Cromlech - Ave Mortis (2013) | 85%

"What is best in life?" "DOOM METAL!"

Do you like Solstice? Yes, fine, you're checking the right band. You should probably order this CD already, no need to read my review. Well, it would be nice if you would anyway. Still here? Cool, then. “Ave Mortis” is Cromlech's debut album and it's a massive testament to their epicness with its seventy minutes length. The band from the Ontarian metropolis has chosen an apt year to release their first album as the first Solstice release in more than a decade graced us of its presence. Just beneath Atlantean Kodex's sophomore, this is one of the best albums the epic doom genre offered us in this sanctified year.

The epic doom unit includes three members of Into Oblivion, a death/black band widely unknown for their long ass tracks that are going nowhere. I thought it was pretty peculiar for a band of this genre to have twenty minutes songs. While Cromlech definitely has some monotonous parts, it's more or less an accepted feature of their genre and a problem that many doom bands are encountering. “Ave Mortis” only has eight songs but six of them are more than eight minutes long.  Some editing would had been nice, maybe to keep the album under or near an hour. One human being can only take a certain amount of badassery in one day and I felt a bit overwhelmed after this battle. The armour, yet comfortable can be burdening. Nonetheless, there's some extended lead guitars parts that are quite enjoyable such as in the nine minutes instrumental “Amongst the Tombs”. This band has big balls, it's not easy to pull off an instrumental song like that but they pulled it off with a lot of verve.

The band has a natural guitar tone made enjoyable by the earthy and raw production. It's certainly not the best sound they could get but it does the job, crunchier guitars would had been nice though. The dual lead guitars of David Baron and Roman Lechman (the co-composers of the band) are tasty as fuck, the leads are rightfully placed and aren't overplayed. Their riffs are not so heavy and they're very melodic but there's still a thundering approach to their musical identity such as in “Honor” with its fast paced heavy metal riffs. 

Their songwriting is pretty varied, we have a short, fast track like “Lend Me Your Steel” and many songs have faster, almost borrowing the speed metal tempos at times. One thing's for sure though, it's always tremendously epic. The bulk of the album is the two middle tracks with their identical lengths of 11:25 minutes, they're a good resume of the band's identity. The epic doom identity is intertwined with an healthy mix of enjoyable Manowar and traditional power/heavy metal influences. The musicians definitely know the direction they follow, it's energetic despite the lengthy bits because it always had the sense to be groovy as hell. The bass is lively and noticeable especially in the final epic track “Shadow and Flame” with its bass lead opening. 

Perhaps the main force of Cromlech is their vocals. It's Kevin Loghnane's debut metal endeavour and surely not his last. The dude has pipes! He's very similar to the legendary Hansi Kürsch and if you're not excited at the though of the singer of Blind Guardian fronting an epic doom band, well, what the fuck are you doing here? Loghnane weren't on the demo or the split the band did before their full length and even though I haven't heard these releases, I can only assert that he's an excellent addition. His clean voice is powerful and emotional, I actually wish his presence would had been more important since he's bringing an ethereal and poetic side to the band. Actually, he's not on the songs 2, 4 and 5 because he was a late addition to the band, it's instead Lechman who's doing the lead vocals. His voice is harsher but still pretty cool. There's also a lot of backing and supporting vocals adding another level of narrative but to be fair, most of the time, they're not really necessary, they're tough guys shouts such as the “Hail! Hail! Hail!” in “Honor”. Just give a bigger place to Loghnane and you'll have a much solid beast, no need to rely on these harsher vocals to be heavier.

The themes and lyrics, obviously more epic than a ten foot beard, are quite fun to read. We have songs about Tolkien, Howard and Rome history and of course, while nothing new and ground breaking (who the hell cares), it's well done and more than delightful.

“Ave Mortis” is a strong effort from these Canucks and although the sound is slightly too raw, it's very professional as proven by the artwork created by the famous Kris Verwimp (Absu, Sear Bliss, Suidakra...). Cromlech is a band to check out and alongside Funeral Circle, they're the future and the admiral emergence of Canadian epic doom metal. Get this.

Thanks to David Baron for the review opportunity.

Cromlech on the book of faces

Vestal Claret - Bloodbath (2013) | 70%

Phil Swanson is overrated

I feel it's necessary to start this review with a rant. No, I do not like Phil Swanson. He's not atrocious or anything but he really gets on my nerves. I don't really understand why he's in so many projects and I'm glad he left Atlantean Kodex because Markus Becker is so much better. All the bands he or was part of are good because of their riffs (Briton Rites, Upwards of Endtime, Hour of 13 or Seamount). Vestal Claret while not as good as most of these bands is no exception to that rule. He has this original yet grating delivery which works well on a forty minutes album like Ho13's debut. His nasally voice just doesn't please me enough but I reckon he has a good range. I think the main offender is that he's simply everywhere in the heavy/doom world.

Vestal Claret (great name!) is some sort of traditional heavy metal with doom elements but not enough to justify a place in the doom universe. The atmosphere and approach are quite occult as demonstrated by the lyrical themes, well written with hints of old English. Swanson is still a pretty good lyricist even if some of the songs are hit and miss here (the weird “Missing Girl”). The album starts with perhaps its best song with the nine minutes “Hex of Harm” and it stays good for the whole duration, it's just way too long for its own sake. The days of forty minutes heavy metal is not yet over and while it was a often a  format compromise, it was usually the right amount of music. “Bloodbath” with its twelve songs and its seventy minutes length is just too much to handle especially since most songs are similar and the band doesn't include progressive or atmospheric elements.

Simon Tuozzoli is handling the guitars here and while he's a good composer, he's definitely not Howie Bentley (Briton Rites, Cauldron Born) or even Chad Davis (Ho13). The riffs are pretty good but after four or five songs, I'm beginning to be bored even though the quality of the songwriting isn't quite different. Vestal Claret's sound goes to slow traditional metal to mid-paced/semi-fast tracks and even though, it seems to be varied on paper, I don't think it works that way. It feels united but blurred and samey. The solos are well done, well produced such as the one in “Blood Oath” and it's enjoyable but for some reasons except the vocals that I already discussed, I can't enjoy the album as much as I would like to, it's just flat. 

While nothing is intrinsically wrong with the music, it's mundane and it's nothing you haven't heard before like most of Swanson's projects but this one is even more middle of the road. If you enjoy Swanson, sure, well check it out. I mean, I admire his beard but his voice, not so much.


Thanks to Rafal from Nine Records for the CD

Vestal Claret on Facebook

Sadhak - Sadhak (2013) | 80%

Hacking into your emotional mainframe

In the Indian religions, a sadhak (or Sādhaka) is someone who follows a way of life to achieve its ultimate goal, “to accomplish” something. What this has to do with these Norwegians? Well, they definitely know what they want to do with their music. Apparently, it's some (or one guy, no idea, really) from High Priest of Saturn (reviewed HERE). While there's some similarities with its brother band from Trondheim, it's still another beast.

Despite the hypothetical links to HPoS and Resonaut, Sadhak is not as inspired by the likes of Electric Wizard or Om. They play a very atmospheric sort of doom metal with drowned out emotional vocals. Of course, they'll probably remind you of Warning/40 Watt Sun but they're not as overtly silly and whiny. They're clean and a bit mundane at times but they're not really the focus and it wasn't really an hassle or shouldn't be for anyone. It fits though, harsh or scream vocals wouldn't work here.

The demo, released on tape and digital download, is composed of two eight to nine minutes tracks. Both tracks are quite slow and misty, there's this dark but seducing aura around the veil of their sound. The production, adequate for their songwriting, is airy and just distorted enough to be heavy. The riffs are repetitive and spaced out but it's pretty damn enjoyable. Were you expecting some technical prowess here? Who the hell cares if you can play some Necrophagist solos, go impress your friends. In the end, you'll still end up playing a sloppy rendition of Wonderwall.

The first track “On the Arrival of Man” has this cool psychedelic solo giving the band an interesting edge and although the second song “The Perfection of Wisdom” doesn't deviate from the sound created by its brother, it has these subtle keyboards parts which are almost reminding me of Summoning. A doom version of the Austrian duo would possibly be the best thing on Earth after beer and bacon, just imagine it. I guess we could simply slow the epic Rush track “The Necromancer” and add some keys and be done with it!

“Sadhak” is a pretty nice 18 minutes release and another nice add to the growing doom scene of Trondheim, there is something else than black metal in Norway. Check it out if you're a doom fan, worthy of your time. 

Get their tape or download the demo here

In Solitude - Sister (2013) 93%

The Sister of Solitude: Elisif the Fair

The boys of In Solitude are back with their new full length. “Sister” is the confirmation that the third album usually establishes the real personality of a band and it's often their magnum opus. It's definitely the “Master of Reality” or the “Reign In Blood” of the Swedes as it includes the sound developed on their two previous albums and reach some new, unexplored realms that are delivering the goods.

While I always considered the band to be one if not the best of the NWOTHM (New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal) , they always were the kid who was killing harmless bugs in the courtyard. Indeed, compared to the unoriginal rehashing of the past bands like Enforcer or Steelwing are doing, they always had this dark aura surrounding them and it made them more interesting for me. Furthermore, In Solitude constantly evolved throughout their recordings. The first self titled album explored the dark traditional metal sound of Mercyful Fate with concise and catchy numbers and in 2011, their excellent sophomore “The World. The Flesh. The Devil.” expanded into more epic territories with lengthier songs. “Sister” took the good qualities of these albums, it's more succinct than their 2011 album and darker than their debut. I believe it's their best album not only because they managed to incorporate everything that was great in their sound but also because they're not repeating themselves while doing so. We have 3 pretty different albums but they're all linked by a constant personality and change is neither detrimental or to be feared with them.

Perhaps it was a bit easy to guess their direction with the title of my review. But yeah, In Solitude decided to jump into the gothic rock pool and trust me, the water is perfectly soothing. They always had this occult rock feel which was distancing the band from their scene and they really pushed the boundaries here. I mean, the band is often touring with extreme metal bands (Watain and Tribulation in North America this fall) and it shows in their approach. This band got it, they have the skills and the musicianship to evolve outside of a confined genre. It's neither experimentation nor being “avant-garde”, it's an artistic pursuit of relevance. In fact, it's not following anything, it's establishing a sound without trying too hard like Ghost who are as original as a peacock in New Orleans during Mardi Gras.

I wouldn't be surprised if they were to ditch the metal influences altogether, they would be a great post punk/gothic band but for now the mix of influences is of the highest quality you can find. Spiritually blending the operatic and theatrical approach of The Sisters of Mercy, Christian Death and Type O Negative with the contemplative side of the occult rock scene and the high-octane attack of heavy metal that is still the meat and potatoes of their sound. Nonetheless, it's the little things that made this album great like Jarboe's guest vocals on “Horses in the Ground” or the soft acoustic and intricate introduction “He Comes” (who? Santa, Satan?).

Pelle's vocals are kind of an acquired taste, I personally like the mesmerizing weird approach he has, it has this distorted passion and it's full of emotions. His choruses are catchy and even when the vocals are buried, it's still appreciable. It's not very different from before but he's perhaps simply better, the dude is pretty young I think their trademark is the lead guitar though, it's so good. It doesn't need to have two minutes solos to shine either, the title track has these blistering short leads and it works so well. “Lavender” almost has this indie/post punk vibe akin to Franz Ferdinand. It's groovy and totally moving. I can see the grin of purists but I think it works very well, the different influences are well incorporated. While the band expanded on their subtle and occult side, they also made sure to remain catchy. The riffs are so good and it's very fresh.

The atmospheres are varied, from slow and spooky to contagiously catchy. Often helped by the presence of keys like on the best track “A Buried Sun” which is a seven minutes resume of the sound of “Sister”. You could accuse the band to ride on the occult rock wave but they they do it in ease and honesty. Despite the apparent new-found sound of the album, I think it was something that could had been predicted. Who the hell was surprised when Opeth released “Heritage”? I feel it's a similar concept here, In Solitude already had the basis, the genesis of this heavy/gothic sound, they only let it loose, let it evolved, it's their Venusaur. Heavy, majestic and with tangled vines grasping your neck with its scorching solos (the eight minutes final track “Inmost Nigredo” has these leads intertwined with uber heavy riffs).

“Sister” is an essential album for the fans of traditional metal that aren't afraid of surprises and explorations. It's one of the highlights of 2013, it's a dense album with many nuances, it's crafted with care and it's to be handled with the utmost respect.

In Solitude on Bookface

*Originally written for the Metal Observer*

Only one blonde? Are they really Swedish?

Barabbas - Barabbas (2011) | 82%

Thanks to the band for the patch and the CD!

The Baguette Doom Series, pt. XI: Pontius Pilate

In my review for Northwinds' Masters of Magic (Check it out here!), I mentioned how it would be cool to have a complete doom album in French since almost no bands are doing this. The excellent Cauchemar is one of them and they're not even from France! Named after the infamous biblical character Barabbas, the band made the bold artistic decision to only have French lyrics! I decided to end my French doom series after 10 reviews, but Barabbas offered me the chance to explore their sound and I couldn't refuse that! 

The vocals of Saint-Rodolphe (they're all saints!) are nice and rough. They're not fruity nor cheesy. This is not a poetic and romantic band like you would expect when you learn they're French and this works for the whole scene too. They remind me of the Lemmy in their rawness and  of Daniel Puzio of Vulcain (which are basically the French Motorhead). Gritty and smelling like whisky and cigarettes, it's a good match for the greasy riffs of Saint-Stéphane. There's some weird and original leads like on “«Barabbas»”. It has a busy sound, It's a punch on your face and a cross on your back. There's some atmospheric keys here and there, underlining the sacrosanct feel of the album and giving it a subtle and researched sound. Furthermore, their conceptual lyrical approach is interesting. Rooted in biblical history, it's using the somber side of the religion to evoke dark atmospheres within their music. 

Musically, Barabbas plays a sort of heavy doom with clear stoner influences. It's as groovy as mid era Cathedral only this time it's from the other side of the Channel. The last track “Quatre chevaliers” (four knights) reminds me of the groovy, riff heavy side of an album like The Ethereal Mirror. The album only has six songs though for a length of a bit more than half an hour. There's two short tracks (0:50 and 2 minutes) so in the end, we only have four six to nine minutes tracks that are the bulk of the album. Considering this is their only release in more than six years of existence, it's a bit on the short side and I was still hungry (well, I'm still hungry but that's not the point!). I definitely want to hear more stuff from these guys but sadly the French scene is not really productive and not very supported. A damn shame!

From the catchy, groovy of opening track “Horizon Golgotha” to the slow, dirge of “Ressuscité”, it's all pretty good and there's nothing boring here. The bass is loud and the guitar is perfectly distorted enough to play cool riffs while not killing dogs with the fuzz. “Barabbas” is a good debut album from an underrated French band, well the whole scene is underrated, a thing you should be familiar with after my ten previous reviews! If I had to choose between Jesus and Barabbas, it's pretty clear that I would choose the latter. I would probably regret it since Jesus can change water into wine but yeah, I prefer beer anyway!

Barabbas on Facebook

Eternium - Repelling A Solar Giant (2013) | 85%

Fed to the flames.

Markov Soroka is one talented young man, at only seventeen years old, this release is his debut full length album with Eternium, a band he formed on his own in 2011. He also has 2 solo projects on the side, Slow (funeral doom) and Aureole (black metal) both also very promising. He's definitely a motherfucker to watch in the near future. Now with all the necessary tools (a full band including a keyboardist) he needed to fully transfer the musicality of the project in a live setting, his troop and him are ready to attack the ears of the inferno beast. Can you handle the fire?

Repelling A Solar Giant is a concept album but don't be afraid, there's no shitty and useless interludes telling you a story with two or three low budget Patrick Stewart impersonators. The whole tale is composed of these 6 “auras” and the songwriting, deep and rich, is truly impressive coming from someone that age. The songs ranging from five to ten minutes are all pretty dense albeit a bit too much for their own sake sometimes. I must admit that I know Markov pretty well and his influences are obvious to me but nevertheless, this is its own thing. It's assiduously mixing the melodic might of Swedish black/death metal à la Dissection and Sacramentum with the powerful edge of Amon Amarth and the symphonic approach of early Cradle of Filth and Emperor. Mixing these sounds is no simple task, you really need to be a talented songwriter to pull that off like Soroka did here and for a debut album, consider this band to be an active and important player of this genre's future.

The lyrical side is quite complex and based on an actual book Soroka wants to write. It's a sort of mythological essay about positive and negative gods and allegorical references to the sun (no, it's not a nationalist socialist band just because the leader is originally from Ukraine, don't generalize damnit.). But you can easily ignore the fact it's a story if you want, I rarely care about concept albums myself, it's almost akin to a plot in a porno most of the time, who cares! I'm here for the music and/or the titties.

Symphonic metal should actually be a mix of metal riffs and classical elements, not a destruction of your senses with a Casio keyboard and a Bach poster laying on your wall. The symphonic elements here, even though they obviously don't have the overblown budget Dimmu Borgir has (admit it Shagrath, you spend most of it on hookers and costumes anyway), are very good. The ending of “Aura Sentium” is tasty and has this awesome violins, it's a good conclusion to an emotionally charged song.

Riffs. Riffs are also important and compared to Fleshgod Apocalypse' latest shite of an album, Eternium has them. From mid paced to fast, the band has an impressive but subtle diversity, the songwriting has the ability to have such a clear direction that the album feels like a massive, united brick thrown in your face. The musicianship is quite good too, some more solos could had been written for the album though but nonetheless, it's pretty tight and has some cool clean guitars intertwined with the orchestrations. The drums are overproduced and in your face but the drummer has been replaced so I guess the band fixed that issue?

Soroka's vocals are mostly good but I feel it's the weakest link here. His delivery, not yet as optimal as it will be in the future (that's for sure since I know he's a workaholic and will try to improve everything) is still decent but there's still some weird vocal pattern choices. I'm fine with whispered,harsh & spooky vocals but when the hilarious,silly and theatrical Danifilthesque laughing entered my ears, I wasn't very pleased. Don't get me wrong, he has a good throat but he's first and foremost a guitarist and composer. The main negative point of the album is the omnipresence of the vocals, there's so many, you can't almost breathe since it's so loaded. It's almost like if George R.R. Martin decided to put the content of three A Song of Ice and Fire books into one, give us a break dude. Sometimes less is more. Markov, please, don't recite full novels on the next album. I'm sure you can contact someone if you want to read audiobooks.

The production, thoroughly improved compared to the demo where the leader handled everything by himself, is still a bit lacking in punch, especially in the guitars department. There's apparently 2 guitars but it's kind of muffled by the sound. It just doesn't sound as professional as the gorgeous but overtly modern cover art and its video game role playing game look. Eternium probably needs the kind of bombastic, sleek productions that make wannabee ex-Watain fans shivers, the kind of production a band like fellow Dissection worshippers Thulcandra has. I don't doubt they can get one too with a first album of this calibre.

If you don't mind the modern sounds of symphonic, melodic black/death, you'll unequivocally dig Eternium. Even if they could be the sons of the members of Dark Tranquillity, their sound is already more mature than the later releases of the Swedish veterans. Along with Starkill, they're the best new blood the American scene has produced since a while that isn't shitty metalcore apparently influenced by At the Gates or sludge metal with a cajun smell.

Get this, Markov needs some money to eat and get better equipment. Oh, it's also very good and it has a shitload of potential.

Eternium on Facebook

Bedowyn - Wolves & Trees (2013) | 79%

Bedowyn Soundclash

Bedowyn is a new quartet from North Carolina and they released their first EP in August this year. The band plays a good mix of many different styles wrapped up in a modern but enjoyable coating. With only five songs, they managed to incorporate many different approaches but their vision always remained tangible and that's an achievement for a debut release. Not as insanely heavy as state brothers Weedeater, they still include their share of stoner infused vibes.

They have this instrumental side that works very well, the opener “Bisha'a” and half of “Snarling of Beasts” are instrumental songs and they know how to write groovy, interesting riffs. It has this similar vibe that you can find on Baroness' Blue Record. Heavy, albeit melodic metal driven by leads but yeah, you won't find much sludge here even though there's some hints here and there. Similar to the Georgians, they have a very good sense of riffs progression proving that even though it's the first band for the four musicians, they're all pretty experienced and talented. The core of their sound is perhaps a sort of stoner intertwined with heavy and doom metal. The vocal approach is definitely rooted in stoner with this mildly harsh vocal offering recalling Orange Goblin mixed with some harder hitting vocals like on “Evil/Right”

Their ability to crossover between the different sounds is impressive for a new band. It's well integrated in their five minutes track and there's no wandering with longer songs full of clutter (read my review for The Albion Codex). They still include some atmospheric moments and even experiment a little like on “O'Bitter Sea” which is almost a stoner version of Primordial. It has this oceanic vibe and acoustic guitars and it's not cheesy at all. 

They have the skills to write concise, crafty and catchy songs and while it's nothing quite new since they're only mixing existing styles in their formula, it's an interesting EP and an obvious potential is there. Even though I don't think it will give them their own headlining tours throughout the US, I'm not sure you can find a better opener for bands like Mastodon, Kylesa or even High On Fire.  They'll have to fight a certain derivativeness to a certain degree but their sound is quite mature already and that's nothing a good producer and intelligent support can fix.

Managing to be both in the comfort zone while trying to find new ways to push their sound, Bedowyn is simply a good band with smart and intelligent elements rightfully placed. Clean guitars, throaty but not too aggressive vocals and warm, well produced riffs made this EP a success and established a band with a shitload of potential. Someone should sign these guys, I'm sure they can pierce their market, they're hard working, their duel guitar attack is cool and they have this melodic edge which could appeal to a mainstream metal market while not alienating the others. 

Bedowyn on Facebook
Get their CD or digital download on Bandcamp