the Howling Void : "Bleak and Everlasting"

This one man band from Texas is back with more funeral doom. I foresee two problems here. The first being a typical one with heavy bands no matter the genre. They get the heavy sound , that might impress for a minute, but if you have discerning ear then after the first song you find yourself asking "but can you write a song? The second problem is in having all the expected trapping of a sub-genre artists can forget the most important ingredient is themselves."    there is a slight sonic expansion to "the Lonely Road  to Nothingness" though the guitar melody is very similar to that of the previous song, It might be the synths that switch it up the most. If anything the atmosphere to it has a brighter shoe gaze quality to it.

"All the World is a Grave" is an awesome song title for a doom song. Bells are added at the beginning , which helps break it up, but dynamically things do not change a great deal and this could be a continuation of the previous song if it had taken a darker turn.  The album ends with the 11 minute "Silence at the End of Time" , For a song to be long , which by the standards of this sub-genre it's not as long as some, but there is nothing that really justifies this as the melody seems to have come from the previous song. It does ebb down into synth that have a choral sound , but then the same bell tone is used. So it is very redundant.  I mean I went down stairs put some laundry up, went back to my room, nothing changed. Go back down stairs to throw away trash, come back up still the same thing

I will round this down to a 6.5, sure a great deal of funeral doom doesn't come out , but are you able to really listen to the same drone over and over. I think the guitar melodies put it over droning bands like Sunno. Some of the fault lies inthe fact the drums are barely there every thing lies on the guitar. The bass tone could carry more thunder, because it's not very heavy. This is closer to shoe gaze than doom at times.

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

the Howling Void : "the Triumph of Ruin"

The album cover doesn't lie. What is inside sounds just like that images appears 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. At the onset there is more of a black metal feel to "Looming Darkness" though the melancholic doom undertones are still present  and eventually rise up and over take the black metal feel.  This album is well produced with a really big sound. The vocals stay in a similar place as they did on the opening though slightly more commitment. The guitars swell into a powerful chug comings out of the tremolo trill. The instrumental "the Nine Worlds Wept" finds the symphonic elements coming to the forefront and creating a balance of atmosphere against the big cinematic metal backdrop. The clean vocals come further to the forefront to create a Opeth or Agalloch like vibe on "Fenrir" . This album is much more mature that what I remember of the previous albums. Doom begins to take over as the tremolo guitar begins to appear less frequently.

"Where Once a River Flowed" doesn't find any more new concepts being introduced. Things are dropped down to a more atmospheric place as the tension builds. The string arrangements on this song really compliment it. Things build back up in the manner you expected they would. I did not expect for it to drop down into just ambient synths so there are some twists and turns that don't always lead to the most obvious places. Things close out with the moody atmosphere of "Silence After the Storm". It never builds into anything heavy, which is fair enough since that would follow too much of a formula. 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 which might not have the edge you are looking for but I'll give it an 8.5 and see how it grows on me.