Abyssmal Sorrow - Lament : Album Review

Slowly, but evidently, I'm finding myself less tolerant towards mediocre music or bands, including Old School Death Metal ones. I simply cannot stand how each and every band playing that genre, no matter how average it sounds, gets utter praise by people with tastes similar to mine.

Fortunately, throw any damn Doom Metal at me, and I'll love it as long as it stays away from "fucking cheesy" territory. Personal opinions apart, the band that is the subject of the review is an Australian Funeral Doom/Black metal band, Abyssmal Sorrow. With just one EP and one album, Abyssmal Sorrow aren't very well known outside of Funeral Doom fan base.

On looking at the band photos, the album cover and lyrics/themes, prior to giving this album a spin, it's prone to a lot of incorrect judgment. The first opinions range from "must be cliched Depressive Black Metal" to "Another cheesy Gothic Doom?", but that's where the band lands in with a pleasant surprise. You might be a bit correct with the former, since Lament definitely has rather sad melodies and a very "Black Metal" sound to it, but that is where the similarity ends. The band tilts a lot towards the realm of Funeral Doom. What sets it apart, even yet, from its own genre, is the thin sound. It is not thick, heavy or crushing, but still follows the Funeral Doom norm of painfully slow riffing and heavy reliance on the atmosphere, provided by the synths, with near-perfection. The riffing is slow, very slow, and depressive in nature, but limits itself before breaking the barrier and sounding "emo". (PS: Emo, here, is not used as a term describing the post-hardcore movement, but used to describe the usual derogatory term for cheesy emotional melodrama). The riffing compliments the guitar tone perfectly, as a heavier sound would not have reflected the pure misery held in the combination of notes played. The synths are used in a very good way; Almost playing along the lines of the guitar riffs, but never too overpowering to drown the guitars themselves. They perfectly add to the atmosphere, in addition to the occasional use of acoustic guitar passages, which are used rather brilliantly. Listen to the intro on Austere Lament Part 1, which displays the best of such passages. The vocals are throaty howls, resonating with the rest of the music. they sound haunting enough to send a chill down your spine, and reflect the . They sound more like a part of the background, which is a good thing, since such a style has a potential to distract the listener from the rest of the music. The bass guitar is the sole instrument providing any heaviness the songs in here have, and play almost along the lines of the guitar, and as usual, is an important instrument here. Despite the thin sound, Abyssmal Sorrow's music is rooted in Funeral Doom Metal, owing to the atmospheric nature and the vast, desolate landscapes, visions of which the music creates.

All in all, a very good piece of Atmospheric Funeral Doom/Black metal recommended for fans of the genre and also for fans of Depressive Black Metal (due to the resemblance in sound). Of course, the album is far from perfect, but very good nonetheless.

Coffinworm - When All Became None: Album Review

Long time, no review. Time to end the dry spell, and Coffinworm is a good enough band to do so. Formed in 2007, these bunch of guys play Blackened Sludge. Sludge, being a genre that works well in combination with most metal genres, seems to work the best with Black Metal, since the atmospheric and hateful quality of both is added up. After a raw and rough EP titled "Great Bringer of Night", Coffinworm released their full length album in 2010

Not unlike their preceding work, When All Became None is a pretty dirty, misanthropic pile of dark, blackened Sludge. Coffinworm utilize slower, crushing sections very well, as they literally pound and pummel the eardrums, like you would expect from any Sludge. In addition to that, there are rather groovy, sometimes Crusty mid-paced sections scattered across the songs, which adds variety and keeps it interesting. What makes this band stand out, is the highly atmospheric feeling to the music, yet, it is very unlike Post-Metal/Atmospheric Sludge. The guitar effects invoke a rather Black Metal-like, dark and dismal atmosphere. There is no trace of Stoner tendencies in the music, and there are absolutely no bluesy passages and riffs, but the general atmosphere is spacey and psychedelic at times. The dissection of the quality of riffing isn't necessary here, since this is Sludge, and to be a half-credible Sludge band, you need riffs, so this band obviously assaults the listener with a barrage of crushing riffs, varying between Doom, Black and Crust styles. The guitar tone fits their style of music very well. It is sometimes reminiscent of Graves At Sea, sometimes reminds of Evoken. The general goal of creating a dark, macabre atmosphere with crushing riffs is achieved through it. The vocals are Black Metal 'growls', and sound powerful. There is only a little variety in them, and the vocalist sometimes switches to low growls temporarily. There is a sense of rage in them, but a slight feeling of evilness and grimness would have really helped. This is just a minor drawback here, since the vocals are not playing the biggest role here. The drums are luckily neither too high, nor too low, and are mixed really well. The cymbals don't hurt, the snare sounds perfect and crushing, and the bass is loud. The bass guitar is not distinctly audible unless paid attention to, but since the Lows are turned up in the mix, it doesn't seem too much of a drawback.

Song memorability is low on the first few listens, since there isn't much that helps differentiate between songs. Every song is similar, and there are almost no defining moments, except the intro to Spitting In Infinity's Asshole. This is the biggest drawback of this record, and it will take a few listens to actually dig in. that means bad news for people without enough patience, who will likely discard this, labeling it as monotonous. Disregarding the poor memorability factor on the first few listens, this album is really good, and Coffinworm effectively combine Black Metal, Crust and Sludge. Recommended.

Hell - Human Remains : Album Review

In the past couple of years, when a large percentage of unaware audience was mourning the declining older, more traditional forms of Heavy Metal and (rightfully) blaming modern metal for the imminent death of Heavy Metal, there were a good number of bands engaging in old school metal worship in all its flavours. While people are well aware of revivalist Thrash and newer Old School Death Metal, new Traditional Heavy Metal goes unnoticed. Though I should make it clear, Hell are NOT a new band and have been around since 1982, as a part of the NWOBHM movement, but never released an album till 2011.

UK's Hell released few demos back in the 80s, but never got any attention due to the large number of bands from the movement successfully releasing a number of albums. Human Remains is their first ever full-length album. Needless to say, Hell play Traditional Heavy Metal, very similar to the top-of-the-line bands from 1980s, most notably Mercyful Fate. Their NWOBHM roots are very pronounced in their playing style, but they also take a little from their American counterparts in form of Speed Metal riffing and wailed vocals and "epic" songwriting. The band doesn't shy away from inclusion of synth, which is okay, since it doesn't sound like flowery Euro Power metal keyboards. The style works well for the record, but can sound monotonous since the album is over an hour long with little variation.

The riffing is a combination of upbeat, punk-ish NWOBHM-like riffs and heavy, palm-muted Speed Metal riffs, which is like listening to Mercyful Fate, Riot and Angel Witch, all at the same time. The possibility of an amazing outcome of such a combination is hindered by the fact that they're arranged in a chaotic and disjoint manner at times in certain tracks. Nonetheless, the enjoyability factor is kept up by the quality of the riffs. The guitarists show their full potential with blazing, melodic guitar solos present in every song, upping each song's quality. The vocalist differs from typical NWOBHM vocalists with his good range and superior singing ability. Yet, he might come off as unoriginal, since the King Diamond-like style doesn't work for anyone except King himself. The vocals dominate most of the songs, and that can be distracting from the rest of the music. The bass guitar is not very audible, despite the clear and fairly modern-sounding production of the album. The drummer plays quite well, without a sign of sloppiness or error, and adapts well to the structural changes throughout the songs. The band engages in progressive songwriting, with constant changes in structure, tempo, riffs and certain unconventional (but not outright weird) time signatures. The progressive nature of the songs compels the listener to either pay full attention to the music or give it several listens. The lyrics deal with Satan, Hell, Occult, etc, and the dark nature of such is further amplified by the meticulous use of synth.

Even if the band comes off too similar to Mercyful Fate, Hell has its own flavour. There are no new ideas here, since it is a Traditional Heavy Metal release, and if it is all you're looking for, you won't be disappointed and Human Remains is for you.

Raventale - After : Album Review

Ukraine's Raventale is a Black/Doom Metal (or often labeled as Depressive/Atmospheric Black Metal) project of  Astaroth, and was formed in 2005. Of the total of four albums released, After is the most recent work, released in 2010, under Solitude Productions. Raventale's musical approach, although very typical of modern melancholic Doom Metal bands is mature in terms of songwriting and production.

The album starts off with Gone, a 10-minute track that shoots off with a dark and atmospheric riff, which gives a basic idea of Raventale's sound, which is very distanced from what it is sometimes labeled as, since the production value is much cleaner and polished than you would hear in a Depressive Black Metal band. Still, the production suits, since musically, it is closer to the likes of Novembre or Darkflight. I would even draw a comparison between Raventale and Black Autumn. The rather atmospheric riff is followed by a much heavier Doom Metal riff, played by a separate guitar. The guitars are layered in a good way, and the music doesn't end up sounding thin or pale. The heavier riffs give the music a very strong Doom Metal touch, sometimes reaching heaviness that, when at its peak, can be likened to bands like Ataraxie. Despite the crushing heaviness, Raventale chooses to play faster than what is expected of Doom Metal. The playing speed doesn't hamper the melancholic atmosphere, since it is supported by intricate, melancholic guitar leads played by a second guitar, and the presence of clean guitar sections spaced and placed well in a song. To top it up, the atmosphere is further enhanced by synthesizer present throughout, but mostly audible when the guitars aren't playing or in cleaner sections. The vocals are overshadowed by the music, which appears to be mostly instrumental. Since they aren't that great, their long absence in song goes unnoticed. The music speeds up after the second track, which is also the title track of the album. The fourth track, Flames has a rather fast intro that breaks down into a part with a heavy, but depressive, palm-muted guitar riff. This song showcases Astaroth's ability to write good, engaging riffs, and also consists of a brilliant guitar and even a keyboard (of the non-annoying variety) solo. The keyboard solo is very bearable, very unlike Children of Bodom's keyboard wankery, and isn't audible unless you're paying special attention to the details. This song is clearly the highlight of this album. The bass and drums are nothing to write home about since the drums are mostly programmed and played by a drum machine, and that fact is very obvious.

The element of melancholy in the music isn't stretched far into Funeral Doom realms, but has a far more relaxed, less misanthropic sound. The music embraces nature and darkness rather than depression and emotions, both musically and lyrically, as evident from their mellow sound, and a rather positive, more than negative vibe.

Raventale is recommended for fans of bands like Novembre, but it nonetheless can entertain Doom Metal fans, as long as they don't expect a massively crushing wall of agonizing riffs to pummel them. This release doesn't have it, but it will surely be a great company during a long, tiring journey.