patricidal Lust”
“Patricidal Lust” is the sophomore production of this band
based in San Francisco, California. Vastum plays ruthless death metal with slow
passages that scratches doom metal. The result is a primitive style that is
similar to legends like Cianide from the golden era of death and doom metal.
Thus, if you are sick of the current death metal scene and its implacable
effort for sounding as technical, fast and brutal as possible you should try
Vastum. The classic sound of this album is molded by killer slow to mid tempo
riffs, awesome solos and drums that don’t sound like an ultra-polished SMG.
Vocalist is great as well, he can move between Asphyx’s Martin and George
Corpsegrinder.
24. SHADOW OF THE TORTURER “Dronestown”
If you think that the cover art of this album is kind of
weird and insane, you should take a listen to what is inside. There are things
here that don’t seem to make sense. For instance, even though the Sunn O)))
logo appears there, the album is not really close to the sound of the hooded
drone monks. It is also mysterious that there are only 2 songs in this “full-length”
and they have names of cities as titles. Going through the album one realizes
that making sense is the last thing that matters to these guys. The band plays
a sort of drunk and twisted doom metal. It can be raw but it can bring a couple
of melodies as well. Sometimes guitars do sound like drone but the album is not
focused on that. The second track is actually the most insane with samples of
people in terrible situations while a sinister march of ultra-slow doom is
leading the ceremony. The samples in the song are recordings of Jim Jones (dude in the cover art) encouraging members of the Peoples Temple cult to commit mass suicide in Guyana in 1978. And yeah, you're right, "Dronestown" must be a joke about Jonestown, the place where this tragedy came about. This album is so weird that it is striking and clearly original.
23. LYCHGATE “Lychgate”
What would happen if Esoteric played black metal? The answer
is Lychgate. This is a project born in the UK apparently some years ago but
this is actually their first studio output. Lychgates features Greg Chandler
from Esoteric and even though I’m sure he is not the only one writing the
songs, his guitars and vocals are so characteristic that you can recognize them
wherever he is present. Actually the project was unleashed by Vortigern. This
debut album is so insane, the gloom is generated by the twisted guitars and the
unique vocals of Chandler, but one of the most important elements are keyboards
and organ, yes organ! But easy folks, this album is far from sounding like the
cheesy symphonic black metal everyone is used to. This is because the sound is
so untraditional that it just cannot fit into that genre.
22. CHELSEA WOLFE “Pain is Beauty”
Believe in me, I’ve got a crush on Chelsea Wolfe. But I will
not talk about that now. Instead, I’ll tell you that her latest effort “Pain in
Beauty” is in some aspects different to her previous releases. Yep, it is her
least dark album but this doesn’t mean that we will not enjoy it as much as
before. This time Chelsea Wolfe has added an important load of electronics,
“Pain is Beauty” sounds fresh, but somehow still dark. This is due to the
experimental approach that this girl gives to her music. That sound added to
her beautiful ethereal ghosty voice make this album a delight to any of her old
fans and, of course, to hundreds of new ones. The style of Chelsea Wolfe also remains
original and without parallels.
21. LOWCITYRAIN “LowCityRain”
There was something about the 80’s in their vibe, in their
air... Of course one of the good things about 80’s was the dark wave which
brought a large number of good albums that once in a while influence a current
band turning out in pretty good results. This time the goth wave caught Herbst
the man behind the post-black metal opus Lantlôs. He has unleashed this new
project called LowCityRain with a first homonymous album. This one is pretty
catching with awesome melodies, showing off his skills as songwriter. The style
of LowCityRain is dark and melancholic just like the 80’s used to be. And of
course, your mind will find connections with Depeche Mode, The Sisters of Mercy
and Killing Joke.
20. ATARAXIE
“L'Etre Et La Nausée”
Ataraxie’s third album can be considered as their most
brutal, yet their more polished. What I love about this third one is that it’s
so visceral, so contrasting: it can be the fastest and the slowest. This time
Marquis is so angry that he doesn’t matter to bring more long passages using his
insane tortured screams which he used to reserve more for Funeralium. The
higher quality in the recording allows Ataraxie to bring more brutality to the
album. With this, riffs, deep growls and drums sound powerful and really
catching. Personally, I liked more this one that its predecessor “Anhédonie”,
but “Slow Trascending Agony” is still in the first position.
19. MY DYING BRIDE “The Manuscript” (EP)
If that's what they cut out, what they leave in must be pure
gold! This year My Dying Bride brought these 4 songs that were recorded in the
sessions of their hailed “A Map of All Our Failures” but that were not included
in the final tracklist. As you may know, the full-length was a complete
success, becoming in one of their best recordings in years. Well, the quality
of these other 4 songs is exactly the same, they are as astounding as the ones
featured in the full-length. It’s like if these guys randomly kept aside 4
tracks. Although short, the EP can unfold all the main features of the
full-length: the narrative, the patented weeping guitars, the beautiful violin,
the growls, the sudden death metal blasts and, of course, that songwriting
style that sheds melancholy all the time. The only big problem here: IT IS TOO
SHORT!
18. KEIRA IS YOU “Last Row Needs Heroes”
Had a bad day? Ride your car and have a night-time drive
listening to this album.
Keira is You is one of those bands that deserve more
than what they have in terms of acknowledge. These Polish dudes have created
this album drenched in feelings and melancholy. An utterly inspired songwriting
can be found here. It is that kind of atmospheric rock that undergoes guitar
effects, melodies and even slowness in order to surround you in by the atmosphere
the band wants to transmit, turning out in a quite beautiful experience. This
is one of those elusive albums with which one can find a personal connection.
Actually, I can say that some of the tunes in this album will always bring me
clear memories from the 2013.
READ THE WHOLE REVIEW..
17. DEOS “Fortitude.Pain.Suffering”
High quality funeral doom metal album delivered by UK-based Deos.
This newborn project was unleashed just this year and has already one
full-length that made them earn followers inside the underground doom metal
circles. The music of Deos is slow, tortured and gloomy enough to meet the
funeral doom standards. The interesting feature here is the quality, not only
of the recording, but also of the music itself. The melancholy is built by
well-worked melodies with beautiful weeping guitars, they also took care about
the atmosphere by adding suitable keyboards and even some samples. Everything
is then polished by high quality recording and the results are pretty catching.
A must-have for fans of bands like Ea, Remembrance and Colosseum.
16. REVELATIONS OF RAIN (Откровения Дождя) “Deceptive Virtue”
("Обманчивая добродетель")
Solitude Productions have in really nailed it this year!
Take a look at their roster and you’ll find several surprises there. Russians
made an invasion to the doom metal scene this year and Revelations of Rain, powered
by Solitude Prods, became in one of the most important representative of the
movement. The band shouldn’t be a new name for you, they stood out in 2010 with
their previous release gaining a nice amount of followers. What we have here is
really solid high quality melodic death/doom. The band sounds powerful with a
strong production. The sore soul of this album features an abuse of weeping
guitars in beautiful melodies and an important use of keyboards. Majestic, sad,
beautiful yet powerful album that you shouldn’t let pass by if you are a fan of
Saturnus.
15. NEGATIVE VOICE “Infinite Dissonance”
Other Russian fellows assaulting this list are Negative
Voice. Heads up to this band who seems to be lined-up by skilled guys. They
have built this first studio output rising from black metal roots, but turning
out in a sound that is closer to the characteristic doom of October Tide. You
know it, it’s that version of melodic death/doom that has midtempo passages in
it. Nevertheless, the black metal influence brings a catching migration from
black riffage to melodic doom solos in the same song. If this can justify
giving a check to the album, let me tell you that these guys are skilled songwriters
bringing a really dynamic sound. Thus they deliver catching songs and make this
53-minutes-long album appear so short.
14. THE EDEN HOUSE “Half Life”
The ambitious project The Eden House has blessed this 2013
with another studio album. After they launched the EP “Timeflows” last year, we
were ready for a longer experience promised by the band since then. We were not
disappointed, “Half Life” turned out to be a pretty outstanding album. The
mysterious signature sound of the band is just so haunting. The unique guitars
of Stephen Carey and the completely female-fronted songs make it a catching
album without parallels. Perhaps, some suitable changes can be noted. For
example, this new album includes some more dynamic songs like “Wasted on Me”.
13. CATHEDRAL “The Last Spire”
One last goodbye to the doom metal legend Cathedral. The
hailed band kicked the bucket but before that happened they were able to say
goodbye to the huge number of fans that they have earned throughout these years
launching one last piece of master high-quality doom metal. I am not a great
fan of Cathedral’s new albums, I am one of those who worship their doom era and
just consider “not too bad” their later stoner sound. But since this album is
the actual funeral of Cathedral, the band wrote a powerful doom metal record
with relentless slow riffs and a permanent funereal feeling. ”The Last Spire”
holds some new Cathedral features though. R.I.P. Cathedral and we hope to know
more about these guys in the future.
12. HAMFERÐ “Evst”
The Faroe Islands must be a cold place to live and this kind
of places are perfect stashes for original and outstanding doom metal bands.
Hailing from those small islands, Hamferð is a doom metal band that this year
came up with a brand new sound for the genre taking as skeleton some romantic
melodic doom with deep growls and a melancholic atmosphere, but the plus is
brought by the alternation with clean high-pitched vocals that deliver an epic
feeling. Gorgeous keyboards and lyrics in Icelandic (?) bring the final touch
to this piece of unique doom metal. Highly recommended for fans of bands like
The 11th Hour.
11. OCTOBER TIDE “Tunnel of No Light”
This is the second album of October Tide since the project
came back to life in 2010. It is kind of disturbing that each album they have
launched has been made with a different vocalist. This time In Mourning’s
Tobias Netzell parted ways with October Tide. I loved his work in “A Thin
Shell”. A new vocalist has been hired and it seems like he in really wants to
sound like Tobias. Actually, the entire new album sounds pretty similar to its
predecessor. Fredrik Norrman is so constant in his song-writing. But, in
my opinion these are good news for us since October Tide has been forging this
signature style of melodic death doom throughout its albums bringing a total of
4 productions without a single bad song. “Tunnel of No Light” is a stunning
album, perhaps even darker than their previous release because it is a little
bit slower. I am pretty sure that no fan of October Tide was disappointed by
this album this year.
10. LYCUS “Tempest”
Yep, here’s a second album whose cover art was painted by Paolo
Girardi in this list. The Oakland four-piece Lycus is back, this time with a
full-length album after their hailed 2011 demo. “Tempest” is one of those
albums that can be enjoyed by a larger number of doomsters because its blend of
heaviness and melancholy. While you can find connections with the sound of
ultra-sad melodic bands like Mournful Congregation, it has also to be noted
that “Tempest” is rawer and manages heavier riffs, actually an evident black
metal influence is present too. The beauty of the melodies throughout the album
becomes somber when some extra lifeless choirs appear, reminding of Funeral’s
first demo. Definitely, one of the most important releases of 2013 and a new
must-have for extreme doom metal fans.
9. CARDINAL WYRM “Another Holy Trinity”
The weird cover art of this album is not the only insane
thing about it. Cardinal Wyrm, doomsters based in California, kicked off their
career with this full-length that turned out to be highly enjoyable for anyone
inside the somber world of doom. The band came up with some fresh ideas but
with a strong basement in traditional doom metal: slowness, some grooving
Sabbathic riffs, nice solos and an occult atmosphere. The twisted things here
are, in the most, vocals. The vocalist sounds pretty grim and insane, a sort of
clean vocals that doesn’t sound friendly at all and are combined with raw
screams with a pretty somber and psychotic result. I hope this band keep on
delivering such a deranged version of doom metal.
8. KRYPTS “Unending Degradationh”
This is what I call a badass album. Nothing but ruthless and
merciless death/doom metal sheds from this record. Krypts are a Finnish band
that is offering their first studio output in an era when the old school sound
seems to start coming back from its grave but when it is also hard to find
bands that are actually making it work. Krypts seems to develop their raw and
brutal death/doom in a natural way. Their debut album has the gloom and
coldness of Paradise Lost’s “Lost Paradise” but with a clearly more brutal
sound that seems to be completely linked to death metal. Heads up to the bass
which sounds powerful throughout the album. You better don’t miss this one if
you are into bands like Cianide, Disembowelment and Winter, among many other
old school acts.
7. LOW “The Invisible Way”
Does anyone have an idea of where Alan and Mimi take
inspiration from? It’s been twenty years since Low started off making music and
if you take a glance to their entire discography you’ll find no trace of
mediocre songs. And, naturally, this won’t change with this new album called
“The Invisible Way”. Just like life itself, this record is a damned
roller-coaster moving from depression, some moments of hope and even some
others of insanity. However, the album is pretty melancholic blessed by those
beautiful melodies, outcome of the unique songwriting style of Low. But, be
careful folks, if you listen to the song “Just Make It Stop” you’ll probably
won’t be able to get rid of the melody in your head for a long while, even when
you’re trying to sleep. I still cannot do it.
6. OCTOBER FALLS “The Plague of a Coming Age”
This time October Falls has nailed it. Usually when a band
departs from such a nice genre like that atmospheric folk metal, its sound
becomes kind of sickly and uninspired. But not October Falls. In March I was astonished
once I put an ear on their new album, the band has moved towards a more
October Tide-inspired doom metal. Nevertheless, even though both bands’ month
is October, October Falls forgoes getting rid of their folk influence. So the
northern cold feelings as well as those gorgeous acoustic guitars are still
present. As you may know, one of the most important features in October Tide
are the melodies in the guitar solos. Well, the striking aspect of this album
is that these melodies are more folkish rather than melancholic, turning out in
a quite original sound.
5. FUNERALIUM “Deceived Idealism”
For some this album can be considered as launched in 2012,
since some reviews started to appear on the web that year. However the album
was officially released for us the mortals in early 2013. Since the band kicked
off with their demo “Ultra Sick Doom” we are always ready for an attack of
utterly oppressive tortured doom in their albums and, of course, this didn’t
change with their new record. However, it has to be said that this is their
most elaborated album. It is actually an extremely long record and it was made
with a higher recording quality. However, it is as crushing as their previous
works. It is ultra-slow, with grim riffs and, of course, the characteristic
screams of Marquis that bring that tortured feeling. This time the band is a bit
more dynamic with some black metal influence and occasional use of deep growls.
This dynamism keeps the listener from boring in such long tracks, making this a
really haunting and “enjoyable” album for anyone starving of extreme doom.
4. ABSTRACT SPIRIT “Theomorphic Defectiveness”
Another band from Russia and one more brought by Solitude
Prods:
Abstract Spirit. These pallbearers have been developing high quality
funeral doom metal since a not that short time ago and it seems like with each
release they improve the funerary experience by adding elements to their
already somber music. Personally, their new album “Theomorphic Defectiveness”
has become my favorite one. These guys don’t let any beam of light filter
through their music. This is truly dark album and the interesting thing is that
it is not raw or minimalist at all,
Abstract Spirit is a whole funeral
orchestra with strings, choirs, trumpets and, of course extremely slow and
crushing riffs. Even if you are used to this kind of music you’ll find that
Abstract Spirit has come up with an original sound that is darker that most of
the albums you’ll find out there these days.
READ THE WHOLE REVIEW.
3. DREAM DEATH “Somnium Excessum”
This time Dream Death are indeed back from the dead. It
appears like if this album was recorded back in 1989, following Dream Death’s
debut “Journey through Misery” and before the band split up in that year. Time
froze up for this band and nothing relevant had place between 1989 and 2013.
So, after the band suddenly appeared in Roadburn Festival, the announcement of
a brand new album made me fear that maybe this could be a disaster as so many
returns. But it wasn’t at all! Dream Death recorded an astounding full-length
that sounds pretty similar to their 1987 debut. Even though the long hair is
gone, these fellows bring a nice dosage of unclassifiable metal, perhaps close
to doom, driven by relentless guitars. Dream Death still knows how to write
great killer riffs. The whole merciless sound of the album can be compared with
early Celtic Frost. I would really like to have a second album after the return
of the band. Only time will tell, by now go and grab a copy of this one, you’ll
not be disappointed.
2. THE PROPHECY “Salvation”
Doom metal bands are prone to depart from their roots even earlier
than most of the bands in other genres, in lots of the cases the band ends up
spoiling their musical careers. This year UK doomsters
The Prophecy decided to
leap to some important changes in their sound for their latest album
“Salvation”. Just as happened with bands such as
Katatonia, the change didn’t
affect their emotional impact, their inspiration, and everything turned out in
a unique melancholic sound that is giving the signature to the band’s identity.
“Salvation” is not a heavy album, it is rather atmospheric and it focuses in
melodies and peaceful sadness. The band doesn’t get rid completely of its death
metal influence though. The characteristic voice of Matt Lawson still
alternates growls and his outstanding work on poignant clean vocals. The album
is so well structured that a natural progressive approach can be found. The track
“In Silence” became into one of my favorite songs of the year. This is an
important release for the band and I hope they keep on going in the right
direction.
READ THE WHOLE REVIEW.
1. OUR CEASING VOICE “That Day Last November”
…And the prize for the best album of 2013 goes straight to
the Austria-based band
Our Ceasing Voice and their sophomore release “That Day
Last November”. Life is though, and we have to accept that some memories will
haunt us for the rest of our lives. This is what this record is about. Folks,
I’ve been listening to this kind of melancholic and poignant music for a very
long time and I can tell you that there is seldom an album with so much passion
and inspiration as this one. “That Day Last November” is a very personal output
of main song-writer Sebastian Obermeir, who tells the story of the distraught
moments lived in a certain day, last November, but don’t worry, this is not
really a concept album. Obermeir uses a three-guitar sound and whispered spoken
words as channel to develop one of the most overwhelming atmospheres I have
ever heard in music. This is not exactly post-rock, not even shoegaze, “That
Day Last November” has an extremely original sound. The vocal work is
astounding featuring whispers, growls, gang shouts and the raspy whispers of songwriter
Matthew Ryan as guest singer in a couple of tracks. I’m in love with this
record, this is real music, music used to express real feelings that hopefully
you have lived too and so you’ll find a personal connection with it. For this
and many other reasons this is, in my opinion, the best album of 2013.
READ THE WHOLE REVIEW.
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