Unholy Slough - Chthonic Ritual (2018)

This descent will take us impossibly deep into the bowels of a crypt long forgotten by God and man alike in order to gaze into the cold heart of eternity and try not to be driven mad in the process! You have been warned - this will be gruesome. After the demise of the warbling, water-logged stoner/doom act The Devil's Swamp, a new band arose from their tomb going by the name Unholy Slough. However, all the time spent in the grave means that the sound has decayed, becoming an especially grim mix of death, doom, and sludge that must have been burned dry in hellfire. The first track "Prologue" creates an eerie atmosphere that grows more harrowing with each passing minute building tension as you feel the air grow still and your heartbeat quicken. And then you find yourself in a world of terrifying misery as "Ritual" begins and the first, low, wretched shout engulfs you like a cloud of stale and putrid rot. Slow and bleak the song continues with riffs and an atmospheric synth that make you feel as though you're trudging through the catacombs with the tempo picking up only briefly so that the dead may taunt you. "SM" strikes even harder, picking up and echoing through the dark chamber and shaking the walls with an extra dose of gloomy brutality. The final track "The Last Chthonic Vision" reaches a grumbling, agonizing climax that crawls through a seemingly endless vortex of desolate, swirling death before abandoning you frantic and delirious in the depths of despair. Once this album has you there's no escape, so submit to the somber, unnatural growling in the darkness and embrace your cursed fate! -Brandon

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Kurokuma - Dope Rider (2018)

"Dope Rider's" cover art was very misleading to me. Before I decided to hit the play button, I thought it was going to be listening to Stoner/Desert Rock. The opening drum beat sort of back this notion up as well. However once the strings and the vocals came in I realized I was listening to an entirely different beast altogether. Kurokuma's fiery Sludge Doom is catchy as fuck. The riffs and grooves had me locked in right away on "Dope Rider". You have to savor them though, because this EP is only like 13 mins long. When that final riff on Track 2 ("Dope Rider Part 2"), and you revel in the gooey sludgy goodness of its detuned riffage, you find out how fleeting that moment really was when the song ends minutes later. That's alright though, because if you're like me, you will just start the damn EP all over again and give it a few more listens, because it's that fucking good.
There's also a hint of Noise Rock abrasiveness, but I don't know if it's enough to reclassify this as being anything other than Sludge Doom. It can be heard primarily in the vocals and the bass. I really dug the screaming from the vocals, and I felt like it had the right amount of aggression to compliment the riffs. I think the drums have something really interesting going on. I don't think I truly noticed until a few listens of the EP that he has this consistent hard hitting shuffle and swing throughout both songs. I think maybe the last bar or so is played straight but who cares, it was a little off and a little different, and added a little flavor to the whole Sludge Doom experience. Overall, this EP was a pleasant surprise. I'm really glad this didn't turn out to be a Stoner/Desert Rock album, as Sludge Doom is really more my thing anyway. With all that being said, I highly recommend this one! Cheers!

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Eye - Out of Body (2018)

Eye comes to us from Russia thickly veiled in a shroud of mystery - even the cover of their new album "Out of Body" is a cryptic bramble of dim neon contours hiding in the darkness - but the sound they bring is unambiguously heavy. They've arisen from the underground to ensnare all who will listen by playing psychedelic stoner-doom with dual male/female vocals and just the right kind of twists to turn your mind into mush. The first track ("Transformation") brings in the battering ram of doom and starts banging at the gates - first slowly in majestic arcs then faster and more frantically - until your ears are blown out and your head is full of static. Once you're on the ground with fuzz pouring out of your ears, then things start to get trippy as the second track begins swirling in extra psychedelic wind-swept desert sounds and eastern influence into the mix. The next two tracks ("Moment Balans" and "Smoke Weed") see the band fighting with their stoner instincts as songs shift seamlessly between slow, cosmic head spaces and spicy, driven beats. On the last song ("Circle of Suffering") Eye starts to get ethereal as though the band has expended the last of their mortality and now they're able to ascend into the night sky to spread their sound among the stars. And so just as they came, now they go, leaving us with an important lesson: if your eye comes out of body... you don't have to put it back in, 'cause this shit is awesome! -Brandon

Lightpath - Children of The Void (2018)

A new plague of misery has broken out in the city of Ferrara, Italy in the form of a band called Lightpath! They're slowly blighting souls and corrupting minds using a crass kind of death/doom that's heavy on the raspy and nasty tones. They've dubbed their first release "Children of the Void" as a 'promo'. What's a promo? Is that a demo? An EP? Well it doesn't fucking matter because whatever it is rips! They've only got three songs on here, but each one hits like a riot echoing through the catacombs with subtle occult undertones. Strains of wrath writhe their way through the dark and narrow passages of the decrepit, doomy underground, but they take any available opportunity to burst out into a driven death metal fuming with sharp, rotten odors. Revolting terror will arise in some of the slowest passages eliciting a sense of hopelessness before you're mangled by musical storm that follows. A sense of gloom hangs overhead as it rolls through with grumbling patches and ominous thunder before breaking out into a chaotic, merciless buffeting. I love the drums on here as they seem to have a raw, tribal energy and some standout rhythms that hold the torch and lead the way as songs creep through the decaying darkness. Regardless, Lightpath take the harsh road all the way through this thing and that makes it all the better - definitely worth a listen or twelve! They've got me hooked and I'll be watching for what comes next! -Brandon

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Foehammer - Second Sight (2018)

Here's an album that flew under my radar from earlier this year. Holy Shit this is an amazing album! Combining the right amounts of Sludge, Doom and Drone, "Second Sight" from Foehammer is a behemoth of an album. This shit is meant to be cranked at the fullest volume, so that the low and slow riffs can reverberate against your bones the way Doom Metal is meant to be played. Out of the four tracks, not one of them is under 7 minutes, so you definitely get enough time bask in its radiant misery. As toasty as these riffs might be, there's still this sense of dreariness that casts its shadow over every song. The music is fiery, but it is also very ugly in a gratifying way.
The fucking string section on this album is just monstrous. Like two looming pillars of nothing but Sludge and Fuzz. It's just a downpour of constant heaviness, and it's super fucking slow. Combined with the pummeling of the drums, and the death growls of the vocals, the impact is monumental. "Second Sight" is an agonizingly brutal release, that has crawled its way up in Sisyphean fashion, to the top of my best of the year list. I'm glad I didn't go throughout the whole year not listening to this album, because I would've been missing out on a truly great album. Highly Recommended! Cheers! -Samir
 

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Saltbuck - Cityslicker (2018)

Based on the cover for Saltbuck's latest release "Cityslicker" (I mean maybe even the title is a bit misleading), you might not know exactly what you're in for here. I'm not saying either are bad, but at first glance I would have guess this was strictly a Noise Rock affair. It's not totally untrue, but there is definitely some slow and sludgy Doom Metal goodness with a slight stoner twinge if you really want to get down to the core of what it is. The riffs are fucking massive, like a huge cloud of smoke suffocating the listener with its sinister grooves. It's almost like the plumes are a mix of weed smoke from a depository and the grey smog from a rundown industrial part of town. Saltbuck inhabits both of those worlds, mixing purple/green haze with the gloom of modern day dread.
 Like I mentioned, massive riffs, so the bass and the guitar have a really nice wall of fuzz that blends together really well. They're very thick, and definitely have a gooey center to them. The vocals are extremely grating in a Sludge Doom sort of way. No clean singing for sure! It's like a mix of the grit and the gravel of harsh urban landscapes with the hoarseness of smoking way too fucking long. The drummer is hard hitter, and I don't mean off of the bong. It really adds to the impact of all the pummeling riffs. I mean this shit is catchy. If you're looking for good heavy music to band your head to, this will get the job done for sure. It's not all straight forward either. It kind of gets weird (in a good way) in areas, but overall I dug it. High Recommended! Cheers! -Samir

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Talsur - Tormented (2018)

Last year I wrote a bit about Talsur, a one-man doom metal juggernaut out in Russia who has been self-releasing all kinds of dark and melancholic music that touches on a variety of doom subgenres, just letting the sounds of lament come forth in a torrent, flowing in whatever direction natural chaos takes it in. Now with a little help from Sofia Strazhkova on violin, Talsur has put out a new full-length album entitled "Tormented" - a gloriously sorrowful piece of melodic death/doom with plenty gothic inspiration in the vein of My Dying Bride. Guitar, bass, and drums groan and growl with some morose doom that even borders on the grim at points, while piano and violin phase in and out adding somber melodies and a classic, refined atmosphere to create a romantic funeral of sorts. Clean vocals clash beautifully with death growls to drag you through grief - even if you don't understand the source - and then slow, grand riffs moan with ill intent as they prey on your heightened emotions before ripping into brief flashes of broad, grizzly violence. Scattered throughout the album are pockets of haunting, ghostly sound during which the lament of a dozen lost lives seems to weigh on your soul and you're left paralyzed, able to do nothing but let the pain wash over you, be it smooth or scathing. The intensity only ramps up as the album goes on, eventually swelling to an epic and anguished end. This is the sound of contemplation as you stand motionless in the graveyard - surrounded by beautiful stone monuments that herald eternity - ready to hurl yourself into your own tomb! Tormented is a record that was made for those bewitched by pain and sorrow - but if you aren't there yet, you will be after you hear this! -Brandon
 

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