the Top 10 Doom Albums of 2016

This was a rough year for the genre and the universe, by the end of it I need more gut wrenching than I got but these are the best of the bunch I did get. There are many shades of doom here, a sense of loss and mourning is what I need from doom, more darkness than death metal so that is reflected here.If you want to hear these guys you can find something to listen to via the review links included in our countdown of 2016's best doom albums.


10- Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard- "Y Proffwydd Dwyll"-

This band's name is almost too over the the top for me to take them seriously, but you don't have to get more than half way into the first song before it is hard to deny them. Hailing from Wales these kids have only been at it for a couple of years making this their second album. The guitar sound is big and dense like sludge , but they have enough somber atmosphere to qualify as doom. The croon of the female vocals is not what you would think to pair with the music churning under their melodies.Jessica Bell's voice sets this band apart in a way that leaves the bulk of their more burly barking counterparts in the dust.

 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2016/12/catching-up-with-2016-mammoth-weed.html


9-Swamp Witch- "the Withering Bog"


 The hunger for new doom awoke in time for me to dip into the new album from Oakland's Swamp Witch. The vocals are a low death metal growl, but everything else paints the perfect picture of doom. From the first song I was delighted to hear that the album cover perfectly matched the murky darkness being dragged from these sonic waters. http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2016/07/swamp-witch-slithering-bog.html

8-the Howling Void- "the Triumph of Ruin"

The album cover doesn't lie. What is inside sounds just like the images appearing on the 5th full length from this one man project out of Texas. The album opens with a weird mix of tremolo picked guitar running over a track that is otherwise doom paced to create a unique dynamic tension. The vocals are sung , but low in the mix and used more as a passing texture. This is a beautiful album, it walks the line between black metal and doom, with the doom side winning out so if you are a fan of either genre then this is worth a listen. A word of warning to those who prefer the harsher side of either genre , this album really cares about it's lushness.


 http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-howling-void-triumph-of-ruin.html

7-Lycus- "Chasms"

 An album that defied  the boundaries of my favorite sub-genre, but are undertaken so masterfully it's hard to complain. Where 2013's "Tempest" had a more mournful elegance the new slab of density from this band finds a more aggressive and raw rumble.The drums give them the thundering opener "Solar Chamber" more propulsion than the band found on the entire last album, just in the first nine minutes. Some of the shift in sonics are due to a line up changes with bassist Brett Tardiff and guitarist Dylan Burton joining the band.< http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2016/01/lycus-chasms.html

6- Naga- "Inanimate"


The  third album from this Italian trio opens up with a throb showing that it's possible to still be a doom band and not have to crawl along, it's about as fast as a band wants to be without crossing over into sludge. Very hateful mood carries a darker attitude than many black metal band who lose the mood because they are so preoccupied with blast beats. It's what I want out of bands that go in this direction. Dark as it is dense and not so rough around the edges that it loses it's ambiance and kills the mood. If you like doom with teeth and devoid of Black Sabbath worship these guys got ya.
http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2016/07/naga-inanimate_18.html

5-Spirit Adrift-"Chained to Oblivion"

 Found myself a little torn between whether this band wants to be Candlemass or Pallbearer. Granted everyone one knows Candlemass came before, but there is something in the moody way the vocals are delivered that thinks they might owe more to Pallbearer, who has been out long enough now that we will start to see other bands aside from Khemmis come out trying to cop their sound. They aren't afraid to pick up the pace and the overall end result was pretty rocking, if you are looking for some melodic doom this is worth your time

. http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2016/08/spirit-adrift-chained-to-oblivion.html

4-Heavydeath-"In Circles We Die"

 there is a raw Celtic Frost like vibe to the brand of deathly doom this Swedish band has returned to  grind out. Very rough around the edges, there is still a well balanced sense of atmosphere even when they chug into the more sludge like "Slumbering Monolith" though I prefer what they were doing on the albums opener. The growls are low and gurgling though still deliver the lyrics in a way that can be understood in one listen.Overall the production on this album is a notch above their previous full length. They incorporate a wide range of guitar tones and atmospheric sounds making for a more well rounded experience
http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2016/09/heavydeath-in-circles-we-die.html

3-Obed Marsh-"Innsmouth" With nasty rasped vocals this sludged dipped doom band delves into Lovecraft. It sounds like their singer is being turned into an aspect of Dagon as he croaks his guts out. It's the gloomy lethargy the opening song is paced with that solidifies this as doom in my book.Going into this know that for the duration you are in for crushing doom with the filth of death metal coating it. These guys should get props for having some of the wickedest growls set to record this year. Normally after a few songs growling can get old for me if it is not varied yet here it works. http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2016/08/obed-marsh-innsmouth.html




 2-Beastmaker - "Lusus Naturae"

 While this band from California indulges in Sabbath worshiping lumber of your more mainstream doom, the manage to have a sound that sets themselves apart from their peers. It's by the third song "Arachne" the vocals are beginning to sound like Acid Bath era Dax Rigg's drugged out baritone that this is most evident. This is fine with me as I prefer this to some one doing a half ass Ozzy impersonation.The bands strengths lie in not playing by the doom rule book and dipping into this darker sound.Still fans of more traditional forms of doom will find lots to love about this album.


http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2016/03/beastmaker-lusus-naturae.html

1- Khemmis - "Hunted"

At times more NWOBHM than doom and "3 Gates" starts off to uptempo to be doom at all, but in the end it got the most play time and had enough melancholy to qualify as doom, after all Black Sabbath albums didn't always crawl all the way to the finish line so something can be said for the dynamics.This one earned it space at the top not because it was the most dismal, but because I listened to it the most, which at the end of the day is what matters.

http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2016/09/khemmis-hunted.html

Lycus : " Chasms"

Normally I am pretty protective of my funereal doom especially when the bands that excel at it can be counted on both hands. You might expect me to balk at the growth the Oakland band shows on this album which often defies the boundaries of my favorite sub-genre, but are undertaken so masterfully it's hard to complain. Where 2013's "Tempest" had a more mournful elegance the new slab of density from this band finds a more aggressive and raw rumble.The drums give them the thundering opener "Solar Chamber" more propulsion than the band found on the entire last album, just in the first nine minutes. Some of the shift in sonics are due to a line up changes with bassist Brett Tardiff and guitarist Dylan Burton joining the band.

 They return to the more moody introspection on the thirteen minute title track.The growls scrape the bottom of the ocean floor with their cryptic gurgles. The depressive sluggishness of the down tuned guitar doesn't sound like they are recycling ideas bands like Evoken have already pondered, but take influence from a wide range of corners and merge them with sometimes black metal like abrasion without having to resort to blast beats. The boiling under current of the drums foreshadows against the beauty that opens "Mirage". The production on this album is much more organic and warm than their first full length. They delve into a very spacious place allowing melodic atmospheric to unfold before constricting tighter until it implodes into black metal. The doom still prevails to the extent it would be an exaggeration to thrown the "blackened" tag onto this, though fans of black metal have reluctant to give doom a try will find enough inner ugliness to resonate with them. The role of the clean vocals has shifted into more of an atmospheric chant that sits back into the mix.

Three of the four songs are over ten minutes , but it's not a deal breaker for me here. I like enough doom that I am willing to overlook this if it is time spent wisely. "Obsidian Eyes" finds them droning in the overdriven melancholy. The melody is subtle on this one as it shimmers around the rough edges of the riffs. Midway into the song they allow these melodies more room to weep. The double bass begins to flow under the lurking chug. I'll give this one a 10 even though there is so much going on at every turn it's going to grow on me in order to take it all in . My inital thought is even though the changes that have come with their first album for Relapse seem to be sludgier guitar tone that takes some getting used to as a whole I think this will settle well into my brain with each listen.


 

Lycus: "Tempest"

In the shape I have been in the past few days , I had lost all interest in music.When I  did try to listen to it I became annoyed , because I feel like I left My skin hanging up in the bathroom. After I did the weekly shuffle column, I found a few things tolerable so decided to give this Lycus  album a shot . They are a  funeral doom  band  from Oakland California ,  formed back in 2008 , so have been crafting this for some time. The drummer used to be in Deafheaven and also plays in Temple of Saturn. Though aside from the occasional dissonance of a chord here and there the connection to Deafheaven is not apparent.

The songs... and there are only three are on the long side, the first "Coma Burn" is eleven minutes, it has the funeral doom sound I like h in the same ambient sonic scope as Loss and Mournful Congregation. There are clean moaning chants layered behind the low growl. The needed balance of melodic beauty and morbid dissonance is there filtered through a cathedral like decay. The guitar tone is organic like Pallbearer but there is even less Sabbath influence present, as every thing is held together in a more angular fashion that sets them apart from their peers in the genre. It doesn't take on a more conventional Metal sound until about for minutes into it and them it brings back memories of old My Dying Bride. This is what it sounds like when the abyss stares back at you.

"Engravings" has a slight bit more of a chug to it than the first one which drifted like a ship in the night. This is the shortest song on this album which would be an e.p but it clocks in the same running time as most albums. The pacing is so similar this almost feels like an extension of the first song, the melodic embellishment on the guitar lead lines the most marked difference and the punches come at different places, there are some almost black metal vocals that haunt the reverb drenched back end of the mix. Which has a big cathedral gloom to it  as sort of thing should have so this album sounds great.It captures the moment I have often noted where the line between funeral doom and depressing suicidal black metal becomes thinnest. There is a cool creepy post- whatever moment at the end, where the bass adds some distortion and cut through over the more lethargic airy guitars.

"Tempest" has a very beautiful brooding to its intro. At a very ambitious twenty minute running time it comprises half the album what you would expect more from a prog band though it is an increasing trend in metal these days. The chants precede the growls this time though both are layered once the song begins to find form from the ambiance. The drumming is pretty impressive there are some jazz chops frequently hinted at particularly as it circles the place the song drifts. At about the five minute mark it sounds like Celtic Frost in collision with King Crimson before a full on blasty mc nasty part rears its ugly horned skull. This doesn't dominate but a minute of the song leaving the vocals to take on a more black metal screech in its wake. In the songs final eight minute they hit a groove similar to bands like Pallbearer before they fall into an ambient void . This is more abrasive a change than the possessed contortion into black metal. This closes out the album and it adds to what could have been a more stream lined experience the drone element intended to hold the challenging element .

I'll give this one a 9 it hit the right spot this morning but holds a very unique sound that is not hit by other bands in this genre though the key elements to make it funeral doom are there , which is becoming a genre that rivals black metal in its willingness to experiment. If you are a fan of funeral doom this album is a must have and might be the best doom album of the year so far,

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