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This Week's Recommended New Releases (11/20/15)...

11/23/2015

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This week's recommended new releases (11/20/15):
[Click on band name for samples and more info]
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Anomalie - Refugium (Art of Propaganda)

2nd album from Austrian trio; Post-Black Metal
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Ennui - Falsvs Anno Domini (Solitude)

3rd album from Georgian trio; Funeral Doom Metal
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Magic Circle - Journey Blind (20 Buck Spin)

2nd album from Massachusetss quintet; Doom Metal
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This Week's Recommended New Releases (11/13/15)...

11/13/2015

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This week's recommended new releases (11/13/15):
[Click on band name for samples and more info]
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Ixion - Enfant de la Nuit (Finisterian Dead End)

If you had told me that one of the most interesting Doom releases this year would come from France, I would’ve told you where to shove your baguette. Alas, he we are with a stunning, lush Atmospheric Doom record from a French trio that consists of one guy singing and playing all of the guitars and drums, another guy singing and adding keyboards and yet another guy just singing. The album manages to combine the bleakness of the Doom/Death scene from the early 90s with majestic and downright beautiful movements that seem more like dreamy soundscapes than Doom Metal. They also manage to not go overboard with the song structures, keeping everything under or right around the 6-minute mark, allowing each composition to take hold and impress without growing stale. Fantastic album from start to finish. Time to check out their 2011 debut.
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Mirror - Mirror (Metal Blade)

This is the debut album from an international quintet featuring, most notably, the dude with the fucking full face tattoo who was in Electric Wizard for about 5 minutes. Don’t expect another tired EW rip off record, though. These dudes specialize in classic Heavy Metal that wouldn’t have sounded out of place among the NWOBHM scene or even the few years before and after. The overall atmosphere is very Doom-like, but the tempos are up, the vocals are pretty majestic and there’s a lot of solid twin guitar action going on. At times the record borders dangerously close on “gimmick throwback album” territory and there’s not a lot of variance in the sound and songs structures, but overall it’s a pretty fun listen. I’m not sure if this is an actual band or just a one-off thing, based on the far-flung band members, but it’s a decent debut, regardless.
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Swallow the Sun - Songs from the North I, II & III (Century Media)

The acclaimed Finnish purveyors of Melodic Doom/Death Metal have undertaken a pretty ambitious endeavor on their 6th album, which is actually a triple album, comprising over two and a half hours of new material. The first disc is more of the classic Swallow the Sun sound – heavy, slow and melodic, with some acoustic interludes and a combination of spoken word and harsh vocals. The second disc features a more stripped down, unplugged, mellow feel, with acoustics and pianos taking the forefront. The third disc is bleak as fuck, featuring some serious Funeral Doom and glacial tempos. As I said, it’s a pretty ambitious undertaking, but there isn’t exactly a ton of filler here. If they released these as three separate albums a year apart, I would still recommend each one, although I’d have a hard time justifying the middle disc as Metal. There’s a little something here for everyone.
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This Week's Recommended New Releases (11/06/15)...

11/6/2015

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This week's recommended new releases (11/06/15):
[Click on band name for samples and more info]
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Cross Vault - The All-Consuming (Northern Silence)

If you can look past the nearly irredeemable bass tone on this record, you come away with a pretty solid melancholic Doom Metal album. Despite the ultra-trebly, super annoying bass being way too high in the mix, the German trio manage to conjure up some classic yet contemporary Doom on their second album. With plodding tempos, somber vocals and Pallbearer-esque chord progressions and dissonance, these guys check off all of the Doom requirements without sounding like a tired copy of every other Doom band, past and present. The acoustic moments are a nice touch, bringing an additional element to the table that goes overlooked too often on these heavy records. But man, that bass tone.
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Mammoth Storm - Fornjot (Napalm)

This is a very solid debut full-length release from the Swedish trio featuring noted Draconian axe man Daniel Arvidsson. Playing Stoner/Doom Metal in the vein of High on Fire, the dudes deliver a punishing sound with massive, repetitious riffing and amazing guitar tones. The vocals are a bit too reminiscent of Matt Pike. That’s not a bad thing in itself, but we already have a Matt Pike. The longest two tracks, clocking in at over 11 and 13 minutes, bookend the album and are augmented by a few more tracks that would be considered epic under other circumstances and a short instrumental that provides more melody than the rest of the combined. While this isn’t exactly the second coming of Monolord, it’s another fantastic entry into the Swedish Doom catalog, keeping the country on pace with Russia in the race for the vaunted title of Kingdom of Doom.
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This Week's Recommended New Releases (10/30/15)...

11/5/2015

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This week's recommended new releases (10/30/15):
[Click on band name for samples and more info]
Editor's Note: Due to a career change and a subsequent trip to the mountains of West Virginia, your favorite Doom Blogger has fallen behind on his Duties of Doom.  I'll be playing catch up this week and hopefully get back to regular content next week. Sound good? (Incidentally, these are all great listens while traveling through the mountains.) - JO
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Canyon of the Skull - Canyon of the Skull (N/A)

Debut album from Austin, TX duo; Instrumental Doom/ Sludge Metal
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Cold Northern Vengeance - Maelstrom (Moribund)

2nd album from Seabrook, NH 6-piece; Black/Viking Metal
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Draconian - Sovran (Napalm)

6th album from Swedish 6-piece; Gothic/Doom Metal
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Ram - Svbversvm (Metal Blade)

4th album from Gothenburg quintet; Classic Heavy Metal
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Saviours - Palace Of Vision (Listenable)

5th album from Oakland quartet; Heavy/Thrash/Stoner Metal
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This Week's Recommended New Releases (10/23/15)...

11/4/2015

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This week's recommended new releases (10/23/15):
[Click on band name for samples and more info]
Editor's Note: Due to a career change and a subsequent trip to the mountains of West Virginia, your favorite Doom Blogger has fallen behind on his Duties of Doom. I'll be playing catch up this week and hopefully get back to regular content next week. Sound good? - JO
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Curse of the North - Curse of the North: I (Static Tension)

2nd album from Seattle trio; Heavy/Thrash Metal with a Swedish Stoner vibe.
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Enshine - Singularity (Naturmacht Productions)

​2nd album from Swedish/French duo; Melodic Doom/Death Metal
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Odetosun - The Dark Dunes of Titan (N/A)

​2nd album from German trio; Progressive Death Metal
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RAB - RAB2 (Klonosphere)

​2nd album from French quintet; Catchy sing-along Stoner Rock.
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