Not going to lie to you folks - I've been having a tough time recently. Work is absolutely grinding me down and it's harder to resist/cope with/handle with the rest of the world being the way that it is. But in that oppressive darkness I have returned home to one of my oldest flames, one of my oldest friends: doom. The low and the slow have been filling my spin lists lately, offering dark, safe, warm caverns from which to escape reality.
Here is a smattering of everything excellent in the space we have been listening to. There is a lot more out there and maybe, if you're also going through it, we might share some solace with you? I know I could use it. Stay safe out there friends. I love you. I love Doomsday! Let's get to it.
-Eden Kupermintz
Elder - Liminality / Dream State Return
The biggest mystery around Elder, for me at least, is how they still manage to infuse even their more abstract and psychedelic work with so much joy. While the first track on this two-track EP, "Liminality", definitely feels like a callback to the Lore sound, much of its back half and the second track are more The Gold & Silver Sessions coded, that is Elder in their more expansive, psychedelic mode. However, even those passages just sparkle, showcasing an Elder that is still dedicated to their core sound, wherever they might go.
Simply put, this joy infects me whenever I hear new material from Elder. I am wholesale, to-the-bone Elder defender; I don't think they've ever put out a bad album and this EP is certainly not where that starts. Whether you are harkening for more riff-y, groovy Elder or more out there, desert-drenched, adventuring Elder, this EP has a little something from both ends of the spectrum. Plus, it's shimmering with that Elder sound that we've all grown to love. What's more to say? It's Elder. It rules.
-EK
November’s Doom - Major Arcana
Spooky season is here, and Chicago’s death/doom stalwarts November’s Doom herald cold winds rising with their twelfth studio album Major Arcana. I’ve been aware of them since around the release of 2024’s Bled White, but have never been particularly blown away by any of their albums as a whole. Their dour magic has always remained confined to stand-out tracks on which contrasts between the gentle and the crushing, the sorrowful and the triumphant and the acoustic and the distorted walk hand in hand into the shadow of dark clouds.
I’m happy to report that Major Arcana has a higher concentration of these magic numbers on offer than any of their efforts I am aware of. Early album cut “Ravenous” approaches slowly like a slavering pack of wolves, and is the first of a triumphant and dynamic trio of winning tunes. “Mercy” follows it up beautifully, balancing the threat of “Ravenous” with a more forlorn and vulnerable track steeped in dynamic transitions and Paul Kuhr’s inimitable vocals.
With “The Dance”, November’s Doom really hit their majestic stride. The track boasts some of the album’s strongest guitar parts, and scores perfect marks in both clean and harsh vocals, with a My Dying Bride meets Amorphis chorus that I just can’t get enough of. This one is probably going on my SotY contender shortlist.
It’s not just guitars and vocals galore on Major Arcana: while never really the star of the show, there are some excellent drum performances peppered throughout the album (“Mercy”, “The Fool”, “Bleed Static”), showing off Garry Naples masterful tom fills and deft, cascading outbursts.
Further highlights include most of “The Fool” and late album ripper “Dusking Day”. I find that most of my enjoyment (or lack thereof) of November’s Doom lives or dies by their idiosyncratic melodicism. On the title track and the chorus of “The Fool”, the melodies don’t do as much for me, and while the latter and “Bleed Static” have enough redeeming qualities in other aspects I find it harder to keep them locked in memory and do not feel them pull me back in on repeat spins as much as the other tracks. I think with these tracks time will heal these abrasions, and the ones that have gone unmentioned so far might also worm themselves into my brain.
Rock-solid instrumentals and the unique and powerful vocals of Paul Kuhr once again carry November’s Doom towards winter’s embrace. Come along for a haunting hayride, if you dare.
-BK
Nailed to Obscurity - Generation of the Void
I’ve been following German progressive death/doom band Nailed to Obscurity ever since they showed glimmers of true greatness on 2017 album King Delusion. On tracks like that album’s “Protean” and “Cipher” off 2019's album Black Frost they’ve shown their talents for combining mesmerizing rhythm with emotionally powerful melodicism and a knack for powerful tension release. Neither of those two albums actually managed to floor me as a whole, though. While I’m not sure I entirely appreciate their shift in tone on Generation of the Void, it is definitely their most memorable and engaging album so far.
Generation achieves this by generally upping the tempo somewhat, and injecting the album with significantly more clean vocals. These are quite gripping as well, veering eerily close to modern Katatonia territory (you will not hear me complain about that similarity). Generally speaking, Nailed to Obscurity’s new and streamlined sound falls somewhere between Enshine, Insomnium, Dawn of Solace, and Great Cold Distance era Katatonia. That puts them absolutely in my musical sweet spot, and I thus find it hard to be critical of this album as I return to its Lethean waters to drink time and time again. Clear highlights can be found in “Spirit Corrosion”, ”Liquid Mourning”, the title track, and especially “Liquid Mourning” which fills a void the latest Katatonia album has left yawning in my heart. Raimund Ennenga’s vocals also deserve special mention, as he delights with both deep and textured roars and silky smooth cleans, traversing the death/doom spectrum with aplomb. Strong, shimmering guitar work that veers occasionally into darker territories, deep and rumbling bass and creative, proggy drumming round out the album to great effect.
Generation of the Void is a bit long in the tooth however, and some of the elements of Nailed to Obscurity’s more anthemic direction do not work as convincingly. The chanting clean vocals that show up on “Spirit Corrosion” don’t do it for me, and aside from some nice guitar licks the especially long and overly linear “Echo Attempt” doesn’t help the album's momentum. While the general increase of hooks and focus on this album are commendable, I hope Nailed to Obscurity manage to drudge up some of the darker tones of their previous album and incorporate them on further outings. I’m sure these guys have a truly spellbinding album up their sleeves, and am happy to report their inching closer to the magic on this latest album.
-BK
StumpTail - Sonder Down Yonder
What’s scarier than sludge metal? Florida man sludge metal. Buried in the onslaught of crunchy, crushing riffs of StumpTail lies a wild mix of southern rock, heavy metal, outlaw country, and whatever else may lurk in the swamps of America’s most memed state. Served in two massive 15+ minute tracks with a rough ridin’ 3-minute dessert, Sonder Down Yonder is a chicken-fried hurricane of noise.
From the very first notes of “From the Swamp, From the Estuary,” StumpTail delivers rollicking southern rock drenched in acidic noise, feeding energetic melodies that get your head bobbing and feet tapping through a sound system on its last legs. Vocals are sparse, more like half memories slipping to the surface as drawling voices echo with shouts of “hot coffee,” “cold beer,” “blue skies,” “deer jerky,” “barbecue,” and other half-decipherable phrases. Samples of sports commentary, distorted to the point of becoming instrumentals more than lyrics, add another layer of Florida flavor to the tidal wave of sound and texture. The narrative tradition of country and folk music becomes abstracted to noise, phrases, and samples, gradually cascading into a pummeling stretch of hypnotically fast beats and rhythms. Fuzzed fury only becomes more intense as howling vocals are added to the fray, soon joined by slightly threatening windchimes. Their bright metallic tones revive the day-in-the-life quality that opened the track, only instead of happy memories, we’re reminded of the deadly calm before the storm. As “From the Swamp, From the Estuary” fades, crooning guitars murmur in the bleak quiet.
Noise snarls at the edges of down-home banjos, simmering with ill intent in a funhouse mirror version of outlaw country. Gradually, the noise floods the soundstage until we’re drenched in fuzzed out riffs. Windchimes and bluesy basslines bring us back to dry land, backed by rough-and-tumble vocals that swing between near-conversational singing and black metal-ish howls. Southern melodies bleed through metallic riffs, complete with a cowbell making a clanking appearance. Country and metal are simultaneously completely distinct and fully melded together in a flood of evil sound that holds flinty shards of outlaw soul. Like the state that inspires it, Sonder Down Yonder is swampy, Southern, and just a bit scary.
-Bridget Hughes
Gawthrop - Kuboa
I’m not sure what the line between noise and music is, but Gawthrop is surely sitting right on it. Their death doom sludge monstrosity, Kuboa, is a lumbering mammoth of speaker-frying noise that devours all in its path with ominous gusto. Haunting drones and feedback further amplify the sinking feeling of death and destruction as each track pulls you deeper into the abyss, with bone-crushing riffs casting a dark spell of destruction. Nightmarish growls are mutated beyond human sound as they cast blasphemous curses, presumably condemning your bloodline to generations of unimaginable suffering. Listen with caution and RIP to your sound system.
-BH