Darkest Era - Wither On The Vine (Candlelight Records) [Matt Bladen]
Categorised as 'dark metal' Irish band Darkest Era return from the shadows of their homeland to greet this more terrifying world anew. Since their last album in 2014, there has been a torrent of challenges put in place with personal circumstances changing and the line up shifting, however the introspective, often maudlin world view of the band is such that these changes have inspired this new record. While previously they have dealt with more metaphorical realms lyric wise, on Wither On The Vine they have drawn from the personal here, delivering a sort of catharsis around the brooding doom mongering.
Eight years is a long time between records but with the world going to hell in this time, the Celtic collective made their way across the sea to Chris Fielding's Foel Studios in Wales to lay down their most powerful opus to date. Building on their love of classic metal which has been heard on their previous albums as the dual harmonies of Thin Lizzy and Wishbone Ash are brought with the more Gothic tones of bands such as In Solitude or Unto Others, on Wither On The Vine they fully embrace a 'no boundaries' idealism for recording so there's plenty of extreme metal sounds coming from doom and black metal. To my ear the influences run from The Peaceville Three, to the more blackened roster of their label Candlelight, through to the old pagan worship of Winterfylleth and Primordial, the bleakness of our natural world and our destruction of it inspiring much of the album.
For me Wither On The Vine has the same sort of introspective defiance as a band such as Crippled Black Phoenix who also genre blend into a style you could describe as 'Dark Metal'. One Thousand Years Of Night is a bridge between the old world and the new, evoking their earlier work while daubing the canvas with these new colours, giving the jangly post-metal feel as well. Floodland goes all out to be a big atmospheric piece, the emotion soaked vocals of Krum at the most vital here, the blackgaze style of Alcest driving the track. A Path Made Of Roots, gets it's style from bands such as Grave Pleasures/Beastmilk, Gothic overtones and driving metal, though Tithonus gets into a doom groove, dialling up the emotion before those folk influences of their earlier work return on The Collapse.
From here the influences become more varied, the songs each getting a life of their own but becoming part of this melancholic soundscape, which gets punctuated by glimpses of hope. The Ashen Plague goes all out against the previous incarnation with full on blastbeats from drummer Cameron Åhslund-Glass as the guitars of Ade Mulgrew and Sarah Wieghell are tremolo picked to within an inch of their lives, as if emanating from a forest in Norway. With Tragedy In Our Blood staying with the more extreme metal, evoking whispers of black metal, put with some huge grooves of Daniel O'Toole and a massive chorus hook. As the title track comes at the end of this 8-tracker, the spirits of the Old World are evoked, closing things out with a liberal helping of mysticism. Wither On The Vine, drags Darkest Era out of the shadow, back into the blinding light of scrutiny, where they shine like a beacon to anyone that has ever felt despair. 9/10
Defects - Dream Awake (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
Having collectively spent years performing, writing and releasing music with previous bands, Defects are not the young upstarts they seem, tours with Maiden, Bring Me The Horizon, Bullet For May Valentine have done wonders to hone their modern metal/metalcore sound to what it is on this three track debut EP, released just in time for their upcoming UK tour with Bristol's RXPTRS. Recently they also opened for In Flame on their recent tour, played Bloodstock, Download and 2000 Trees as well, so there's no shortage of buzz around this UK five piece. Dream Awake is designed to give you an introduction to what Defects do as a band.
Defects - Dream Awake (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
Having collectively spent years performing, writing and releasing music with previous bands, Defects are not the young upstarts they seem, tours with Maiden, Bring Me The Horizon, Bullet For May Valentine have done wonders to hone their modern metal/metalcore sound to what it is on this three track debut EP, released just in time for their upcoming UK tour with Bristol's RXPTRS. Recently they also opened for In Flame on their recent tour, played Bloodstock, Download and 2000 Trees as well, so there's no shortage of buzz around this UK five piece. Dream Awake is designed to give you an introduction to what Defects do as a band.
Kicking off with the first single Scapegoat, a blizzard of biting metalcore riffs and growled vocals that shift into angsty cleans, 3 and a half minutes of metalcore fury to get things going out a bonafide pit starter. Second single End Of Days has more of a stomping groove to it, shifting towards djent end as they clean vocals here come on the chorus, more euphoric than before, with the technical riffs driving some flowing leads as it breaks down into some Korn/Slipknot influenced electronic stings. End Of Days is very current in the modern metal sound, a real showcase for what Defects do as a band.
Things stay up to date with the title track, which bring to mind Architects and BMTH as the electronics add a different dimension to a track that stays in the clean vocal style for most of it, even featuring a guitar solo towards the end. Dream Awake is three songs that will win over anyone that hasn't seen the band live, and hopefully will encourage them to go and see them on their October headline tour. 7/10
Lord Of Confusion - Evil Mystery (Gruesome Records) [Rich Piva]
Oh, some Portuguese stoner doom with organ and female vocals! What’s not to like about that! Lord of Confusion brings all the spooky doomy goodness on their debut album, Evil Mystery. Way more doom than stoner, and more traditional doom than anything else, this one is something my Sabbath/Candlemass/Old School Trouble fans are going to dig.
Lord Of Confusion - Evil Mystery (Gruesome Records) [Rich Piva]
Oh, some Portuguese stoner doom with organ and female vocals! What’s not to like about that! Lord of Confusion brings all the spooky doomy goodness on their debut album, Evil Mystery. Way more doom than stoner, and more traditional doom than anything else, this one is something my Sabbath/Candlemass/Old School Trouble fans are going to dig.
Organ makes everything better and that shines through on the doomy opening title track. The slow doom, the keys, and spooky vocals of Carlota Sousa make this one worth of any doom playlist this year. Great track. The second track Howling Void (perfect title) is a slow doomy dirge with the organ leading the way but now you get a death growl style vocal to start, but then leads to Carlota’s siren song vocals in a funeral duet that you never knew you wanted. DOOOOOOOOOOOOM. Did I mention the organ? It makes this record that could have been a run of the mill doom album into something special. A spooky (see a theme here?) interlude leads to Evil Blood which is more of the same organ led doomy goodness.
There is nothing upbeat about this record, everything crawls along picking up all the misery and tears it can along the way. Who needs a guitar solo when you can have Carlota smashing the keys for a killer organ solo. But you still get riffs. Organs and riffs. Riffs and organs. Bring it. Witchfinder may be my Halloween soundtrack this year while the closing track Hell has a Iommi riff and is twelve minutes of perfect traditional doom.
This is doom at its finest and doomiest. I love the vocals and how this record sounds, but the organ makes this a special release and one that should be checked out by doom fans far and wide. It can drag a bit at times but give Lord Of Confusion a go if you dig all things doom, you will not be disappointed. Oh, did I mention the organ? 8/10
Wolf Counsel - Initivm (Counsel Records) [Rich Piva]
Some more Doomy goodness for Rich to review, this time the fifth full length from Zurich, Switzerland’s Wolf Counsel. These guys play some doom metal as well as anyone, and their latest album, Initivm, may be their best.
Wolf Counsel - Initivm (Counsel Records) [Rich Piva]
Some more Doomy goodness for Rich to review, this time the fifth full length from Zurich, Switzerland’s Wolf Counsel. These guys play some doom metal as well as anyone, and their latest album, Initivm, may be their best.
The songs on Initivm are both doomy and catchy, evident right off the bat with Healer. Trad doom fans will really dig these guys, so think Candlemass but also bands like Pentagram and Saint Vitus as jumping off points. The record is excellent produced and is the best sounding record in their discography. They took a step up with new vocalist Con Doyle who has a prototypical doom metal voice that works perfectly with Wolf Counsel’s stylings. Torchbearer is such a great track; great doom with an amazing vocal performance and a nice intro to some growls and even some chanting that is never too much and perfectly placed. One of the doom tracks of the year.
Aeons has the shredding skills of the twin guitar attack on display and has the band firmly kneeling at the altar of Iommi and includes an ear worm chorus I find myself singing randomly. I hear some Type O influence in this track as well. Killer. The Old Ways is another stand out track with a killer solo and another amazing vocal performance. I just love Con’s voice. It’s not going to win any awards of The Voice, but it is perfect for this band. Overall, all nine tracks are worth your time and come together nicely for a cohesive slice of doom.
This one has been out for a bit in the states so I have spent some quality time with it, and you should too if you like some doom metal done right. Love the vocals, love the production and the changes in the lineup I think are the way Wolf Counsel takes it to the next level (and check out that artwork, one of my favourite covers of the year). As with many doom albums, it may take some patience and may seem to drag at times, but Initivm is the result of a maturing band with the now perfected lineup that will be a force in the doom world for years to come. 8/10