Urania - Hieros Gamos (2015)

   "Hieros Gamos" by Urania could be described shortly as death/doom or funeral doom at its best. The appearance of such excellent albums seemingly from nothing became more frequent from the late '00s. Compared to the '90s trends this tendency keeps forming the subgenre to a heavier direction, that's basically its core essence.
   Urania's music includes a lot of funeral doom influences, that are represented in very long heavy riffs, extremely extended song lengths and strong atmosphere. Esoteric, Thergothon and Skepticism should be mentioned first of all if it's about possible direct influences. However, the songs are heavy and noisy on death/doom level, and the themes are often switching to death/doom as well, therefore the atmospheric sound couldn't take over. The role of instruments and atmosphere are balanced. The combination of rough sound and melancholy is overwhelmingly effective how it should be, and able to guide the listener through on "Hieros Gamos" seemingly with ease, though the album doesn't really count as the easiest album to listen to. And this is exactly where the excellence of this record lies: making such a heavy journey smooth and not falling into miserable monotony meanwhile. Strongly recommended for the lovers of funeral doom and death/doom!

Heavydeath - Dark Phoenix Rising (2015)

   Heavydeath could have been taken as an alternative, and a bit experimenting version of Runemagick. Or its rehearsal, raw form. The lineup confirms this, since Nicklas Rudolfsson (main man of Runemagick) and two former Runemagick members played in the band.
   Similar to most side projects (if we're looking at Heavydeath as Mr. Rudolfsson's side project), Heavydeath is also not much different from the main project. In fact, after some song polishing their releases could fit into the Runemagick discography as well. The unmistakable and characteristic guitar play of Mr. Rudolfsson (not to mention his also easily identifiable vocal style) made sure of that. The band seemingly cared less about well composed song structures or studio mixing, or picking the most advantageous sound for their music, therefore it had a rehearsal-like touch. The guitar themes are way louder than how they should be, and therefore they completely taking the show with the vocals. Also because of this loudness, the repetitiveness of the themes creating a dense atmosphere that's very gloomy and mystical the same time. This might sound nothing new if we think about Runemagick, but Heavydeath created that feeling with a bit different toolbar, lower distortion and lower theme diversity. And similar to black metal: by the assistance of poor sound quality. For similar reasons this band sounded like a fun made brainstorming project of Runemagick or a recycling project of Runemagick themes that have been cast off. Their music definitely has some catchy, mesmerizing feeling, but it might be able to touch or impress the fans of Runemagick the most. 

Shrine of the Serpent - Shrine of the Serpent (2015)

   Shrine of the Serpent debuted with a stunning EP (the basically could be a full-length album by its nearly 30 mins of duration if it wasn't death/doom), that served as an accurate introduction for the band's (unfortunately) short career. 
   While the music definitely reflects the traditional aspect of the style, that focuses on absolute hopelessness, strongly demoralizing tone, and completely lacks aesthetic or romantic features; the crystal clear sound that was picked is usual at the more popular form of death/doom. At one hand it's advantageous, cause it's also a way to highlight the music's rumbling heaviness, and to show the endless depths of desperation, but a noisier, dirtier sound could have been more effective if that was the goal. Anyways, the EP includes everything why death/doom could be preferred. It's ominous, down-pulling and includes such a dark atmosphere, that would be difficult to compete with in any other styles. During the 3 extended songs the band did a great job by keep building up the songs slowly step by step and avoiding monotony meanwhile. The compositions are simple, nothing unexpected happens, it's high quality death/doom in its raw simplicity. Could be a potential favorite for the fans of the genre.

Consecration - Ephemerality (2014)

   Concecrations debuted with the full album-length EP Gut The Priest in 2010 (it seems like a duration of 33 mins could still count just as an EP by death/doom standards). The EP was yet raw but promising, and illustrated well the band's strong and determined imaginations. This line was built further on their first full-length (over an hour long), "Ephemerality".
    By the extended duration they gave themselves plenty if opportunities to evolve and to introduce their complex and diverse vision. In their songs there are both unexpected and nicely, step by step built theme switches ranging from relaxing melodies to death metal intensity. This wide range combined with the overwhelming heaviness they operated with strongly reminds to Esoteric, though Consecration prefers to not stay in near funeral doom depths for too long.. While the melodic themes and the song compositions are similar to Earthcorpse, another, but lesser known death/doom classic from the UK. Even the sound of the album, despite being modern and way higher quality, seemed to be in analogy with the intention of Earthcorpse. Both bands relied of the contrast of higher toned catchy melodies and down pulling heaviness, and a cleaner, softer sound is required to support both approaches sufficiently. The combination of extended song lengths and their complexity doesn't make "Ephemerality" the easiest music to go into, but its diversity makes sure to be enjoyable for long term, and worth to listen to over and over again to find something new and interesting each time. A real rare gem or the fans of death/doom! 

Halberd - Remnants of Crumbling Empires (2014)

   The concept of war isn't a rare thing to find in extreme metal, but somehow Halberd's one and only album approached the topic from another, yet rare perspective. They didn't try to focus on the brutality and overwhelming intensity of war as it would be usually expected. It was more like the perspective of history nerds embedded into the mix of slow heaviness and melancholic blackened atmosphere.
   On the album the combination of old school death and doom metal themes are dominant, and the sound also has strong early '90s touch. Black metal influences are frequently returning not only in menacing themes and by atmosphere, but the vocal style also often switches to blackened cawing. This works pretty good during the extended slow downs by making the gloomy doom more diverse. However, black metal influences never taking the lead completely or could prevail, only having completing role. Relying on this solution could give an excellent black/doom too by the way. But when the opportunity could be given, old school thrashing death themes taking over. "Remnants of Crumbling Empires" is way more technical and experimental than how ordinary death/doom or blackened death albums used to be. If the goal was to avoid turning monotonous, it's definitely working even in case of song lengths over ten minutes. Something always keeps happening during the slow downs. A catchy leading theme, a tempo switch step by step, vocal style switch, stronger atmospheric effect. And the album kept its unity seemingly with ease, that's the evident sign of great songwriting. 
   In total "Remnants of Crumbling Empires" might be enjoyable for the fans of death/doom, old school death and black metal.

Serpentine Path - Emanations (2014)

   Serpentine Path debuted with their self-titled album in 2012, that despite its unified, simple and obscure form, showed mixed influences.

   On the side of death/doom and sludge/doom features there have been features frequently appearing that are more common in stoner/doom, or in the mix of stoner, sludge and doom metal to be more accurate. Serpentine Path did a pretty good job by using these related features and forge them into unified sound. "Emanations" strictly continued this line, and similar to the first album, it was again an excellent heavy, noisy and down-pulling record. Since the band preferred to keep the same slowly rolling heaviness, that could express well endlessly lasting agony without any hope of relief, the album might sound be monotonous after a while, but the great production made it sure that for the lovers of stoner/sludge/doom and death/doom metal it's a potential long term favorite.

Temple of Void - Of Terror and the Supernatural (2014)

   In an old interview with Temple of Void it was written that they want to be the best death/doom band of the world. By the release of their debut "Of Terror and the Supernatural" the whole thing didn't even sound as an exaggeration, since the record sparked wider attention than what non-romantic death/doom bands used to get.
   No wonder, because the album was all-round excellent. Maybe a bit more intense than how most bands in this style used to be, but this at one hand was quite advantageous, since the slower and more miserable extreme music is, the lower is its chance to reach wider audiences. And the whole thing suited their music well, that despite had high quality sound and was definitely fitting into the main scene of the mid '10s, also had quite strong early '90s touch. It wasn't the well known tendency of the underground that focused on musical minimalism and the increased importance of noisy sound  possibilities. On the side of higher intensity, the band operated with simple, but catchy melodies, great heavy riffs and more diverse drumming style that could also reach the tempo of ordinary death metal. This resulted not only a wider perspective and more diverse main view, but also it was a step ahead of the meantime developing complexity based tendencies of the underground. Whether it was an intentional step from the band, or they simply enjoyed old school death and death/doom bands and just wanted to play what they like, the timing was great, seemed like a brave step, and turned out to be pretty effective the same time. The measures of raw heaviness and melodic melancholy are balanced and completing each other well, therefore the album didn't become one sided or repetitive in any directions. In total: "Of Terror and the Supernatural" definitely became one of the best death/doom albums ever, and became an unavoidable release of the subgenre. 

Ealdath - Ancient Oath (2014)

   Ealdath was a short lived death/doom band with only one very impressive demo record, that could be also nominated to a "longest demo tapes" competition on the side of Esoteric's debut. 
   This 50 minutes long record is divided to 4 songs, and despite the songs extended lengths, they simply never turning overly monotonous or boring, thanks to the excellence of their compositions and catchy themes. It might be not an exaggeration to state, that "Ancient Oath" is one of the best records of the death/doom subgenre. And the same time one of the most underrated ones too, unfortunately. The way how the features of the down pulling, traditional form of death/doom and its audience friendlier, softer, melancholic aspect are merged is genius. Probably the sound, that isn't bad at all for a demo, since it's a studio record, but still not on the level of high quality death/doom albums, also had role in creating the impression of diversity. The simple noisy riffs can't be as noisy as they supposed to in similar cases, but this had advantageous effect on the main view. However, the excellent themes that could be heard on "Ancient Oath" requiring practiced musicians with complete understanding of the style. For the experiences involved, probably Josh Banke (bass), Tim Call (drumms) and Kody Keyworth (guitar) could be found responsible, since all 3 members played together in Aldeberan since a while. The music has quite '90s feeling, possible influences could be Winter, Paramaecium, Ceremonium, Thorns of the Carrion and Paradise Lost. The combination of catchy themes, soft melodies, and heaviness is pretty effective and well applied. Despite the plenty of suspected influences and the fact that Ealdath's music didn't offer anything new, their perspective gave the subgenre a pretty extensive and obvious definition, that was seemingly performed with ease. 
   Strongly recommended for the fans of death/doom!

Phobocosm - Deprived (2014)

   Phobocosm had a quite impressive debut by "Deprived", that didn't really sounded like an experimental first hit of newbies, but more like the well composed work of already experienced musicians.
   "Deprived" is interesting from another perspective too. It was mentioned before that the New Wave of Old School Death Metal had advantageous influence on the late '80s, early '90s inspired bands. This combined with the minimalist trend from the late '00s brought back the long forgotten and back then also short lived and underrated death/doom subgenre by slowly increasing numbers of new bands. The focus was mainly on noisy sound and on its possibilities, and slowly, step by step complexity have returned. Phobocosm was one of the first newly formed bands whose music reflected this tendency from the beginning. They relied on the combination of overwhelming heaviness and noisy sound assisted by deep growling vocal style. The slow, ominous themes are frequently switching to brutal intensity. Similar switches did appear previously at some funeral doom bands with a more modern and therefore diverse approach like Ataraxie for instance, but their speed ups were kinda occasional. Similar, longer lasting intensity and complexity  might remind more to Incantation. In fact similar bands are mainly responsible for the afterwards increasing importance of Incantation's music, since their name is impossible to avoid when it's about this specific direction. The creation of such great song compositions, that are basically balancing between musical minimalism and technicality by actively applying the effectiveness of both, definitely needs skilled and well practiced musicians. In total, Phobocosm debuted with a masterpiece that's strongly recommended for the fans of death metal and unfriendliest form of death/doom.

Coffins - The Fleshland (2013)

  Due to the band's impressive productiveness, the plenty of split album appearances and several EP and compilation releases, it's kinda surprising, that "The Fleshland" was only the 4th full-length album by Coffins. 
  Even though the band's concept is pretty simple and strict the same time, the changes that meanwhile occured in the extreme underground, didn't leave their music untouched. "The Fleshland" became somehow more intense compared to their previous releases and therefore it might sound slightly diverse too. However, this first impression might be just an illusion, that just came from the increased intensity, meant by death/doom standards of course. The band still prefers the very basic, punk influenced beats, that by increased speed might seem more evident. And for the same reason the short solo themes that used to have further down pulling effect while interrupting extended monotonous riffs, now leading the listener more effectively at middle and slightly fast tempo. In both cases the short solos had boosting effect on the musical environment, and this time it's slightly different than before was.However, by such this heavily distorted and noisy musical assistance and deep growling vocal style, it's still unable to convince punk audiences, and also keeps mainstream metal fans and even the majority of extreme audiences in safe distance. But since these are exactly the features that made their music highly enjoyable for the the fans of the most exaggerated form of death/doom. 
   In total: Coffins still cannot disappoint, they're truly the undisputed masters of the obscure and unfriendly sludgy death/doom subgenre!

Victims of Creation - Symmetry of Our Plagued Existence (2013)

   Victims of Creation formed as a death/doom/funeral doom band, but their debut and so far one and only album was much more than that. It's like a summarizing record of the doom metal style from their own perspective.
   Even though on "Symmetry of Our Plagued Existence" death /doom and funeral doom elements are dominant by the suspected main influence of Esoteric, epic doom themes and clear singing are taking their parts too, which are strongly reminding to Candlemass. If the listener pays attention, the solo in the last song is like a pretty evident reference to Tony Iommi's style, and even it's tone is quite hard rock-like. Therefore it's not an exaggeration to say that the band intended to show the widest diversity as possible for a death/doom band, and they pretty much succeeded. The songs are also well composed, their extended lengths were used up well, and not ending up in monotony. The fact that all the influences they built from are strongly related, made the band's job easier, they just had to follow a specific guideline and decide in which order they preferred to go heavier or take a softer turn. At the other hand, the album is easier to go into than most funeral doom records are, but the dynamics based on the contrast of '80s and '90s styles works quite well. By their wider perspective than usual the album could be enjoyable for both the fans of the original, less audience friendly aspect of death/doom and the fans of the romance based melancholic direction. 

Krypts - Unending Degradation (2013)

   Krypts had a pretty strong debut that introduces death/doom at its best. "Unending Degradation" includes all features that could define the style and make it enjoyable, and more importantly: it's committed by all-round high quality.

   To avoid misunderstandings, the band follows the earliest aspect of death/doom, that's quite far from the romantic-melodic direction, that became popular from the mid '90s. The slowly flowing heavy, noisy riffs resulting a massive impression that leaves no space for any emotional approach. It's overwhelming heaviness on the level that simply couldn't even approve any different influence or feeling to interfere. And there's no need for them either, since the depths created by the frequently returning simple, but ominous repetitive melodies are well filling. This method is well known by Finnish death metal bands in general, so it's nothing new, and it's the same effective in death/doom as well. Slow tempo is the most dominant on the album, sometimes middle speed, that gets reached mainly by blast beats, but in case of occasional speed ups extremely intense drumming could be heard. All assisted by deep growling vocal style of course. Probably the middle and very slow tempo switches are the most effective, since by their occurrences the guitar themes also following the current changes. And compared to the main or leading riffs the themes starting to diversify, creating very enjoyable unity and dark atmosphere. Basically this step  keeps creating the upper mentioned impressive depths, that simply can't get boring to hear again from time to time, thanks to the great song structures. The songs just getting slow, heavy and intense whenever they needed to. Nothing slips into monotonity. Well, this is what excellent song composing is about ladies and gents! Strongly recommended fans of death/doom!

Uncoffined - Ritual Death and Funeral Rites (2013)

   Since the British metal scene have a long and glorious past in doom metal, it's not really surprising if great doom metal or doom related bands are showing up from there. And if it's about the extreme underground, it seems like the best possible outcome happens in case of doom related bands. 
   Somehow British death/doom always works better than British death metal in general, and for this only the sound is responsible. For instance it matters less how great and intense themes could be heard by bands like Bolt Thrower or Benediction (and by their follower younger bands), if the sound is so dull, that it completely pulls back the intensity and the raw spirit that supposed to be exposed in the genre. And it seems like a local style feature or trademark like the so called buzzsaw sound in Swedish death metal. However, this is not an issue if it's about death/doom, since the "dull" sound fits way better to slow, monotonous themes. In case of Uncoffined, the whole picture is more evident than ever, cause by high singing vocal style and just a slightly softer sound, "Ritual Death and Funeral Rites" would be an excellent doom metal album. The themes are basically the same like what could have been heard from '80s doom metal bands. It's not an exaggeration to say that it's death/doom without death metal themes, but the combination of the growling vocals and some barely noticeable differences have been enough to not look at the record as some '80s nostalgia, though it definitely is. Even though the same could be said about almost the whole British metal scene in general at some point, it doesn't always seem disadvantageous, and some bands (Uncoffined also) even embracing the whole thing by adding further vintage references. So there are some specific sound and style features that have been created in the '80s, and like a copy/paste sample further used during the following decades in almost every metal styles on some level. Sometimes it turns out pretty good, sometimes less advantageous (like in case of death metal). Maybe this perspective shows the whole British scene less diverse or experimenting and way more monotonous than how it seems for most, but probably it's not too far from reality. However, Uncoffined's debut might be a potential favorite for both the fans of doom and death metal by their vintage style and similarly ancient horror based concept. 

Segregación Primordial - Visiones al límite del universo (2013)

   Even though Segregación Primordial's music is officially marked as death metal, maybe death/doom would be more more accurate. 

    Their debut reminds to Encoffination, at one hand because of its very slow themes in absolute majority, that are closer to depths funeral doom than to ordinary death metal. And second by the album's high toned sound and strongly echoing atmosphere, that also could be relatable to black metal. The extended song lengths also serving the same purpose, letting to express the development of an anxious, desperately mournful, but the same time very heavy tone. Despite the similarities, it's not quite obvious, that Encoffination was a direct influence (Incantation is quite possible though), cause it's also possible, that the band simply followed the early '90s old school tendencies of South American bands. Which leads to mixing styles even unintentionally, by listening only to personal instincts while expanding the range during experimenting. It's also possible, that black metal had more direct influence, than previously, since the noisy themes and the atmosphere going so fine together. But the results are way closer to death/doom and funeral doom than how it could have been expected. The sound isn't so high toned to give leading role to the atmosphere though, but enough noisy and echoing to let the whole thing turn similar to disharmonic brattling, in case of speed ups. This is kind of the opposite of what the thick atmosphere meant to express. Whatever the band's intention or main inspiration was, it's a quite interesting experiment for sure, to create sharp contrast with the same features, especially cause by most bands atmosphering sound only used to create unifying frame for their songs. The album also could become potential favorite for the fans of death/doom and funeral doom metal.

Symptom - Opulent Atrocity (2013)

   After two impressive EP releases Symptom have returned with a full-length album, that successfully exceeded the previous EPs. 

   It's partly due to it's way better sound, cause "Opulent Atrocity" didn't have rehearsal quality anymore, and it had quite advantageous effect on the heavy themes. The sound is still more dull than usual, and that's kinda restricting the possibilities to experiment with noisy sound. Also all instruments sounding weaker, and in case of some details and themes it's also too restrictive. For instance there are some pretty good bass lines to be heard on the album, but only if they would sound a bit louder, they could add even more to the main view. This dull sound would be more ideal if the atmosphere had bigger role, but in general picking this sound wasn't a too bad idea, since great themes are ruling the album. And this leads to the second improvement, the diverse themes. There are more speed and theme switches than before, stronger death metal influences could be found, and the whole thing just swinged into some uncomfortable disharmony, that keeps returning during the album. The slow, heavy themes didn't disappear, but their duration shortened, and by the involvement of intense, extreme disharmony, the contrast between death metal and death/doom themes increased. This cathartic song composition could remind to bands like Incantation or Disma, but their presence sounds somehow more raw. They're not evolving further, not creating any bond or continuity with the slower, heavy themes, they just happening. This contrast creation could be also linked to an anxious  level of unpredictability. Like even if things seem pretty dire, a bolt from the (dark) blue still could happen, and it does happen more often than how it should, giving a more ominous feeling than before.

Stomach Earth - Stomach Earth (2013)

   Thanks to the wider availability of technical possibilities (if it's about studio recording, or various music programs) compared to the '90s, or even the early '00s, one man projects became quite common in less popular styles, such as death/doom. In areas where the metal scene is poor, the circumstances could lead to the same thing. About Stomach Earth probably both cases could have been accurate. 

   Mr. Mike Mckenzie, the man behind Stomach Earth, showed up in several other bands before, and his own project he seemed to endeavor to do by high quality production, in fact the highest that was actually reachable. By the sound, the atmosphere and the song compositions he surely succeeded. The album became a stunning death/doom record, filled with catchy melodies and very heavy, down pulling themes. The noisy, grim approach is working pretty well with the melodies and the melancholic atmosphere, by creating nice contrast. In fact it includes everything that could make a death/doom album enjoyable. The small aesthetical issues lying in the details, and these often occuring at one man projects. Like it's pretty rare if someone can play well on all instruments and also good at vocals. In "Stomach Earth" most possibly programmed drumming could be heard, and not the most suitable beat style was selected, cause the beats sounding kinda artificial. Also too strong effects were used at the vocals, which suggests that deep growling vocal style also isn't Mr. Mckenzie's strongest point. Among his other projects, in Nightkin the same issue came up, and to melodic black/death, this solution was even less advantageous. Probably the hardcore/metalcore-like screaming vocals are his thing, like what could be heard in The Red Chord or in Umbra Vitae. However, using technical support is still a better option than trying to play on drums if someone is simply not good at it, or trying vocal styles beyond personal capabilities. Things like these could completely ruin everything, and that happens often at one man projects. Stomach Earth partly avoided this issue, but the artificial impression is still there instead. Anyways, for the fans of death/doom it still could have things to offer by its strongly demoralizing obscureness. 

Anatomia - Decaying in Obscurity (2012)

   Similar to most Japanese extreme underground bands, Anatomia also have a long list of split albums, therefore the 7 years that have been passed since the first record, wasn't spent inactively. By their second full-length album, the band continued the line of strongly Autopsy influenced death/doom metal, they've established their style on by "Dissected Humanity". 

   But "Decaying in Obscurity" became somehow different. While the first album was like a remake of the style of old Autopsy, this time the band started to add their own imaginations, and they've ended up as major defining features. The sound became way different, close to the sound of a rehearsal record, probably to reflect the old school feeling of early '90s records, and this resulted a quite raw main impression. The doom metal influenced themes had the main focus, and also they showed way bigger diversity than at other Autopsy influenced bands, which are (similar to their role model band) simply intending to rely on the contrast and sudden switches of slow doom influenced heaviness and intense death metal hammering. This intention didn't disappear from "Decaying in Obscurity" of course, but the doom metal themes became extended, and not only showing more diverse themes, but also bravely adding effects (such as keyboards), and features (short hard rock and even punk influenced themes) that are referring back to the oldest aspect of the genre. Involving older references and going back to the basics and to the core of the genre isn't something surprising to hear from Japanese bands, and it's definitely a more authentic incorrupt approach, than what hipster bands started to do the same time in Europe and in the US.

Assumption - Mosaic of the Distant Dominion (2012)

   Similar to Into Darkness, Assumption also debuted with a stunning demo with great sound and production quality. 

   Unlike most death/doom bands, their music might be difficult to sort to either of the two most common directions of the genre (the audience friendlier romance based, mainly melancholic direction, or the less popular, rough, classic form of death/doom). It does include some features from both, since melancholy and melodic themes having determining role, and very heavy approach is also usual, especially alongside the vocal parts. Funeral doom influences are significant, and in this mixed form the demo might keep reminding to Esoteric. However, Assumption didn't go too deep into elemental heaviness, and the combination of the mentioned features are not resulting something such complex, and endlessly desperate feeling like Esoteric does. The way how the band composed their songs, sounds more careful, that could have happened for two possible reasons. They could have focused more on keeping some balance, cause balance they've found the most reasonable tool to frame together various influences. Or in their early, still kinda experimenting period they just didn't want to go too far into any specific directions. The main impression is therefore softer and more moderate compared to most death/doom of funeral doom bands, but the mentioned balance also generates some elegance, that refuses to merge too deep into the dirty filth of depressive depths.

Into Darkness - Into Darkness (2012)

   Since in the late '00s it became widespread that demo releases often having so great sound quality like ordinary album releases, and sometimes even sounding better than some (black metal) studio records. This tendency had stimulus effect by the way more enjoyable sound quality, cause more fans became interested to add demos into their collections, and it wasn't only the intention of the most obsessed collectors anymore. Furthermore, demos started to have further releases, on CD and vinyl too. The same happened with Into Darkness' first demo, even though it was basically released on tape by following pretty old school fashion.

   Not only it's sound, but the music in general had made it reasonable that the interest kept staying around the self-titled demo. The band operated with quite simple, repetitive themes, but they've been embedded into such catchy sludgy / blackened atmosphere, that the main impression didn't become monotonous. Also the mixed influences had quite good and (according to this musically minimalist style) diverse effect. Similar to old school death/doom bands, their music doesn't lack intensity either, in the second and fourth songs they show, that slow, heavy themes and devastating speed do not exclude each other. Maybe because some specific features, like the basic themes, the higher toned female vocal style and the almost narrative vocal performance, their music might remind to Mythic. But Into Darkness is far not that primitive and their music is introducing a wider perspective to the listener. Since it was not only a pretty stunning demo for a debut, but musically diverse too, it could become a potential favorite for wider extreme music fan audiences too. 

shEver - Rituals (2012)

   By their second full length album, shEver continued their journey on the not too intentional path of death/doom with occult and depressive touch. 

   Probably the most remarkable feature of the album compared to "Ocean of Illusions" is the way better sound. At one hand it's quite advantageous for the selected style, cause heavy themes could easier prevail by clean sound. While in case of too noisy sound they losing from their effectiveness, often could have dull impression, and noise itself taking the determining role. At the other hand, if the band previously called their music sludge metal influenced, they should take it back if it's about "Rituals". Clean sound could neutralize the essence of sludgy elements, just as it happens here, because dirty, noisy, sound is one of the most basic requirements to sound sludgy. However, it works great, and makes the ominous feeling even more enjoyable than ever. If it's about themes, it could be sensed, that the band tried to experiment with something different than before, to involve more melodic, and the same time strongly melancolic parts. On the side of expressing depressive feelings, the occult, witchy tone was also intended to keep, but if it's about the implementation, the band seemed a bit idefinitive, like if they haven't been sure how to manage the whole thing. There are plenty of catchy heavy themes and musical solutions to hear on the record, but because of the mentioned experimenting ambitions, the album gets tired at the end. The band slipped with previously so well kept balance on the last two songs, and they became so weird like if they were not even planned for the same album like the previous songs, or if they haven't been ready yet. Except this 16 minutes long not so fitting weirdness (or wyrdness), "Ritual" is a great death/doom record, strongly recommended for the fans of the genre!