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  • Receive the full dose of doom, sludge and stoner! Out now: WITCHSORROW “Hexenhammer”, DOPETHRONE “Transcanadian Anger” & KAISER “1st Sound”! #doommetalfront #candlelightrecords #totemcatrecords #oakislandrecords


    WITCHSORROW
    “Hexenhammer”
    Candlelight Records


    The calling of doom metal is not for those who seek an easy path to glory. For those drawn to its flame, it is the awakening of Black Sabbath’s dark spirit through the music that is its own rich reward. And for those who truly walk the path of doom, it is a journey without end, a pilgrimage that eventually becomes part of the traveller’s very bones and being.

    For Hampshire doom metal maniacs WITCHSORROW, it has become a life’s work. Formed by frontman Necroskull and bassist Emily Witch over a decade ago (later completed by drummer Wilbrahammer), and with a mission to celebrate the traditions of doom as practiced by such puritans as Black Sabbath, Cathedral, Saint Vitus, Trouble and Candlemass, across three albums their hymns to the void have earned them a place among the genre’s elite. Obsessed with doom, proudly upholding the heavy metal roots of the genre, and with a lyrical outlook that takes in madness, misanthropy, witchcraft, evil, and no less a topic than the destruction of the Earth itself, the trio are as much about the worship of doom as they are pouring scorn on a world of hate and envy.

    And as the world continues to live in ever-more interesting times, a new collection of hymns emerges. Those familiar with the history of witch trials will already know of the Malleus Maleficarum, the dreaded book by fifteenth-century Catholic clergyman Henricus Institoris that detailed and endorsed the torture and extermination of witches by violent means. But, like the album, it also went by another name: Hexenhammer.


    Written during a hermetic period following an intense run of live shows, and recorded at Skyhammer studio with long-time co-conspirator Chris Fielding (Conan, Primordial, Electric Wizard), the songs find WITCHSORROW continuing to explore the dark corners of doom, and illuminate them with the blinding light of sheer heavy metal forged of the strongest steel. It’s an almost anthemic soundtrack to the end of the world lyrics.

    “I’ve always been obsessed with the end of the world,” explains Necroskull. “On previous albums, I’ve been wanting it to happen, because I was caught in a very dark place. On ‘No Light…’, I was almost angry that it hadn’t happened. This time, it’s a massively confusing time where we’re basically staring at it and waiting for it. I have no solutions. There are none to be had.”

    If 2018 needs a soundtrack to its madness, WITCHSORROW have provided it. Heavier, darker, doomier, and more metal than ever before, one of doom’s leading lights have made the perfect album for our times.
    More infos HERE!


    DOPETHRONE
    “Transcanadian Anger”
    Totem Cat Records


    DOPETHRONE plays “Slutch Metal”, a foul Canadian mix of yellow snow, crackhead diarrhea, blood, tears and broken dreams. This new album “Transcanadian Anger” follows in with the trio’s widely acclaimed fourth full-length “Hochelaga” (2015) and pushes their pervasive, filthy brand of sludge metal to its most extreme and intoxicating levels. This is eight punishing tracks of the highest order, a no-frills-given riff carnage with all the sleaze and groove you can expect from a DOPETHRONE record, while embracing the band’s punk and hardcore roots as never before.

    TRACK LISTING:
    1. Planet Meth
    2. Wrong Sabbath
    3. Killdozer
    4. Scuzzgasm
    5. Tweak Jabber
    6. Snort Dagger
    7. Kingbilly Kush
    8. Miserabilist

     More infos HERE!



    KAISER
    “1st Sound”
    Oak Island Records


    It was late summer of 2013, Otu and RiQ met on the web and quickly discovered that their music interests were the same. Wasting no time, they formed a band, this machine called KAISER. Their initial session showed that their chemistry was more than right, it was supreme. They recruited Pex, who had played bass in the same band as RiQ in the past.

    The band worked with legendary producer Hiili “Carbon” Hiilesmaa on “1st Sound”, most notable for his work with fellow Hellsinki rock legends HIM.The result is a crushingly heavy, super tight and melodic stoner rock album that is sure to hit home with fans of Kyuss, High On Fire, The Sword and Red Fang.

    Oak Island Records carved the fuzzed-out, riff fuelled energy of KAISER in vinyl and CD.
    More infos HERE!



  • Another Metal Podcast Episode 86

    AMP - A Heavy Metal Podcast

    I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority of metalheads in that I don’t like moshing. Sweaty shirtless men, pent-up testosterone, unresolved daddy issues; it’s just not for me.

    The post Another Metal Podcast Episode 86 appeared first on Another Metal Review Blog.

  • Double Doom Treat: BODY VOID & CHRCH release brand new crushing albums! #doommetalfront #drycoughrecords #seeingredrecords #crownandthrone #neurotrecordings



    BODY VOID
    “I Live Inside A Burning House”
    Crown And Throne
    Dry Cough Records
    Seeing Red Records

    Coming off their debut release “Ruins”, BODY VOID returned to Earhammer Studios and has submitted almost an hour of painful sludge and wretched doom. With 2018’s “I Live Inside A Burning House”, this San Francisco sludge/crust outfit sought to create a darker and more substantial release, expanding on their sound but still holding true to the aural assault fans have come to expect.

    Under the watchful ear of audio engineer Greg Wilkinson, BODY VOID continues in the style of label mates Primitive Man and Keeper, as well as genre-defining bands like Khanate, while staying grounded in the same harsh sludge sonic palette as “Ruins”.

    “I Live Inside A Burning House” is frightening and caustic, from the cinematic opener “Haunted” to the cacophonous nightmare of “Phantom Limb” and the tortuous drone of “Given.” Lyrically, the album seeks to explore queer identity, mental illness, and how those factors impact the push-pull relationship between material and immaterial existence.

    “I Live Inside A Burning House” is co-released with Dry Cough Records and Seeing Red Records on vinyl, cassette, and compact disc formats.

    Recorded and mixed by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios between April and October 2017

    Mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege

    Artwork by Muhamad Ikbalarinfin Suradi

    Track-listing:
    1. Intro/A Burning House
    2. Haunted
    3. Trauma Creature
    4. Phantom Limb
    5. Given






    CHRCH
    “Light Will Consume Us All”
    Neurot Recordings

    Sacramento-based doom band CHRCH has joined the Neurot Recordings family for the release of their brand new full-length, “Light Will Consume Us All”.

    Standing at a crossroads of light and dark, CHRCH create epic, lengthy songs, with a massive low end, and a supernatural vocal presence, in a perfect blend of height and depth. CHRCH has been hard at work crafting their particular sound since 2013. There is no image or gimmick to uphold, only the humble glorification of their fundamental musical elements.

    This purity and honesty comes across in a striking manner on the band’s debut “Unanswered Hymns” (Battleground Records, 2015), a sprawling roller coaster of an album. Long-form songs build and dismantle as the band reaches sonic heights and beautiful plateaus. Severe, sometimes unrelenting, guttural vocals contrast with melodic singing, just as massive guitar fuzz gives way to cleaner parts. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Patrick Hills at Earthtone Studios in Rocklin, California, it exudes a warm, organic tone that draws the listener in with a sound influenced by traditional doom, psych rock, drone, and ambience.

    CHRCH teamed up with Fister to release a split 12-inch via Battleground Records / Crown And Throne LTD, earlier this year. Their track, “Temples,” displays the increasing subtlety and intensity of CHRCH’s songwriting. Intricate melodies and composition build upon the band’s thunderous drums, strong vocals, and gargantuan riffs.

    The band’s second full length, “Light Will Consume Us All”, carries with it the same quality of songwriting that caught the attention of fans worldwide on their debut. Building upon this unyielding foundation, “Light Will Consume Us All” also continues CHRCH’s narrative, traversing life’s epic journey of loss, reclamation and, ultimately, finding hope within the darkness.

    CHRCH is:
    Eva Rose – vocals
    Chris Lemos – guitar, vocals
    Ben Cathcart – bass
    Adam Jennings – drums
    Karl Cordtz – guitar, vocals


  • Another Metal Podcast Episode 85

    AMP - A Heavy Metal Podcast

    I think ‘beautifully ugly’ sums up heavy metal fairly well; it’s harsh, abrasiveness, often dissonant, but at the same time it can convey the same depth of thought and emotion as any ‘beautifully beautiful’ art. At least, that is, if you have an ear for it; for most people it’s just a wall of buzz saws and puking sounds. Well, here’s to the recorded art of power tools and violent regurgitation.

    The post Another Metal Podcast Episode 85 appeared first on Another Metal Review Blog.

  • Another Metal Podcast Episode 84

    AMP - A Heavy Metal Podcast

    Like the episode title says, this is a pretty damn heavy one. Granted, they always are but this week’s slab of heavy just feels…heavier. Lots of brutality is on display thanks to an abundance of solid releases lately, especially in the past month.

    The post Another Metal Podcast Episode 84 appeared first on Another Metal Review Blog.

  • TONS from Turin in Italy premiere "Filthy Flowers of Doom", their second full-length album, in full prior its official release via Heavy Psych Sounds on April 20th! #prelisten #doommetalfront



    TONS
    “Filthy Flowers Of Doom”
    Heavy Psych Sounds
    “Filthy Flowers of Doom” is Tons’ second full length album. Forty minutes divided into five tracks of in your face sludge/doom metal. Slabby and Luciferian riffs, tight drumming and a demonic voice characterize the last effort from the Turin band, now with a new drummer and a second guitar. Low-league occultism and weed devotion are the basis of this muddy album that will drag you into a sulphurous and sabbathian void. “Filthy Flowers of Doom” is recorded by Danilo “Deepest Sea” Battocchio, while mastering is helmed by Brad Boatright (Sleep, NAILS, Obituary) at Audiosiege (USA).


    Recommended for fans of Weedeater and Dopethrone style sludge nihilism!


    TRACKLIST:

    Side A
    01 – Abbath’s Psychedelic Breakfast
    02 – 99 Weed Balloons
    03 – Those of the Unlighter

    Side B
    04 – Girl Scout Cookie Monster
    05 – Sailin’ the Seas of Buddha Cheese






    BIOGRAPHY:

    TONS is an italian doom sludge band formed in Turin in October 2009 from the ashes of three popular hardcore bands of the city. The band consists of Steuso on guitar (rock poster artist and guitarist of The Redrum) Marco on drums (drummer of Noinfo and Medusa) and Paolo on bass/vocals (singer of Lamatematica). The aim of the band is to remain close to the hardcore influence of the city where they were born but they decided to move on to sludge and doom. In June 2009 with the help of Danilo Bottocchio (Last Minute to Jaffna guitarist and a closer friend of the band) they recorded a first demo of four songs in which we can find the first features of the band: a powerful stoner rock trio, sludge riffs, psychedelic landscapes and doom sessions. The atmosphere around the band is devilish, but ironic as we can see from some song titles such as “The Rime of the Ancient Grower”, “Tangerine Nightmare”, or “Once Upon a Tentacle…”, that suggest the passion of the guys for H.P. Lovecraft and in a more general way for esotericism. The mistery of the city of Turin and the magical and esoteric places around it fascinate the band as we can notice from the title and the cover of the first album “Musineè Doom Session Volume 1”. Mount Musinè is situated in Val Susa and has always been sourronded by local myths such as witchcraft and alien life. In July 2011 the band recorded the six songs on the album “Musineè Doom Session Volume 1” (CD – CD LTD screenprinted – LP) with the help of Danilo and Paolo Paganelli (Woptime, Linea 77, Muddy Mokes, Rock-a-Hula) and the master session has been done by Lorenzo Stecconi (sound engineer for Ufomammut, Lento, ZU, Grime, Amen Ra). The album includes the four songs of the old demo and two more new songs “Ketama Gold” and “At War with Yog-Sothoth” that clearly suggest the direction of the band. The album, released by Heavy Psych Sounds (www.heavypsychsounds.com) and Escape from Today (www.escapefromtoday.org), is available from March 2012.

    In 2013 the band recorded a couple of songs for a split-album with Lento, released by Heavy Psych-Sounds, with the help of Danilo and Paolo Paganelli, while the master session has been done by Lorenzo Stecconi. Luca T. Mai, member of ZU, Mombu, played baritone saxophone with Tons on “Dark Medieval Skunk”. They shared the stage around Europe with bands like Bongzilla, Weedeater, Church Of Misery, Unsane, Napalm Death, Karma To Burn, Big Business, Kylesa, Lesbian, Pentagram, Naam, Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man, between Italy, Austria, Netherland, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, France and Switzerland. In 2014 Tons played at Duna Jam festival in Italy and at Incubate Festival in Tilburg (NL). In 2016 Marco left Tons and Andrea Peracchia (Slaiver, Dogs for Breakfast) joined the band as a new drummer; in the same year Paolo Paganelli, a longtime friend, who already collaborated with the band, became a permanent member too.

    In 2017, with the new line-up, Tons finally recorded the second full lenght album “Filthy Flowers of Doom”, which will be released by Heavy Psych Sounds in April 2018. In May 2018 Tons will be on tour across Europe.


    TONS are:

    Weed Mason: Bass/Voice
    Steuso: Guitar
    Paganellord: Guitar
    Perlage: Drums


    LINKS:


  • Another Metal Podcast Episode 83

    AMP - A Heavy Metal Podcast

    I mentioned to a friend recently that I’ve been doing this podcast for a little over two years now and their response was simply: “Why?”

    The post Another Metal Podcast Episode 83 appeared first on Another Metal Review Blog.

  • TERRA LIGHTFOOT

    Terra Lightfoot, from Ontario, Canada, hits my ear as a cross between Melissa Etheridge and Heart.

  • DMF’s Top Albums of the 1st Quarter 2018: Sludge Stew & Doom Brew for Easter



    Just in time for Easter, we have compiled a list including the best Doom Metal, Sludge and Stoner releases of the first quarter 2018. If you stumble over that blue, weird looking bunny in the meadow just give a high five and let him hide those leaden eggs of doom and gloom for your enjoyment. Heavy holidays!


    MOURNFUL CONGREGATION
    “The Incubus of Karma”
    Osmose Productions
    20 Buck Spin
    Weird Truth Productions


    “Founded in 1993, MOURNFUL CONGREGATION have become one of the most influential funeral doom metal bands on the planet. Being Australia’s slowest export, they have constantly been evolving their impressive style of crawling heaviness starting with the debut ‘Tears From A Grieving Heart’ (1999), followed by crushing ‘The Monad Of Creation’ (2005), glacial ‘The June Frost’ (2009) and majestic ‘The Book Of Kings’ (2011). Another seven years later, MOURNFUL CONGREGATION are back with ‘The Incubus Of Karma’ marking their bleakest and most haunting opus so far. Delivers grandiosely played, two-voiced guitar melodies that take you on a mesmerizing trip through mental darkness and infinite suffering.”

    More infos here: Homepage, Label


    HOODED MENACE
    “Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed”
    Season Of Mist


    “On their fifth album, ‘Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed’, HOODED MENACE from Finland perfectly interweave slowly crushing, hymnal doom with 90s style technical death metal. Partially feels like My Dying Bride recruited Death-mastermind Chuck Schuldiner (R.I.P.) to make the guitars cry and shred!”

     More infos here: Homepage, Label


    EAGLE TWIN
    “The Thundering Heard
    (Songs of Hoof and Horn)”
    Southern Lord Recordings


    “Six years after ‘The Feather Tipped The Serpent’s Scale’, Salt Lake City’s extreme music duo EAGLE TWIN is back with the third full-length album. ‘The Thundering Heard’ continues their unique and relentless style combining groovy sludge and monolithic doom riffage with stomach kneading drones and ear bleeding distortion. Serves four outstanding tracks that leave you sonically crushed and trampled by thousands of hoofs!”

     More infos here: Homepage, Label



    APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE
    “From Gold To Ash”
    Cruz Del Sur Music


    “At the very latest since their stunning predecessor ‘Of Woe And Wounds’ (2014) and a jaw dropping show at the Hammer Of Doom festival, Indiana’s APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE belong to the top bands of the traditional doom metal genre. Their actual album is called ‘From Gold To Ash’ serving dramatically rolling hymns of gloom and sorrow adorned with Chuck Brown’s captivating vocals and razor sharp guitar leads. Favorite tracks: ‘Keeping The Lighthouse’ and ‘My Heart Is Leaving Here’!”

     More infos here: Homepage, Label


    ANGUISH
    “Magna Est Vis Suignah”
    High Roller Records


    “ANGUISH are back with the third full-length, ‘Magna Est Vis Suignah’, which is showing the Swedes reformed as a four-piece and having found back to their stylistic roots to create a masterpiece of death/doom metal. Comes with overwhelmingly heavy, mournful guitar riffs and weeping solos that tell about death and the life after.”

    More infos here: Homepage, Label


    SINISTRO
    “Sangue Cássia”
    Season Of Mist


    “Portugal’s SINISTRO released ‘Sangue Cássia’ continuing the sonic path paved with outstanding predecessor ‘Semente’ to evolve an even darker and heavier album that is bursting with dense atmosphere and compositional complexity. Combines enthralling doom with jazz-tinged, dreamy ambience. The extraordinary, haunting vocal style of Patrícia Andrade and vast passages reminiscent of a full string orchestra are making the album a gloomy, operatic sound experience.”

     More infos here: Homepage, Label


    BENEATH OBLIVION
    “The Wayward and the Lost”
    Weird Truth Productions


    “‘The Wayward and the Lost’ is the third album by Ohio’s BENEATH OBLIVION, who grandiosely combine utterly crawling, sorrowful funeral and death doom metal with sludge style nihilism in both the immanent melodiosity of the full album and the abysmally gurgling and desperately crying twin vocals. Breathtakingly beautiful and pulping!”

     More infos here: Homepage, Label


    CRUTHU
    “The Angle Of Eternity”
    The Church Within Records


    “Michigan-based CRUTHU play traditional doom metal on ‘The Angel of Eternity’, which is filled to the brim with Seventies prog and proto metal passages to give you the full dose of slowly paving lo-fi heaviness reminiscent of Sir Lord Baltimore, early Pagan Altar or Trouble and the like. Comes with stunningly catchy NWOBH style vocals by Ryan Evans!”

     More infos here: Homepage, Label


    BLACK LABEL SOCIETY
    “Grimmest Hits”
    Spinefarm Records


    “BLACK LABEL SOCIETY have their ‘Grimmest Hits’ out marking the tenth studio album of this southern metal act around Ozzy-guitarist Zakk Wylde. It is not as grim as the title suggests but fishing in the doomiest waters of the band’s album history. Serves typical Zakk-style guitars shooting one ultra-catchy riff and lead after another. It’s the immanent blues that makes me swing to the slow groove of ‘Grimmest Hits’. Recalls BLS’ grand debut full-length, ‘Sonic Brew’, released in 1999.”

    More infos here: Homepage, Label

    BELDAM
    “Pasung”
    Horror Pain Gore Death Productions


    “On ‘Pasung’, BELDAM set the Indonesian practice of shackling and imprisoning people that suffer from schizophrenia in music. Serves disturbing sludge spreading from possessed fury to massively crushing, almost still-standing doom riffage and ear bleeding distortion. It’s a dissonant trip through the suffering and misinterpretation of the mentally ill.”

     More infos: Homepage, Label




    LEECHFEAST
    “Neon Crosses”
    Dry Cough Records
    Rope Or Guillotine


    “Slovenia’s LEECHFEAST pull Grief-style sludge through hot, cancerous tarmac on ‘Neon Crosses’, which is their most misanthropic and sonically devastating release so far – painfully slow and ultra-heavy at the same time!”

     More infos here: Homepage, Label


    DAUTHA
    “Brethren of the Black Soil”
    Ván Records
    “DAUTHA from Sweden recruits of actual Wardenclyffe members including Ola Blomkvist, who already was responsible for all lyrical agony and the guitars in deceased doom metal grandmasters Grifegård. After the respected ‘Den Förste’ demo (2016), DAUTHA have their debut full-length, Brethren of the Black Soil, out packing Europe’s Medieval history in six psalms full of haunting doom riffs, stirring melodies and epic choral singing.“

     More infos here: Homepage, Label

    SABEL
    “Re-Generation”
    Oak Island Records


    “Imagine Sleep’s ‘Jerusalem’ stirred well with Electric Wizard’s ‘Dopethrone’ and Atomic Rooster style blues and hard rock – or Monolord dancing with Kadavar – to get an idea about SABEL’s amazing debut album called ‘Re-Generation’. Serves raw, Sabbathian doom and driving, hips shaking proto-stoner with maximum fuzz on the howling guitars as well as reverberating, weed tanned vocals. Swedish quality!”

    More infos here: Homepage, Label


    GODTHRYMM
    “A Grand Reclamation”
    Transcending Records


    “UK’s GODTHRYMM recruits of current and former members of My Dying Bride, Vallenfyre, Malediction and Anathema, who already joined forces in Solstice. All of these influences culminate on the band’s four-track debut EP, ‘A Grand Reclamation’, rolling out leaden twin guitars and lamenting melodies typical for early 90s doom metal, interfused with 80s style heaviness and epic power vocals.”

    More infos here: Homepage, Label


    THRONELESS
    “Cycles”
    Black Bow Records


    “THRONELESS serve buzzing and droning doom metal on ‘Cycles’ reminiscent of Conan’s early destruction, but with the difference that these Swedes keep crawling stoically from the very first to the final tone. Comes with stoned acoustics in between the squelching riffage.”

    More infos here: Homepage, Label


    SWAMP CORPSE
    “Bone Mill”
    Black Bow Records


    “Hamburg-based SWAMP CORPSE blow ultra-brutal, drone-like oscillating sludge/death doom metal off the speakers somehow reminiscent of Autopsy’s ‘Acts of the Unspeakable’. But this ‘Bone Mill’ is crushing radically and kicking asses without using any sort of vintage gear – a bludgeoning feast of crawling destruction and distortion! For fans of extrem doom metal à la Burning Witch, Khanate and Grief!”

    More infos here: Homepage, Label


    DDENT
    “Toro”
    self-release


    “DDENT is the only band in the wide doom and post rock genre I would use the term progressive for. Coming from Paris, this instrumental four-piece takes any heavy or acoustic guitar riff to evolve a multidimensional, orchestral soundtrack that is brimming with dramatic, gently drifting melodies and floating synths; even the industrial rhythms fit perfectly in the songs’ blue mood. Actual album ‘Toro’ serves seven acts, which sound like performed in a renowned opera house. Once more, DDENT prove their exceptional writing skills offering a thrilling, jaw-dropping masterpiece of dreamy melancholic musical art – the Pink Floyd of doom!”

    More infos here: Homepage


    SOLDAT HANS
    “Es taut”
    Wolves And Vibrancy Records


    “SOLDAT HANS (German for: Soldier called Hans) from Switzerland combine utterly dark, amazingly catchy Bohren & Der Club Of Gore style jazz – including trombones, melotron and violins – with pointed postrock guitars, bluesy slides and towering sludge riffage that goes along the stoically crawling tempo just like the hauntingly beautiful and desperately screamed vocals. ‘Es taut’ (It melts) is a didactic play in the matter of Jazz Doom Metal!”

    More infos here: Homepage, Label


    SPACESLUG
    “Mountains & Reminiscence”
    Oak Island Records


    “Digitally released in 2017, SPACESLUG’s ‘Mountains & Reminiscence’ is finally pressed in vinyl archiving five original tracks plus a bonus jam session for eternity. Coming from Wrocław, SPACESLUG represents Poland’s flourishing stoner/doom underground scene delivering top quality music that spreads from billowing psychedelia over blues-infested, Sabbath worshipping riffage to interstellar space rock. ‘Mountains & Reminiscences’ is like the echo of the Big Bang – once explored its sonic roots are clearly retraceable to the stoned 60s and fuzzy 70s, lulling you gently with tons of wah-effects on the guitars and catchy sing along la-las as a reverberating result of pointedly set heavy rocking impacts.”

    More infos here: Homepage, Label


    NEST
    “Metempsychosis”
    Sludgelord Records


    “NEST from Lexington Kentucky have packed the pain of Metempsychosis – the transmigration of the soul after death from a human or animal to some other human or animal – in torturous, nihilistically grinding doom, which is dripping with feedback and distortion channeling NEST’s ‘visceral contempt with a barrage of sludge soaked riffs accompanied by harsh, evocative vocalizations that gives Metempsychosis (…) all the makings of a memorable foray into misanthropy’.”

    More infos here: Homepage, Label



    Find more noteworthy releases of early 2018 alphabetically ordered here:
    ABYSMAL GRIEF “Blasphema Secta” – Home, Label
    BESVÄRJELSEN “Vallmo” – Home, Label
    BIBLE BLACK TYRANT “Regret Beyond Death” – Home, Label
    CLAMFIGHT “III” – Home, Label
    COFFIN TORTURE “Dismal Planet” – Home, Label
    CORRUPTED “Felicific Algorithim”– Home, Label
    DESERT STORM “Sentinels” – Home, Label
    DJINN AND MISKATONIC “Even Gods Must Die” – Home, Label
    EIRР“Cosmos Two – Earth And Beyond” – Home, Label
    ET MORIEMUR “Epigrammata” – Home, Label
    EYE OF SOLITUDE / MARCHE FUNÈBRE split – Home, Label
    FAAL “Desolate Grief” – Home, Label
    FORMING THE VOID / PYRESHIP split – Home, Label
    GODWATT “Necropolis” – Home, Label
    GRAJO “Slowgod II” – Home, Label
    GREEN LUNG “Free the Witch” EP – Home, Label
    GREYFELL “Horsepower” – Home, Label
    HEMELBESTORMER “A Ring Of Blue Light” – Home, Label
    KAYLETH “Colossus” – Home, Label
    MY SILENT WAKE “There Was Death” – Home, Label
    OWL “Orion Fenix” – Home, Label
    SATIVA ROOT “Oneirod” – Home
    SEVEN SERPENTS “Garden of Eyes” EP – Home
    SLOMATICS / MAMMOTH WEED WIZARD BASTARD “Totems” – Home, Label
    SLOW “V – Oceans” – Home, Label
    SUNNATA “Outlands” – Home
    THAL “Reach for the Dragon’s Eye” – Home
    THE GREAT MACHINE “Respect” – Home, Label
    THE WATCHERS “Black Abyss” – Home, Label
    TOWARDS ATLANTIS LIGHTS “Dust of Aeons” – Home, Label
    WEEDPECKER “III” – Home, Label
    WINDHAND / SATAN’S SATYRS split – Home, Label
    WITCHCRYER “Cry Witch” – Home, Label


  • UK’s doom metal band AGE OF TAURUS are ready to release their brand new second album, The Colony Slain, via Rise Above Records on May 11th! Presenting Leo Smee (With The Dead, ex-Cathedral) playing bass guitar in the renewed line-up! #announcement #doommetalfront



    AGE OF TAURUS
    “The Colony Slain”
    Rise Above Records

    “Many centuries ago, when the world was slightly younger and a little less ravaged by time’s unrelenting grasp, there existed a sprawling empire of unrivalled power. Yet, whilst its might and influence stretched across great oceans and through vast mountain ranges, its immense dominion was born not out of prosperity and industry, but from rampant fear and blind obedience…”


    So begins the arcane tale behind The Colony Slain, the second full-length album from doom metal diehards Age Of Taurus. Nearly five years on from the release of acclaimed debut Desperate Souls Of Tortured Times, singer/guitarist and conceptual mastermind Toby W. Wright is ready to unveil a new, ultra-dramatic chapter in the turbulent saga of the Taurean Empire. Showcasing a new line-up featuring new bassist Leo Smee (With The Dead/ex-Cathedral) alongside Wright, drummer Darius Claydon and most recent recruit, guitarist Daniel Knight, The Colony Slain is the sound of a great band reborn in heavy metal glory.

    “This record has probably been constructed a little differently this time around,” Toby explains. “Leo, in particular, has brought a huge amount of expertise where arrangements are concerned, as well as some next-level musicianship. His style of playing alone has allowed us to expand what we were doing before and to experiment a lot more with ideas that we maybe hadn’t considered. He’s also helped us to start introducing synths into the material, which is something I can see evolving further down the line. Daniel actually joined during the recording process but, again, his style of playing has been a fresh injection into our sound.”

    Formed in 2009, Age Of Taurus have already established themselves as a doggedly unique force within the modern world of doom. Ever the stubborn mavericks, they have once again conjured a collection of songs that defy lazy notions of doom metal as a one-dimensional creative cul-de-sac. Still rooted in the rumbling sonic bedrock of Trouble, Candlemass and Sabbath but increasingly steeped in the gritty swagger of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal and in thrall to numerous left-field, progressive ideas, songs like fiery opener Taken To The Tower and the rampaging In Dream We Die eschew the languorous repetition of much modern doom in favour of subtly elaborate song structures that proudly salute the spirit of old school heavy metal. With nods to everything from radio-friendly hard rock to gritty crossover thrash, The Colony Slain is a flat-out celebration of the metal code.

    “I guess we’ll always fit the doom metal tag in some sense but we’ve always taken influence from a lot of different places and we were never really a slow doom metal band,” Toby notes. “Much of Trouble’s material is faster, or at least mid-paced, and it’s their sound that I feel best represents doom metal. This new album will almost certainly cement some of that sentiment, while also taking us away into different pastures. We’ve even created our own ‘Great Gig In The Sky’ moment, with some fantastic female guest vocals… Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, it ain’t! Musically we’ve really cast off the shackles this time.”



    “The Colony Slain” line-up:

    Toby W. Wright – vocals, guitars
    Leo Smee – bass
    Darius Claydon – drums
    Daniel Knight – guitars


    Lyrically, too, The Colony Slain represents a bold forward step, as Toby’s tale of a malevolent empires, bloody uprisings and fearless heroes unfolds across 47 minutes of imperious bombast. Citing inspirations as diverse as prog gods Genesis, fantasy author Terry Pratchett and director John Carpenter’s The Thing, the frontman’s immersive and obsessive approach to new Age Of Taurus music has led to an album with great depth and substance to back up the songs’ muscular bravado.

    As with their debut, The Colony Slain was pieced together in collaboration with esteemed studio guru Jaime ‘Gomez’ Arellano at his Orgone Mk. 2 Studio in Bedfordshire, with vocals recorded at Supervillain HQ in Wright’s hometown of Oslo, Norway, with Yusaf Parvez (Dødheimsgard) at the controls. The result is towering, riff-driven mini-epics like Beyond The Westward Path and To Seal A Mountain: refined but unstoppable bursts of authentic epic doom, delivered with phenomenal sonic heft and yet always sounding thrillingly raw, live and untamed.

    “We chose Gomez, as we knew his new set-up was going to be killer and we shared the mindset that we could progress together,” Wright recalls. “Ultimately we wanted to make a heavy metal record that focused on weight of the songs, rather than just a very thick, bottom-heavy sound. Yusaf is a good friend and an extremely talented multi-instrumentalist and it was a pleasure to work with him, too. He takes wild leaps of faith when making music and he encouraged me to try everything that came into my head during the session.”

    Rejuvenated and refocused, Age Of Taurus have returned from the wilderness bearing the most potent of gifts. Living, breathing, thunderous proof of doom’s timeless allure and the inspirational power of the riff, The Colony Slain brings past, present and future together in a riot of heartfelt heaviness and, as the story says, unrivalled power. A new age is dawning and this story never ends…

    “Hopefully this album will strike a chord with those that are already familiar with Age of Taurus and, if we’re lucky, it’ll allow us to reach those that had maybe written us off as ‘just another doom metal band!’” Wright laughs. “This is a hard rock/heavy metal record and, in all honesty, some of the purists may struggle with parts of it but we’re very proud of it. With this record, I’d say that we’ve gained a greater understanding of what we want to achieve as a band.”


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