Indeed, it is a time for sadness and reflection as well as a time for celebration, as ‘The Last Spire’ represents the final outing of doom legends Cathedral; sad, obviously, as the band are retiring and we will no longer be graced by their presence,...

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I had to check Wikipedia twice to make sure Witch Mountain actually come from Portland, Oregon. It would be so beautifully fitting if they hailed from Salem. Maybe it’s their moniker. Maybe it’s the fact their first album proper in 2011 was titled “South of...

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Finland has very healthy metal scene containing many celebrated bands. Many of them take their cues from folk music and extreme metal, however Hooded Menace keeps things old school in capital letters. Let’s see what their latest effort, entitled “Effigies Of Evil” has to offer....

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Originally released in 2008 on Lee Dorrian’s Rise Above Records, “Iron Will” is the fourth album from Sweden’s Grand Magus and has no doubt been kindly re-issued to coincide with the release of their latest album on Nuclear Blast named “The Hunt”, which is shaping...

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Sometimes you get handed ones like this – an album from a band who you’ve never heard of and a swift trek through the realms of the worldwide web brings back nothing except for a couple of album cover pictures and the name of their...

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Every band needs to start somewhere. Have a venue where music lovers can lend an ear to the newest offering, especially in a city sputtering with talented hopefuls. Las Vegas, USA is not always the first city you think of when it comes to great...

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Japan’s Church of Misery are a band that I’d been hearing quite a bit about recently, so when I was given the opportunity to review the re-release of their second album, the appropriately named “The Second Coming” I leapt at the chance. Before listening to...

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Undersmile are a band from Oxford, England who make an absurdly slow racket commonly known as sludge. Apart from coming from Oxford and not New Orleans, what marks this band out as ‘something a little bit different’ is the fact that they are fronted by...

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Dense in sound and emotion, powerful in intensity and shadows, and vast in depth and structure, the debut album from US doomsters Pallbearer announces their full step onto the metal ladder, and at an immediate heady height. “Sorrow And Extinction” is an impressive album richly...

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There are those who question the validity of music like the sort of droning sludge that California’s Black Sheep Wall make.  Some people – believe it or not – don’t really like the repetitive, downtuned guitars and strained vocals that sound like the singer is...

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Evile, Cerebral Bore & Savage Messiah HMV Next Big Thing – The Ritz, Manchester 11th February 2012 A lot has happened in twenty five years. For one record label this has included unleashing early extreme metal on the world, including many recognisable names like Napalm...

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Sometimes imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery. Pilgrim are a three piece doom metal outfit, hailing from the rather charming shores of Rhode Island, USA but with their hearts firmly entranced in the industrial heartlands of the English Midlands, the spiritual home of...

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This live double CD set from Cathedral is at once a glorious celebration of a band who were not only inspirational, but who also virtually came to define what “doom” metal could and would be. Recorded at one of their final ever UK shows in...

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Volcom Entertainment is proud to join forces with legendary doom guitarist/vocalist Victor Griffin (Pentagram, Death Row, Cathedral) and PLACE OF SKULLS

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