Tribunal : "In Penitence And Ruin"

 This Canadian band offers a symphonic take on doom with plenty of melodrama. The vocals switch from a dramatic female vocal to a snarled, harsher vocal. The drums could come up in the mix. They make an honest attempt to sound dark enough. Still, after the first song, for this album to win me over, they will have to dig down to even darker places, as it sounds like they are just dressing up for Halloween here; I need to hear some real emotional connection to despair.  

The second song makes me think the singer might just be putting on a performance more than evoking the sense of mourning doom should have. The guitars certainly get this as they are carrying everything here so far. I appreciate the effort of not just going with the growled vocal as that would have gotten old as well. When her vocals sit back in the mix, it improves the overall feel. She has a strong voice, it's not always where she puts it, but the emotion she is or is not invoking to get it there that still finds me on the fence with her.

The songs begin to run together as the formula shifts into more of a call and response between the harsh vocal and the main sung vocal. The riffs to "Armoured in Shadow" have a more depressive mood. The vocals do not contribute much and continue to croon in the same manner they have for the bulk of the album. Even when the growled vocals come in to add more menace, it just sounds like a hundred doom bands I have already heard. 

The last song has more groove thanks to the drums setting things in motion. While I like it better than many of the album's songs, my overall feel for this album is that it does not grab me personally, even though I am normally a fan of their brand of doom. Perhaps this is where the problem lies as these kids are very derivative of other bands that most doom fans should be fluent in, so unless you are really young and just getting into metal and do not know shit about shit, then you might think this is very original. If you are a long-time fan of doom, you more than likely are already into My Dying Bride and Candlemass and do not need an imitation of those bands. Or maybe you just like to masturbate to the idea of girls playing instruments. I am not out to kink shame here, so if that is the case, you might round this up from the 7 I am giving this album. 

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Tribunal : "the Weight of Rememberance"

This duo from British Columbia kicks up a pretty big sound for two people. They crunch of their death doom, falls more on the doom side of the equation. i like how it is balanced out with clean female vocals. Their sound does not trudge the same graveyards. They are good about using a varied array of riffs, though the creeping chug that runs through "Apathy's keep" is more commonplace in doom. however they make it work pretty well. The female vocals being the more dominant force in the song also play to its favor. The tempo gradually evolves from the traditional doom march.

The song "Remembrance" is an interlude at under two minutes. There is a more uniform sound developing once we get to "a World Beyond Shadow". It begins to feel like they are playing off some of the genres more commonplace. They are still effective even if less fresh when dug up from their graves and paraded around in this song.  Things start off more dismal and darker on "Without Answer". This heavier song does benefit from the growls taking over the mic. The mood it creates is very effective even if this is not redefining the genre with any leaps of creativity in terms of bringing something new to the table. 

The last song sprawls out at twelve minutes. They have been good up to this point about keeping thing compact for the style of music they are playing, so this is acceptable given the tempo it is delivered at. Funeral doom is hinted at, but this is the first song with it's harmonized guitar melodies that really embraces it fully.  The vocal melodies glide along over the grinding rumble of the guitar's rumble, before fall into a more atmospheric chasm. Approaching the six-minute mark I do winder how the hell are they going to keep this going for another six minutes. Aside from some melodic instrumental passages and more of the same from them the answer is not very clear. Doom is off to a good start this year if this album is any indication, I will give it a 9. This one drops January 20th on 20 buck Spin.   

Tribunal : "Watch You Suffer"

Sorting through some of the band's Cvlt Nation assigned to me . One of them is this German band who dishes out a fairly straight forward mix of nastiness. It meets at that cross roads band metal metal bands that weren't spraying their hair up in the 80's came to. It is a junction where you ask where thrash begins and hard-core punk ends. These guys however were spawned after Entombed who made similar inquiries in regards to death metal. Now the terms d-beat and crust get thrown in the dialogue. My first thought when I first heard this was how I need to down load myself another copy of Entombed's "Wolverine Blues" album. It killed that tape when it came out so I have zero guilt in hunting for that torrent.

The common question I ask bands that are this heavy comes after they have seized my attention  with first song. The question is now what? You have volume, density and a cool guitar tone, but can you write a song? Do you have dynamics? Or are you a one trick pony. This is an ep so it makes the band's job easier.  Like jack hammer sex how long can you keep up that intensity? And does that approach hit the spot or numb you out? The vocals seem to stick with one distorted bark. They adhere to a straight ahead punk beat for the two songs that follow the opener. "Waste of Life" is a quickie at under two minutes. So fans of Nails , will appreciate these guys economic approach to song writing.

The assault they hit you with is so focused on their primary method of punishment until it took a few listens to distinguish the exact songs. These guys have meaty riff's , but are vegan. They have a pretty dope guitar sound, but they are straight edge. I could see these guys being a part of that Victory Records scene from the 90's. I suppose you might hear more Integrity in their sound than Earth Crisis or Snap Case. They also claim to be god-free, which I can under stand the angle they are coming from wanting to be devoid of all crutches. I like some gods, all of Odin's Posse,  the ancient ones as well as other cultural symbols of darkness, but I also want to devour one of those Little Ceaser bacon wrapped pizza's so Tribunal and I can agree to differ. But they don't come across like the are preaching their platform to me.

When it gets down to music "Rotting From Within" is like a meaner b-section to "Waste of Life". The drumming is a little boring, but they do hook into some pretty convincing chugs. I can say in a time where every band is trying to be blackened something, it's refreshing to hear a band that is content just doing what they do. The phrase "chaos reigns" from the Lars Von Tier movie "Anti- Christ" while a nice sentiment to exclaim is starting to get a little over used. When It crops  in "Your God Was Never There", it's one of the few barks that my ears keyed in on.

I'll give these guys a 7, but you might round them up if Entombed styled bands is your thing, even more so if Entombed influenced hardcore bands are your thing. For me I've got a hear like a grave yard they are dying to get it.