ALBUM REVIEW: Procession - "Doom Decimation"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 31/10/2017
Label: High Roller Records

Procession carry a torch for the purest of doom- dark monolithic and emotional. It carries true weight and truly the band are at the top of their chosen field.  There are huge riffs, the performances from all band members are fantastic and the songs are well crafted. No trend, just doom. Procession deliver the goods yet again.

“Doom Decimation” CD//DD//LP track listing:

01. The Warning
02. When Doomsday Has Come
03. Lonely Are The Ways Of The Stranger
04. Amidst The Bowels Of Earth
05. Democide
06. All Descending Suns
07. As They Reached The Womb
08. One By One They Died

The Review:

Procession keep on keeping on with their true doom style. The Chilean (by way of Scandinavia) band unleash another slab of granite hewn doom here. They kick off with a muscular instrumental and then continue things with the fairly high tempo (for doom) “When Doomsday Has Come”. The vocals remain melodramatic and perfectly pitched for this type of epic sound. The production is again of good quality- it feels like they have really planned things out prior to recording as they deliver a classic sound- reverb in the right amount, big drums and a solid twin guitar sound. There are epic tracks here- “Lonely Are The Ways of the Stranger” being the first of these and a couple of tracks stretch well beyond seven and even eight minutes.

Now, your capacity for this type of doom may dictate how much you enjoy the slower passages, but there is plenty of sharp riffage to go with the murk- just check out “Amidst The Bowels Of Earth” for proof. Again, fans of Candlemass will definitely find what they are after here- fans of doom that is a little more concise may find the drawn out intro of “Democide” a little much- not to mention the following few minutes of purely instrumental riffs and solos.

Interestingly, writing this having just listened to R.I.P.'s new album and “Doom Decimation” back to back, it really struck me just how much of a broad genre doom is becoming- or perhaps has always been. After all, Sabbathhad everything from instrumentals to ballads, to up tempo rockers to the slowest of crawls- sometimes even in one song!

Procession carry a torch for the purest of doom- dark monolithic and emotional. It carries true weight and truly the band are at the top of their chosen field. When they do decide to press the pedal to the metal with more urgent riffs, they work just as well- and still sound like the same band- “All Descending Suns” being a good example of this.

“As They Reached The Womb” and the epic “One By One They Died” close the album with sixteen minutes of dramatic doom metal. The record is not for the casual doom fan; it is for those souls who enjoy the genre in its essence, in its purest form. There are huge riffs here, the performances from all band members are fantastic and the songs are well crafted. No trend, just doom. Processiondeliver the goods yet again.

“Doom Decimation” is available here

Band info: facebook