ALBUM REVIEW: Dawn of Winter, "Pray for Doom"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 30/11/2018

Label: I Hate Records

All songs are great.  All influences are present and correct. All aspects of the album are stellar. The best trad doom release of the year? Have a listen and decide for yourself.

                                                                 

“Pray for Doom” CD//DD track listing:

1. A Dream Within a Dream

2. The Thirteenth of November

3. Woodstock Child

4. The Sweet Taste of Ruin

5. Pray for Doom

6. The Orchestra Bizarre

7. Paralysed by Sleep

8. Father Winter (Sacrifice Pt. 3)

The Review: 

Germany's greatest and purest doom band return with this monolithic slab of powerful and muscular trad doom. If you've heard “The Peaceful Dead” album, then you know that this band are one of the best in the whole genre.

“Pray for Doom” is a continuation of the lofty heights the band has set themselves via their back catalogue. The sound is immense- the drums are so thick and powerful- the bottom end is as muscular as Dorian Yates back in the mid 90's, the tempos are sluggish, and the songs are well thought out and presented with maximum emotional impact courtesy of the plaintive and ultimate-in-doom voice of Gerrit P. Mutz.

The Opener “Dream Within A Dream” tells you everything you need to know about the album; if you like it, then you will like the rest of the record. If you don't like it, then you don't like doom. End of.  Highlights are genuinely hard to pick out, due to both the quality and the uniform approach of the record. The title track may be an obvious pick as it is a balladlike track, well-crafted and presented. That said, the hard rocking “The Thirteenth of November” might be more up your strasse... Either way, there is just quality all the way through this album.

In times when “doom” is sometimes just two-piece bands playing two chord riffs, Dawn Of Winter represent the best and most real deal available. All elements are doom. All songs are great.  All influences (Vitusetc) are present and correct. All aspects of the album are stellar. The best trad doom release of the year? Have a listen and decide for yourself.

“Pray for Doom” is available HERE

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Hooded Priest - "The Hour Be None"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 01/12/2017

Label: I Hate Records

This is doom metal that will appeal to anyone with a sense of theatre and anyone who wants to bang their head as well; there is some great metal on offer here. Huge and sprawling in its ambition, “The Hour Be None” is a doom tour de force and I recommend it highly.

“The Hour Be None” CD//DD track listing:

1). Dolen – Exiting The Real

2). Call for the Hearse

3). These Skies Must Break

4). Herod Again

5). Locust Reaper

6). Mother of Plagues

The Review:

Dutch doomsters Hooded Priest return with their second full length album and now with the backing of the I Hate label. There is no need for a full track by track breakdown here: this is epic trad doom. If Candlemass is your thing, Hooded Priest will be too. If you are looking for the more street end of the trad doom spectrum (The Obsessed, Saint Vitus, R.I.P) then this may be too far towards history and fantasy for your liking- but that said, the music here is top notch so why not give it a go anyway?!

Six tracks of epic scope and sound are on offer, one track well over ten minutes and two well over nine! There are huge riffs here too- “Mother of Plagues” is just massive, with an expansive sound. My stand out track would be “Herod Again”- great riffs, themes and performances of biblical proportions- top quality doom with just a measure of traditional metal thrown in. Every track is a winner, the sound is suitably massive and the vocal performance is perfectly matched to the musical ideas. There are time changes aplenty as well; it keeps the tracks interesting and allows the song lengths to be worthwhile exercises in quality as well as quantity.

This is doom metal that will appeal to anyone with a sense of theatre and anyone who wants to bang their head as well; there is some great metal on offer here. Huge and sprawling in its ambition, “The Hour Be None” is a doom tour de force and I recommend it highly. 

“The Hour Be None” is available here

Band info: facebook|| bandcamp