Horrors of the Black Museum - Gold from the Sea (2008) | 85%

The Baguette Doom Series part III: Scooby Doom!

This band is simply something else. They managed to sound completely spooky while playing something that could be considered traditional doom. As shown with the cover art, the band was influenced by vintage horror movies and pulp culture and it's also vivid in their sound. Actually, their name is an old English horror movie from 1959. Their sole album before the band's dissolution, “Gold from the Sea” is a pretty good release with an awesome atmosphere. Three members formed the sludge Eibon (to be reviewed during this current series) but the 2 core members have remained silent since the release of this album in 2008, a damn shame.

The album only has four songs but it's still forty minutes, it has two pretty long ass tracks that are everything I want from lengthy numbers. Merely atmosphere. The fifteen minutes title track starts with the sound of waves splashing the sand of a beach. The music itself is very dark and quite bass heavy, almost noisy. It's nothing very spectacular and relies more on the feeling it creates more than anything else. It's really pushing the limits of how traditional doom should sound and even borderlines the sludge, drone and stoner genres while always pushing their dark agenda forward. It uses samples too and quite well might I say. There's an heavy use of a cheesy keyboard, it has this tongue-in-cheek scary atmosphere found in Scooby Doo haha and it gives the album a nice laid back sound. Slow, distorted, mesmerizing, the music transports your mind into its own black and white movie.

Their sole album was recorded as a duo and based on the booklet credit, there is no guitars but only a bass and I wondered why it was so distorted. I guess it's doom heaven for Albert Witchfinder since the bass can't bury the guitars since they're already deep down in the catacombs (aka they left the band 3 years before the release of “Gold from the Sea”). The bass is fucking loud, slow and gives this psychedelic drone feeling that is only supported by the haunting keyboards and the simple drumming both played by the same dude. Even though they cover “Hiding Mask” from the seminal release Lunar Womb of The Obsessed, the band is nowhere near as bombastic and blistering as Wino's band. 

The vocals are clean, kind of buried under the thick production. While it can be seen as detrimental to their sound, I think it fits the atmospheres explored on the album. The voice is almost operatic, sinister and very good. A nice match to their thoughtful lyrics that you never knew could be written by a Frenchman! There's some catchy vocal lines such as in the The Obsessed cover and depressed sad guy stuff on the sublime eleven minutes opener “The Voodoo That You Do” recalling the Finnish scene.

It has this slow, uneasy way to make you feel sorrowful. Probably the darkest stuff you can find in a traditional band and it's real hidden gem. The album is quite cheap on the internet, grab it for Lovecraft's sake!

Northwinds - Masters of Magic (2001) | 89%

Baguette doom series part II : Le Vent de Paris

 

One of the earliest doom metal bands from France, Northwinds is one of the hidden jewels waiting to be discovered by the metal universe. Known by the aficionados of the genre, they deserve more recognition from a wider audience and I think it's only a matter of time since they play (and always have) something quite trendy these days. They indeed play some kind of doom intertwined with 70s dark hard rock, some psychedelia and even folk music.

Formed in the late 1980s, the band remained a demo band for more than 10 years until the release of their excellent debut “Great God Pan” and their sophomore “Masters of Magic” was released in 2001. It's perhaps my favorite of their discography and that's why I decided to review it. Compared to their 3 other albums (they're not a very productive band unfortunately), it doesn't have cover songs in it. While I appreciate the nod to the influences here and there, having 2 on the same album like on their latest “Winter” is hardly justified. It's okay when it's a bonus track but eh, I want to hear some original music, not a Saint Vitus cover even though half of “Clear Windowpane” was in French. But that's on another album and I'm complaining for nothing, this album is original goodness from the first second to the last!

One noticeable thing is the fact both the introduction and the conclusion to the album were composed and played by Steve Sylvester, the front man of Italian cult band Death SS. They're short atmospheric ethereal numbers full of organs and mesmerizing whispered vocals. It was quality bread for an awesome and consistent sandwich. It can take a while to eat though, it's slow and magical (hehehe, yeah...). The songs are all pretty lengthy but the epic track “Entre chien et loup” is the peak with its 15 minutes. I really really like when the band sings in French, it's very special and I think the whole album should had been in Molière's beautiful language. There's also the romantic track about the Arthurian legends “Broceliande”, the name of the mythical forest in the stories of Merlin and company.

The band has Sabbathy doom parts with thick bass licks and rich heavy riffs recalling the pristine early releases of the Englishmen but they're far from being a conservative doom band like many others, not that I think there's anything wrong in keeping it traditional something made obvious by many of my reviews. Northwinds is indeed including a large amount of classic progressive rock and folk rock influences. In the utmost old school tradition too, nothing of this neo prog style with 30 minutes rude keytar solos. There's the aerial feel of Pink Floyd and the medieval romanticism of Jethro Tull thrown for good measure. Not the heaviest representative of the French doom scene but certainly one of the more interesting.

If slow proggy doom numbers is your thing, Northwinds' sophomore will be a treat for you, if you prefer your doom hard rockin' and with a beer smell, check out Children of Doom (to be reviewed!), there's everything you need in the French Doom scene, mon frère!

Northwinds on Facebook 

The Bottle Doom Lazy Band - Blood for the Bloodking (2008) | 84%

The Baguette Doom Series pt. I : Poitou-Charentes

From Poitiers comes a very skilled band and the first I picked to be featured on this extensive series of reviews about French doom metal. Released in 2008, TBDLB's first album is quite enjoyable and deserves more recognition amongst the doom world. The band is currently working on a new album and it's long overdue, we'll see what they'll do with only one guitarist since one left the band last year.

Their sound is crushing, the duel guitars approach is heavy and it's fuzzy as fuck but it's never crossing into sludge or stoner territories. The songs are rather long and has an interesting spooky atmosphere. Despite the name of the band which is probably the result of an evening with too much wine and cheese for the bellies of these French doomsters. There's a good mix of mid paced riffing and slower tendencies that can be pretty harsh for traditional doom like on the epic “The Dead Can't Lose Again” and its distorted finale. Their doom sound is pretty unique and has hints of Saint Vitus, Reverend Bizarre or the heaviest non groovy moments of Cathedral. The seven minutes instrumental track “Evil Echoes” showcases the band's musicality extremely well. It builds a crescendo with the help of heavy yet simple riffs and balanced it with clean atmospheric guitars that doesn't quite work that much compared to their hard hitting slow approach. The piano interlude “Temple of Blind” truly works on the other hand.

Benjamin Reverseau's vocals are probably the highlight of the band for me. He's superb in my opinion. Torturous and operatic, his voice has a lot of beard into it and he's almost a Celtic sorcerer evoking Toutatis and his grand designs. He truly shines on the ten minutes track “Slowstone Banner”. He reminds me of the weirdness of Dorrian, the jolly operatic tendencies of Messiah and the overall tongue in cheek despair of Albert Witchfinder. The dude even has a song dedicated to him on Children of Doom's full length (to be reviewed)!

Not quite unique, the band is still pretty interesting and worthy of your ears, their musicianship is very decent, the vocal lines are always awesome albeit not present enough in some songs. Nonetheless, there's nothing utterly wrong about “Blood for the Bloodking”

Slow, mournful doom with a sense of musicality and interesting riffs is always interesting to hear and this band achieves this on their debut full length. A worthy album of an underrated scene, check them out and drink from their bottle.

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Droid - Malfunction demo (2013) | 77%

These are the riffs you are looking for.

Droid is a new band from Ontario and their first demo is a very cool piece of metal. Hailing from the Voivod land, they can be qualified as an apprentice to the seminal band but they're so much more than that.

You can almost guess what it's gonna be with the simple yet mysterious cover art. I have no idea what it' supposed to be, an alien with some kind of gun, a weird nose with a potent infection? I don't know but it's cool and evokes the early art of Away, you know before he tried his hand at computerized stuff and it turned to shit? The green tape gives you a good hint that you'll listen to something more intelligent than your average thrash band. The logo, damn cool, reminds me of a thrash version of fellow Ontarian black metal Sylvus. A weird thing to say but I love coincidences!

Much more interesting than most rethrash bands wearing Municipal Waste caps, they mix the idiosyncratic approach of Piggy's distinctive riffing with a catchy speed metal approach and some progressive overtones. It's quite melodic, both in the instrumental and the vocals department, it's not as brutal as a band like Sacrifice. Nevertheless, it's not as progressive as new prog thrash gods Vektor. It has this heavy/speed metal edge found in many Ontarian bands (Axxion, Midnight Malice...), while not NWOBHM worshipers themselves, the traditionalism of the scene is felt within their solos especially in the latest track “Ceres Solution”. The old school feel of the production helped the songwriting in my opinion. It's not as bombastic and modern as Striker's latest album and it's good that way. The raw quality is good for the cold approach of the trio. Hard hitting riffs and heavy bass lines are your friends here. The release is fast paced, 4 songs of 3 to 4 minutes and the songwriting is quite good for a first demo.

Their sound is a fresh mix of thrash and speed metal with some progressive influences from time to time. Jacob Montgomery leads the charge with his guitar playing, he has good chops and while a second guitarist could be needed sometimes, it's not a serious issue. His vocals are varied as well, from high clean vocals to a more raspy harsh thrash voice, the second track “Zenith in Red” showcases both styles. I prefer the clean approach since I think it gives an original sound to the thrash/speed songs. What would be fun to hear is a full blown mix of early Voivodian thrash and Canadian NWOBHMish speed metal, the best of both world, I would say.

A very promising band indeed, get their tape, it's green and stuff.

 Get their tape and/or stream the demo here.

Crowned in Earth - A Vortex of Earthly Chimes (2012) | 85%

Union Jack Prog/Psych Metal pt. II: Dragonfly

I really liked the first album of Crowned In Earth, a solo project of Kevin Lawry with guest drummer Darin McCloskey (Pale Divine, Beelzefuzz..) and then I was surprised to learn that they had a new one and I wasn't even aware of it. My bad ! It would had been high on my top of 2012 list. I guess it went a little unnoticed, a damn shame since it's a very great record. While “Visions of the Haunted” was a traditional doom album with hints of Reverend Bizarre. This album on the other hand is way way more progressive (simply look at the very pretty Yes inspired cover art, done by the same artist who did Pale Divine's debut album). I might say that, on paper, this album is totally perfect for me, it has heavy doom riffs, good clean vocals, lots of progressive influences and long intricate songs. It's not perfect but it's a pretty enjoyable album

There's 3 songs over 10 minutes and while they're all pretty good, the transitions could necessitate some work like on “Watch the Waves” with its awesome flutes, clean guitars and keys parts. The songs have multiple parts that flow relatively well except it's so sudden sometimes, you hardly have the time to realize that you're in a soft part that there's a doom part coming your way. It's called the “Opeth syndrome”, not a lot of musicians can actually can pull of 12 minutes songs with many different genres and parts without making them disjointed. Some bands think that simply by writing long ass songs, they're progressive and forgets that actual songwriting is important. Fortunately, the blend of doom metal and progressive rock truly works here. Although, not  yet perfect, Lawry is on the good path. As his first progressive album with lengthy numbers, he doesn't fail at all since he's a very talented fellow. Considering he plays everything here except the drums, it's pretty damn impressive.

I was pretty happy to hear that Crowned In Earth switched to a proggier sound. Their debut, while decent, was a bit mundane. This one on the other hand is very good and expands on the progressive side that Cathedral never really wanted to explore with “The Guessing Game”. I always hoped that Cathedral would transform into a fully articulated progressive beast but it never happened as they dropped the style for their final release “The Last Spire”, well here's my chance with Crowned In Earth. Perhaps their compatriot Black Magician will follow their footsteps as they love the organ as well. Basically a mix of the musical heroes of England, the flute of Ian Anderson, the keys of Wakeman and Lord and the guitar of Iommi. A totally tasty homage with a clear personality and it feels rather honest compared to the healthy amount of modern bands rooted in the 70s.

Outside of the three twelve minutes tracks, there's two shorter ones (six minutes each) and they showcase the catchy side of the project. The vocals are a bit similar to Lee Dorrian's mesmerizing and original voice and the lush and rich atmosphere reminds me of the mythical and deceased band. They're pretty nice, clean and fuzzy enough to give an airy feeling and don't be afraid if you don't like Dorrian, it's similar but only in the delivery, not in the overall weirdness. The groovy guitar solo in “World Spins Out of Key” is very good and shows how talented Lawry is. It's a rare occasion to hear a one man band playing this style, we usually encounter lo-fi black metal artists devouring their misanthropy alone but not here, it's psychedelic progressive doom and it's very damn well recorded and produced. The atmosphere are magical, “Winter Slumber” has this jolly medieval vibe while not entering the cheesy kingdom of bad taste, it stays heavy and melancholic.

While it's not as fresh and well written as a band like Astra, it shows that prog rock can still be mixed with metal with good results. It's not awfully modern and full of sterile and lifeless riffs, it's something that my dad would like and there's nothing wrong like that. This sound is something that needs its share of amateurs and it's feels good to hear it mixed with doom metal. Nevertheless, I think the stronger quality of this album is its prog and calmer moments. Maybe it will be expanded on future releases.

Mandatory for both progressive rock and doom metal fans.

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Sombres Forêts, Chasse-Galerie, Thantifaxath and Crépuscule @ Théatre Plaza, August 3rd 2013

After a succesful show in Québec City last week, Sombres Forêts played their first show in Montréal in 5 years. The only difference between the two shows were Csejthe being replaced by Thantifixath. Unfortunately for me because I've seen the latter and I really wanted to see Csejthe, I consider their debut to be one of the best recent black metal releases but since they opened for Nargaroth/Mgla in March and Absu in April, they weren't booked for this show and it's understandable, I should only go to more shows! Anyway, the weather was grey, perfect for a night of dark emotions. The Théatre Plaza wasn't as packed as the last Messe des Morts (the same promoter, Sepulchral) but around 300 persons were present for the show.

Schedule:
- Doors : 19:30
- Crépuscule : 19:55 - 20:30
- Thantifaxath : 20:45 - 21:25
- Chasse-Galerie : 21:40 - 22:25 
- Sombres Forêts : 22:40 - 0:00

Crépuscule opened the show with their blend of almost instrumental black metal with post black and even shoegaze elements. It's a project of Bardunor of the aforementioned Csejthe and it's quite different from his main band and also not as good as many parts are disjointed. The transitions between the songs weren't as good as on their very good debut album "Néant" released in 2011. I enjoyed their set as I knew what to expect, the musicians were pretty good and the bassist was nice, very audible with her clean picking. It was their second show ever and it showed but they were still pretty interesting. Promising band, although the songwriting needs some work and the vocal department needs some improvement. Compared to the 2 other openers, they were a good fit for the headliner.
7.5/10

Thantifaxath from Toronto were next. I've seen them at the latest Messe des Morts and the set wasn't quite different. I thought their set was too long the last time and it was unfortunately once again the case here. I do like their sound but after 20 or 25 minutes, I'm starting to get a bit bored and they played for 40 minutes or so. Their sound can be described as orthodox black metal, it's fairly fast, cold and lifeless, hard hittin' and kind of simple. I think it's too redundant and samey though and better on record. Talking of studio recordings, the band will release their first full length this year on Dark Descent and I'm pretty sure it will be pretty good. They have a good atmosphere for a trio and their artistic approach is undeniably good (with their black hoods similar to Black Witchery) but their black metal doesn't work that much for me live.
7/10

Chasse-Galerie were the last opener of the night and frankly, they were not quite needed. While they don't do anything wrong, I can't really get behind their sound at all. I think they're pretty generic patriotic Québécois black metal without the atmospheric feel of Forteresse or Brume d'Automne or the primal rage of Neige Éternelle's first demo. Their riffs are ok and their vocals are decent but it gets pretty monotonous after a while, their music isn't varied enough. I'm not talking about adding keyboards or anything like that, but more about tempo changes. Still, nothing offensive but it's a bit mundane compared to what was next.
6/10

Sombres Forêts were of course the band everyone wanted to see. Their 80 minutes set was truly out of this world. They had this nautical & romantic look with their small masks, pirate bandanas and Annatar had this awesome trench coat. The leader and the sole "real" member of the band was really charismatic. He was alternating guitars, keyboards and electric cello and obviously, the vocals. The band had 3 guitars and it really helped to recreate the very rich atmosphere of the new record "La mort du soleil" in a live environment. Helped by both Gris members live, it was magical as they truly know how to compose and play a very opulent sort of atmospheric black metal with ambient soundscapes. The peak of their set was when Annatar reached his keyboard and played "La Disparition" and 2 other tracks if I'm not mistaking. I believe their last album truly established Sombres Forêts as the leading force of QCBM alongside Gris and Forteresse and it's as good or even better live. A complete success.
9/10

I need to rant a little though, people need to fucking shut up during the calm and soothing moments of a a band. I don't mean like excited screams (ok, it's unnecessary but it can be tolerated) but more about loud people who are talking about their week ends and not paying attention to the band. Go outside or wait 5 fucking minutes until the beautiful calm moments (Satan knows Sombres Forêts has many of them) are over. Pay some respect to the crowd and to the band, please. Thank you!

True emotions, truly great music, an awesome way to conclude a great night of black metal. It was an experience not to be missed by the local fans.

Show of Bedlam, Xothogua and Ensorcelor @Death Church in Montréal, August 1st

The show acted as a tour kickoff for Show of Bedlam and Xothogua. Ensorcelor were special guests. Look at Show of Bedlam's Facebook for the dates.  There's dates in Pittsburgh, New York...

I went to the Death Church in Verdun, Montréal to see this show. The venue is a private location, it's quite trashy but everyone were friendly and the atmosphere was very fun and laid back. I went with my friend Chandy and 3 of his newbie friends who didn't quite like the obscure metal experience but I'm sure the evening opened their minds a little! After some time in the backyard drinking some beer, we moved to the “church” for the show and I was impressed by the venue, there's a huge painting on the wall with brains and the name “death church” is painted ahead of an inverted cross behind the stage. The sound was good, better than I expected to be honest! I took no pictures because I was too busy not caring about those, oh well.

-Ensorcelor were the first to start after some delay. The show was supposed to start at 20:00 but it started near 21:30. Anyway, they delivered. I was there mainly for them because I've seen the two other bands before and they're even better than on record. Their torturous approach was very enjoyable, we were served by a huge amount of drone feedback at first until their blend of black metal vocals, slow sludge/doom riffs and icy atmosphere mesmerized the crowd. I believe they played their new split with Moloch but I'm not quite sure. The set was entrancing and I have no idea how long it was, perhaps 30 minutes or so. Great band. I'll see them as an headliner in late September with Verglas! Jonah Campbell's vocals are out of this world, he's such a powerful vocalist, emotional and talented. He's also excellent in the melodic death/black metal band To the Cliffs (Free download of their demo here!)

The new Ensorcelor track here, 20 minutes of goodness: http://ensorcelor.bandcamp.com/track/flesh-dreams-of-uninhabited-space

-Xothogua were next, I knew somewhat what to expect as I've seen them before (opener for The Gates of Slumber and Hammers of Misfortune, great show). They played their newly released tape (that I got with a nice patch) and it was really enjoyable. Subtle and heavy riffs , a thunderous bass and a nice tight and hard drummer make the band a cohesive unit. From atmospheric doom/sludge to faster groove stoner metal almost recalling mid era Cathedral (the last 4 or 5 minutes from their set was like that and it was my favorite moment). The vocals of Devo were screamed while Ari (the bassist) mixed cleans (not quite audible) with some harsh vox. I wish they were more in your face but the sound got better near the end of the set. The experience is a bit more complete on their recording.

You can see that there's a wide range of influences in the band just by the looks of its members, it goes from crusty hardcore to death metal shirts. Very promising band indeed!

Get a digital download of “you wont reach shore” for free here: http://xothoguadoom.bandcamp.com/

-Show of Bedlam were last, the crowd was a bit sparser than for the first two time since it was getting late (or perhaps some other reasons, don't know). I like their music but I much prefer the 2 other bands. While they're pretty interesting, they mix doom metal with sludge, post hardcore and some experimental noise, their sound gets a bit samey after a while. I had enough of their 35 to 40 minutes set. They have an interesting jazzy drummer and Xothogua's bassist is also in the lineup. Their main weapon is Paulina Richards' (I don't think you can find a more beautiful and charistmatic singer in the scene) vocals. She's tortured and romantic at the same time and it's always surprising to hear her delivery since it doesn't fit her cute look. Her stage antics are nice and it's always fun to see a band who's totally into their music. Their music has a nice dark overtone inspired by post/punk and gothic rock, it created an enjoyable spooky atmosphere and the Death Church is the perfect place for such a sound.

Check 'em out: http://showofbedlam.bandcamp.com/