Australia seems to be a hub for deathcore at the moment. With their debut album Melbourne band Mélancolia have concocted a conceptual record that immerses you with blackened deathcore aggression as it tells the tale of a fallen deity who has been reincarnated as human, so he had the knowledge but no power. Essentially an album about futility and the pain of existence, HissThroughRottenTeeth uses synths to build atmospheres and emphisise the gothic drama of the storyline. The black metal influences heavy on the specteral backing of Horror_Ethreal where the vocals too shift between guttural roars and satanic screams, against some crushing deathcore riffs. Dread Will Follow is a bit more in the traditional deathcore style, with a bottom heavy riff and breakdowns while God Tongue is furious black metal blasting.
Void King - The Hidden Hymnal (Self Released) [Rich Piva]
Void King have been kicking around Indiana playing their version of stoner doom since about 2015, but now, with the release of their latest album, and the subsequent part two that is coming soon, the band have seemed to hit their stride and are putting out their best material yet. The Hidden Hymnal is six killer tracks of the heavier side of the stoner rock, with some serious doom elements, and their best songwriting to date.
As I mentioned, this is part one of two releases coming this year, and if The Hidden Hymnal is any indication of what this entire project is going to sound like we are all in for a treat. Egg Of The Sun is a great opener, leaning mostly on the doom side of things, with its plodding pace and Sabbathy riff, Void King shows they can hang with the trad doom big boys with this track. I love the vocals on this album, and this song is the perfect example as to why. The Grackle picks up the pace, with the heavy back end and double bass, it is more of a straight-ahead metal banger than anything else, until the more stoner/doom elements click in about halfway through. We find our hero dedicating himself to The Grackle, which I hope I start to understand why as part two of the series is going to be a concept album that I hope clears up some of the story line, but what a great track this is on its own.
Engulfed In Absence is a stoner rock ripper, with some killer groove. The drums are right upfront in the mix here…maybe a bit too much for some, but for me I am good with how his record sounds. When The Pinecone Closes Up is one of the more interesting titles of the year, and more of the trad doom stylings as mentioned earlier. This reminds me of the great Wolf Counsel record from last year. Brother Tried has a great riff and am I hearing some slide guitar (bluesy doom)? I think I am, and boy does it work. This is my favorite track on the album. Drink The Light also checks that killer stoner doom box and rounds out a six out of six banger album.
This is pretty great stoner doom, and I am really looking forward to hearing the full odyssey end to end, but for now, you get a half dozen headbanging worthy stoner doom tracks that stand alone well on their own but provides enough intrigue to keep you wanting more and looking froward to part two. Check out The Hidden Hymnal, and if you can figure out what is going on with The Grackle so far, please let me know. 8/10
Mother Of Graves - In Somber Dreams (Wise Blood Records) [Mark Young]
Death Doom is a relatively new one on me, so luckily, I have been given the chance to try out Mother Of Graves EP, which seems to have been around since 2021. Major influences are Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and there is certainly lot to like here. It’s not traditional doom in that its slower than a glacier moving there are moments of speed until songs reach their natural end which is the case with In Somber Dreams as it transforms from a slow lumber into a light speed race to the end.
Nameless Burial takes spoken word against a discordant movement until the death growls kick in, which has to be said are low and really fit the music behind providing an extra heft. There are some brilliant movements as we enter what could be labelled the chorus before it returns to the morgue type arrangement. The Urn offers a more measured approach with a clean arpeggio sequence backed by subtle keys. And then BANG! The cleans are gone with an almost black metal attack, further supported by double bass. They explore that light / dark approach throughout the remainder of the song, all while the deep growls are taking centre stage once more.
The final track, Deliverance is another monster in that they keep that consistent beat coming with a harmony counterpoint working in its favour, bringing a tension to the song. The harmony line seeks to wring an emotion before it is squashed by a change in direction. The final minute is spent recovering the momentum, with riffs that move and returns that emotional harmony to us.
On the strength of this EP, it looks as though they have got enough within them to produce quality music and progress beyond their influences above. They are certainly unafraid to mix things up on the four songs here, and everything seems to be in synch as each of the band seem to see that whole of the song as the most important thing. 6/10
Stoned Morose - Pure Hesher Doom (Self Released) [GC]
I must start by saying that this sort of review would usually be left to some of my more knowledgeable colleagues here Musipedia Of Metal because I have said that stoner/doom is not really my thing but, reading up on these guys in the description I saw Death Metal listed as a tag so thought I would dive in and have a go!
It all starts off with (Rise) Om Phoenix that has a fairly nice and sludgy droning riff and a decent bass thud mixed in but then you notice the bass drum sounds like a wet fart and then you notice the vocals because frankly they just don’t hit very hard, I expected some sort of monstrous roar but I am presented with someone who sounds like he is struggling to breathe and this song just sort of fades away and doesn’t inspire much hope going forward, Esoterica has a standard Sabbath sounding riff and the drums have improved slightly but this guy needs to hand the mic over to someone else as he sounds like he is dying trying to get the vocals out and not even in a good way which is a shame as the general flow of the song does have a decent groove and gets the head nodding but when the vocals kick in it just ruins everything for me.
Cult Of Betrayal again has a nice slow and ominous grooving build up and chugs along nicely until once again the vocals kick in, to be fair it’s the best performance so far but honestly that isn’t saying much, maybe they should just go instrumental, because as I said the music gets you nodding along and loses you in a wall of thick fuzzy riffs, big bass lines and mesmerizing drum rhythms (yes the wet fart sound has now gone) and its all very enjoyable until the vocals show up! Very annoying.
Servile then picks up the pace for once but the snare now sounds akin to something off St Anger which instantly annoys me but the change in pace allows for the vocalist to try something new and add some cleanish vocals into the sound and these are probably what he should stick to, they're not great but its his strongest sound so far and then its time for closer Game Over to lurch in to view and its not slowed right down to an almost funeral doom pace and the looping guitar drone mixed with the slow and precise bass line is another nice piece of music but the slow pace makes for more horrific vocals.
You can hear every strain and effort being put in and now I just kind of feel sorry for the rest of the band because what could have been a good E.P has been reduced to a joke really and its quite frankly piss poor that they heard this and allowed it to be put out and I’m just annoyed at the whole thing now, anyway this drags on for 7 minutes and really does nothing to convince me that there is anything worth listening to in the future form this lot.
So, I learned a lesson here, stick to what you know because this has done nothing to convince me to jump into the stoner/doom/whatever it is sound and I doubt anyone would be convinced by this and by all means have a listen if you think I am being overly harsh, I doubt you will enjoy this very much. The music was fine and decent enough in places but not enough to save the whole E.P as the vocals were a joke and made this an absolute chore to listen to. 4/10
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