Past Forest of Equlibrium, I consider myself a more casual Cathedral fan. The band’s later, Sabbath-y 70s, psychedelia being a occasional guilty pleasure when I want something grooooovy man. And though swansong The Last Spire was a pretty solid release, I really don’t feel drawn to Cathedral’s discography, so when Lee Dorrian announced the band was […]

Church of Misery are an institution. When it comes to big, bluesy doom riffs they are untouchable, and if you’re into metal and have yet to hear the band’s serial killer-inspired doom boogie then I suggest you head over to Youtube, punch in “Killifornia” and give a good listen. I’ll wait… All set? Now if […]

Although Black Sabbath are credited for inventing the slower, bleaker strand of heavy metal known as Doom Metal, it wasn’t until bands such as Witchfinder General, Saint Vitus and Trouble arrived in the 1980’s that the genre really took off and was given a title. Nowadays the world is awash with this style of metal, and Indianapolis’s The Gates of Slumber are another band […]

Seems like Ghost (or Ghost BC, as the lawyers like to call them now) has made a deal with the Devil. They got a major advance for their sophomore album – $750,000 buys a lot of face-paint and incense. You can hear it in the production and atmosphere, as thick and as decadent as blood […]

Average doom, thy name is Witchsorrow. Not much has changed since their debut in 2010. They are still plying the same straightforward style of doom rooted in classic St. Vitus and Cathedral. God Curse Us is as decent as their debut and unfortunately just as unremarkable. And that’s really as far as it goes. Nothing […]

It’s great when a press release can succinctly provide the fodder a journalist needs to describe a release without fluff — only descriptions, points of reference and a little background. BOOM. BAM. DONE. However, a simple bio regurgitation from a writer does not a good review make. So let’s elaborate on Canada’s Blood Ceremony and […]

Satan has risen – and he’s got a Hell of an ear for melody. The mysterious Ghost come from Sweden, but not much else is known about them aside from a few promo shots, which feature shadowy figures led by a skull-masked Satanic priest. Rumor has it that this is actually a side project from […]

Black Sabbath being the fount from which all doom springs, it’s only appropriate that you should hear their influence in bands of the genre. But you could argue that Gates of Slumber cross the line of influence right into worship. Not that that’s a bad thing. Hymns of Blood and Thunder, the latest offering from […]

‘Occult Horror Doom’ metal band MOSS has completed work on its new album. The sinisterly titled Tombs of the Blind Drugged will drop in North America on July 7 via Rise Above Records. Hailed as, “the bleakest, darkest doom metal ever recorded”, MOSS cooks up eerie anti-music that transmits the occult like none other. The […]

Heralded Indianapolis, IN doom metal masters THE GATES OF SLUMBER have signed to England’s Rise Above Records for the release of their highly anticipated new album and follow up to 2008’s celebrated Conqueror. The as-yet-untitled record is slated for a fall, 2009 release. The announcement is made on the heels of the brightest and busiest […]

Oh wow…where to begin. Litmus play a sort of Cosmic Stoner Rock. I hear traces of Floyd, Tull & (of course) Sabbath all throughout the Planetfall album…even hints of Steppenwolf’s more trippy moments. The vocals are clean & harmonized, the guitars are wide & heavy, the synths are lush & sweeping. This album is all […]

God bless Lee Dorian. His Rise Above Records is bringing us some very cool Doom oriented Metal these days. Winters play a Cathedral-esque, rough-around-the-edges sort of Doom Metal with a healthy dose of Indie Rock. In other words, it’s heavy on the roots of Doom while having some body part (or parts) firmly entrenched in […]

It’s still a bit strange to listen to hard-rockin’ UK group Firebird and remember their lineage: for the first twelve years of his musical career, frontman Bill Steer was one of a handful of the premier guitarists in extreme heavy metal. His first high-profile gig was playing on the first two albums by Napalm Death, […]