Death Awaits You, What are You Waiting For?

Loss (USA)

Despond

May 31, 2011

Let us put to rest our silence. There is nothing cosmic about this. No divinity to be found here. No consciousness expansion or mystical secrets to be revealed. Flesh has been cut, blood has been shed, and only pain and deprivation provide company in the presence of absolute loneliness. Surrender is the only path out of this cold and damp black corner. Misery is the saviour dragging the noose around your neck towards the gaping void beyond. Choking desperation provides a tourniquet for the wounds that will never heal. Your vacant shell of a body will know sorrows not meant for the living. Sacrifice yourself, the curtains are falling. End it all before you know fear. If you saw the darkness before death, life fading before its last breath, then you would know. If you saw life without hope, death without reason, then you would know. Once you listen to last year's painfully beautiful catharsis of funeral doom excellence, then you would know...

Seven Psalms for Our Lord of Light

Burning Witch (USA)

Crippled Lucifer

March 28, 1998

Ladies and gentlemen, the legendary Burning Witch. The embryonic minds behind the creations of Khanate, SunnO))), Asva and Goatsnake briefly came together to produce one metric fuck-tonne of a behemoth amongst influential extreme doom/stoner releases. Crippled Lucifer is a collection of rotten sludgy death dirges written around 1996-1997 and released after they broke up, and was significant to the growth of the esteemed Southern Lord Records as it was just starting out. This is a bad acid trip through hell, where the weed is tainted with decay, and the air is thick with the ghastly musk of bloody concrete and urban death. Swampy riffs trudge through graveyard quicksand beneath shrieks of possessed apocalyptic demons. Feedback and chaos strike through the seams of the voids between each passing crush of seismic distortion. A wasteland worth acquiring the taste for, even if only for the historic impact. Pack the bong for this one, and let the crippling begin...

Under Swirling Moons and Galaxies

Pallbearer (USA)

Sorrow and Extinction

February 21, 2012

Until Ahab slowly sails forth its latest material, I will very happily whet my appetite with Pallbearer. In fact, Ahab can take their time at this point, because this absolutely stunning piece of emotionally devastating craftsmanship has set the bar mighty fucking deep this year for doooooom as far as I'm concerned. The album art is a telling omen. I can't believe how crushingly awesome this sounds and it seemingly came out of nowhere (Arkansas, really?). I will easily and without a second thought place these guys amongst the ranks of the aforementioned Ahab, Warning/40 Watt Sun, hell even the almighty Candlemass. Comparisons could also be made to The Wounded Kings in the cloudy mysterious atmosphere, and even a bit of Ufomammut in the psychedelic leads, but with a fresh outlook on the genre, yet sounding just familiar enough to be grippingly desirable. Listen to what it sounds like to bear the weight of a sonic blanket stitched from the most desolate corners of the cosmos as it pulses with the secrets of omniscience. Best release of 2012 so far. Read more for a listen.

Oh, Ye Great Mysterious Shepherd of Waves

Ahab (Germany)

The Call of the Wretched Sea

September 29, 2006

Okay, so this really should have been my very first post for this blog. As far as I'm concerned, Ahab is on a whole different ship when it comes to music. Their debut, The Call of the Wretched Sea is an absolute behemoth that needs to be heard by absolutely everyone. I cannot overstate this. Majestic nautical funeral dooooom of the most crushing magnitude, all based on Charles Dickens' classic Moby Dick. You just can't beat this kind of class. Once in a very long while you find a band that perfectly encapsulates the very idea of 'awesome' in the most literal sense. The weight of all the oceans in the world is felt within these seven magnificent and elegantly written tunes. Delicately submerged ghostly whale songs whistle eerily calm odes to all that has been before and all that will ever remain amidst the blackest deepest canyons of the seas, never before charted by any man. Discover new depths of awareness, sunken treasures await you. Monolithic slabs of eternal enchantment, older than time, deceptively beautiful in a realm easily mistaken for otherworldy. This is doom metal royalty, pay your respects and listen to this masterpiece below.