Ahab - The Divinity Of The Oceans

Artist: Ahab
Album: The Divinity Of The Oceans
Label: Napalm Records

Year: 2009

Tracklist:
01. Yet Another Raft of The Medusa (Pollard's Weakness)
02. The Divinity Of The Oceans
03. O Father Sea
04. Redemtion Lost
05. Tombstone Carousal
06. Gnawing Bones (Coffin's Lot)
07. Nickerson's Theme

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Way back in 2006 Ahab released The Call Of The Wretched Sea, a crushing funeral doom album based on Herman Melville's novel "Moby Dick". The album went on to win the Metal Storm Award in the Extreme Doom Metal category.

So how would 2009's follow up, The Divinity Of Oceans stack up?

For starters, the nautical theme continues with this album. The Divinity Of Oceans is based on "The Loss Of The Ship Essex, Sunk By A Whale" by Owen Chase and Thomas Nickerson. The book is about the horrors suffered by the crew of the Essex after the ship was sunk by a whale… some 20 sailors spent 90 days floating around the South Pacific, thousands of miles from home and hundreds of miles from land in small wooden boats. The book was also the inspiration for the climactic scene of "Moby Dick".

The album kicks off treading the same musical water as its precursor. A nice quiet, serene clean piece slowly ushers in the album until a tsunami-sized riff slams home and consigns you to a watery musical grave.

But whereas their initial offering was fairly one dimensional (albeit a fantastic album within that dimension), The Divinity Of Oceans has more depth to it, primarily in the vocal department. You aren't more than a couple minutes in to the album, with familiar riffs and growls before vocalist Daniel Droste switches to a clean tone, which is every bit as mournful as the growls are menacing. He alternates between both clean and guttural through-out the record.

The music itself has a bit more to offer as well. Aside from just crushing, slow riffs that seem to ebb and flow with the tide, there are some great melodic and melancholic guitar leads over the riffs adding to the atmosphere. At another point during a calm break around the four minute mark of "Tombstone Carousal" a nice clean, almost optimistic, guitar comes in for a few seconds that reminded me of acoustic wizard Adrian Legg's Guitar For Mortals and conjures images of the crew languishing in their little life boats during a light rain… Of course the peace is very short lived. It's as if they added a couple shots of darkwave to their own brand of nautic funeral doom.

The nutshell version? They took the same formula that spawned the immense The Call Of The Wretched Sea and built upon it, resulting in an album that surpasses their initial, award-winning offering.

Doom ahoy, mateys. -by BitterCOld @ metalstorm.ee

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Manatees - Icarus, The Sunclimber

Artist: Manatees

Album: Icarus, The Sunclimber

Label: Eyes Of Sound

Year: 2009

Tracklist:

01. Of Wax And Wing
02. The Sunclimber
03. Hyperion Altitude
04. Untitled
05. False Sun
06. Out Of The Sky, Into The Gutter

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I am pretty sure that there should be some sort of award for best use of a Neurosis influence. If and when said event occurs, Carlisle based Manatees will be in the running without a doubt. Having absorbed the Oakland cultists combined skills of the riff and the ambience, Manatees have crafted one of the most introspective and downright crushing UK releases I have heard in a long time. It would be easy to chuck the sludge label in the general direction of the 3 lads that make up Manatees, but just like throwing gravel off a motorway flyover, it’s pointless and the results are not that impressive really.

They belong at some sort of cross-roads where sludge, post-rock, the tiniest traces of hardcore and Amrep all converge into one huge, Neurot paved brick road.

Opener “Of Wax & Wing” stumbles in on a staggering riff that explodes into some crushing riffage and hoarse vocals. It’s more of a surprise when it ends less than 2 minutes in and the title track rumbles through its slow burning build up of feedback, granite melody and synths to a crescendo only to give way to ambience and acoustic chords plucked over shards of reverb.

Additional drumming appears in “Untitled” driving the fuzz and feedback drenched guitars through the tortured vocals and pounding backbone.

What’s most impressive about this album and Manatees in general is the relative short time they have been kicking around. To create a work of this depth and skill at this stage only means there is so much more to come. Superb. -by dieshellsuit

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Voyager - Voyager

Artist: Voyager
Album: Voyager
Label: Forgotten Records
Year: 2008








Tracklist:
01. Crushing Winds
02. Static Pulse
03. Drifter
04. Avulsion
05. Surfacing

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Voyager’s debut EP sees the Boston quintet taking on the sound of former sounds of Isis and introducing some depressive doom ala My Dying Bride in the mix. For one, the production is cleaner than most records put out by Isis and the imitators they spawned. Most notable is vocalist D. Toye’s prominence in the mix. He sounds like what would result if Aaron Turner took lessons from some of Florida’s finest death metal vocalists. If you complained about Panopticon’s submerged vocals, this EP is for you.

While most “post-metal” bands have slight tinges of the post-hardcore that they evolved from, Voyager have no such influence. Though they do indulge in slower, dreamier sections, they focus more of doomy riffs and melancholic melodies upfront. “Crushing Winds” morphs from a Celestial style track to a Crowbar wind-down jam. “Drifter” features some interesting guitar improv, but it is only a prelude to the EP’s second half. “Surfacing” is a monster of a track, building up and crashing down again and again. The final minutes of the song even bear some resemblance to Celestia before drifting off into noise. However, the cutsey chime in “Static Pulse” ruins the mood.

I would recommend this EP if you like the genre. However, it won’t get you into it if you’re not already a fan. These guys have potential. (sonicfrontiers.net)

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Sunn O))) - Dømkirke

Artist: Sunn O)))
Album: Dømkirke
Label: Southern Lord
Year: 2008








Tracklist:
01. Why Dost Thou Hide Thyself In Clouds?
02. Cannon
03. Cymatics
04. Masks The Ætmospheres

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Last year sunn 0))) was invivted to perform at a ancient cathedral in Bergen Norway . The performance was captured via 24 track mobile recording and the resuluts were pressed onto double 180 gram vinyl. This recording will be available exclusively on vinyl only. There will not be a digital release (cd or downloads). Pure analog! The 0))) lineup for this performance includes Attila Csihar (Mayhem) on vocals, Steve Moore (Earth, Ascend) on the churchs' legendary pipe organ and Norwegian native Lasse Marhaug on electronics.

The packaging for "Dømkirke" was designed with the utmost attention to detail and quality that perfectly compliments the audio content. Each 180 gram vinyl comes in a heavy stock, full color inner sleeve that features stunning photographs from the performance. The cover of the gatefold jackets feature exclusive art by Tanya Stene (Burzum, Ulver, Darkthrone).

The jackets themselves are ultra-durable extra thick cardboard stock with thick, luxurious lamination. These were modeled after the Impulse! labels' LP jackets from the '60s. This package is durable, built to last and serves as the perfect shelter for this archival release.

Behold the glory!

Nicholas Mollerhaug, the festival curator, wrote these liner notes for the album:

"Our idea behind this concert was to commission a piece of music from Sunn O))) referring to the gothic gregorian hymns of the Late Middle Ages. Hymns that flourished Bergen Cathedral in its earliest years: The age of the Great Famine and The Black Plague. The gregorian hymns of this time reflected the despair, the terrors and darkness of the world. Musically the hymns consisted of long slow lines of unison melodies. The unisonity, the dark mood and the slow melodic development are all elements that also can be traced back to Sunn O)))'s musical universe. These parallells between Sunn O))) and the medieval times gave birth to this commission - premiered at the grand final of Borealis Festival 2007.

The Bergen Domkirke is dedicated to the Norwegian king and patron saint Olav (995-1030). The church was built around 1150. In the 1240s it was given to Fransiscan beggar munks. After fires in 1248 and 1270 the building was extended. With the financial help of king Magnus Lagabøte (1263-1280) the church got its present form and was finished in 1301. The very same king is buried in the chansel of the church. After the reformation the church became the cathedral of Bergen. It was then again struck by fire in 1463 and 1702. A cannon ball in the the church tower is a reminisence of the Battle of Bergen Bay in 1665.

This record documents what happens when aesthetic openness and lack of prejudice rules in a medieval cathedral.

Without these values inhabited in the legendary kantor of Bergen Cathedral- Magnar Mangersnes - this concert would never have been possible.

- Nicholas Mollerhaug"

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Grief - Come To Grief

Artist: Grief
Album: Come To Grief
Label: Century Media
Year: 1994








Tracklist:
01. Earthworm
02. Hate Grows Stronger
03. World Of Hurt
04. I Hate You
05. Ruined
06. Fed Up
07. Stricken
08. Come To Grief

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Grief are not a happy band. On this, their second release, they continue their own brand of world hating doom begun on their debut 'Dismal', reaching into the very core of emotions such as hatred and anguish, wrenching them into the world for all to see. They not only hate the world, they also hate themselves: "I slither in the dirt and mud, because that's where I belong".

Grief have long been compared to such "sludge" greats as Crowbar and Eyehategod. The truth is, they are like no others. They sound only like themselves, and the disgust they emit with every passing, languid note, has yet to be replicated by any other band. Think of all the pain and hatred you have ever experienced in your life, and then multiply that by 100. You will be near the emotional state of this band.

Musically, Grief are a very "harsh" sounding doom band. The production on this release is certainly worthy of the music, but don't expect the slick nature of more romantic doom metal bands. Grief are dirty, they really are in the mud, and the sound takes you down there with them, into their world of worms. There are no stand out tracks, the album flows from one song to the next, a seemingly endless stream of suffering, and abject hatred for all of humanity.

Grief is certainly not for everyone, in fact they are probably for very few, but if you enjoy the harsher side of doom, then pick up 'Come to Grief'. You too will then know the pain of these tortured souls - some of it at least.

Official Site
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Mare - Mare

Artist: Mare
Album: Mare
Label: Hydra Head Records
Year: 2004








Tracklist:
01. Anisette
02. They sent you
03. Tropics
04. Palaces
05. Sun for miles

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Maybe I am blinded by my love for Hydrahead Records, but it seems to me that as of late the label has been churning out spectacular album after spectacular album at a rapid rate. Whether it's the latest release from regular mainstay Harkonen or the debut release from the young phenoms of Mare, Hydrahead definitely has a knack for finding talented acts to please my ears.

Mare hail from Toronto and generate music that is the result of equal parts Isis, Godflesh, and Today is the Day. That is to say, they create music with beautiful orchestrations that show off their technical mastery as well as their comprehension of atmospheric doom. "Anisette," the album's opening track, begins in a very subdued tone: the sound of a lone guitar stripped down with no distortion. It reminded me of holding your breath before something really intense is about to happen. And that is just what happens. At the sound of the first high-hat being struck, the tuned down and distortion heavy guitars enter the formula and blend into the musical representation of trudging through a Louisiana swamp. Partnered with the dual attack of coarse screams and sweet melodies of vocalist Tyler Semrick-Palmateer, this song is a feat you must hear.

With a seamless blend, we move on to the next track, "The Sent You." In contrast to the visceral screams that dominated the opening track, Semrick-Palmateer demonstrates his versatility as a vocalist on this song. The melodies from Semrick-Palmateeare are reminiscent of Mike Patton, particularly his mannerisms on Mr. Bungle's California., This is not something you would not expect to hear out of the same man whose scream personifies the phrase "immense heartache and pain." Mare continues to execute in the niche they have carved for themselves on the next track, "Tropics." And on the album's closer, "Palaces," they succeed in every aspect that I could ever desire in a band playing this style of music. Words just won't do it justice. You really should hear it to believe it, but this is epic doom metal at its finest.

For being a demo re-packaged as an EP, Mare's self-titled debut will no doubt be praised as the surprise release of the year by many critics. But for those familiar with Semrick-Palmateer's past with The End, this album really shouldn't come as a surprise. That doesn't mean that he carries the band; the music will be the driving force that keeps this band fresh as the years go on.(-by scenepointblank.com)

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