Doom crawlers that needed time to mull over
Not all albums strike home immediately, and sometimes that’s particularly the case with the slower and more atmospheric variants of metal. However, the onus is on reviewers to turn over their thoughts quickly and share their conclusions as close to the time of release as possible. As a result, some of those slow-growers or slow-movers get swept over in the course of a year, or simply get heard at a time when it’s too late to review them with relevance. Over the course of 2020, several of those albums built up, largely in the doom style, so why not have a look over them all at once? Casting back almost a year to last April, the releases by King Witch and Marrowfields came out on the same day, the 24th, followed by Sorcerer’s third full-length a month later, then Pulchra Morte and Cardinal Wyrm close to the end of the year. First, a quick look chronologically, then a five-way battle to conclude!
King Witch – Body of Light – Listenable Records
7.5
What won’t surprise too much about the second King Witch full-length – not if you know anything about Laura Donnelly and Jamie Gilchrist’s prior activity in Firebrand Super Rock anyway – is that this Scottish quartet can’t stay calm for long. Despite transitioning to a more doomy sound overall, plus extending a couple of cuts to 10 minutes in length, the visceral belting of Donnelly’s vocals really deserves a much more exhilarating foundation than the Sabbathian sloth of “Solstice I – She Burns” or the crawling “Beyond the Black Gate”. Although both of these songs possess creepy, stagnant verses that switch up with desperate moments of emotion and quicker pay-offs to end, the meat in the middle of the doom sandwich (disregarding the brief interlude of “Solitude II”) proves just a bit more flavourful, with “Witches Mark” manically shredding to a halt in under 4 minutes. The closing sample of one of the band members whooping in delight sums up just how Body of Light feels at its highest ebb.
The sticking point about the sophomore from King Witch comes with the fact that the enviable variety present on the album causes it to span a full hour, which feels bulky. Of the 9 songs here, more than half head over 6 minutes, leaving the moments of pedal-to-the-metal energy quite widespread or too prolonged to make the deserved impact. For a proper stab at doom, “Call of the Hunter” lines Donnelly up next to Melissa Pinion of Stygian Crown, though all the emphasis on the vocals just indicates how stock the instrumental sounds, maintaining a broad-toned even tempo for the first 5 minutes. However, when the transition is finally made, King Witch sound like Orange Goblin leaping across the concussed figure of Solitude Aeturnus, which should emphasize how much more energized the up-tempo sections become. Despite these annoyances, it must be said that Body of Light remains a dramatic and enjoyable experience for much of the time, and that most of the harm could be spared by a bit of trimming and a recalibration of King Witch’s speedometer.
Marrowfields – Metamorphoses – Black Lion Records
6.5
Brandon Green started Marrowfields back in 2015, and his demo sketch from that period was finally filled in by a complete line-up on Metamorphoses. Looking at the shape-shifting cover art, you’d expect that title to take into account the Roman poet Ovid’s work, and indeed the album transforms throughout 5 long songs that range over 51 minutes. The first feature to stand out will probably be Ken Gillis’s weather-worn vocals, which opine a mood similar to Butch Balich of Argus – a sort of exhausted catharsis. Actually placed fairly far back in the mix, the whole of Metamorphoses continues the same dreamy feel as those distant laments, with post-rock textures, clean sections aplenty, and delay pedals smudging guitar riffs into atmospheric oil painting. The songs blend into one another in this way, pooling up at the end of each track into little grey puddles of damp clean picking that spills over a minute or so into the next cut.
As such, languor pervades Marrowfields’ debut almost to a fault. Tempo changes, musical crescendos, and memorable parts are all in rather short supply, while the hovering aura of dreary loss only takes Metamorphoses partway to atmospheric quality. True, “Birth of the Liberator” opens stirringly with a more focused attempt at laying down solid doom death riffs, but the energy is sapped by the first clean break and the stifling production prevents the heaviness cutting through when it returns after midway. For the shortest song on the record to become dull is a massive warning sign for those who prefer their metal vigorous. On the other hand, the reflective qualities of “Dragged to the World Below”, which plays out like a dream-stricken Primordial, and some evocative lead guitar work by guest Bliss Auburn may endear Marrowfields more to those listening under relaxed conditions.
Sorcerer – Lamenting of the Innocent – Metal Blade Records
7.0
A Swedish band that formed in 1988 and played epic doom metal – should be famous, right? After just a couple of demos, Sorcerer split and eventually regrouped in 2010, since which they have released 4 full-lengths and grown in stature to just a few ranks below compatriot legends Candlemass. Admittedly, the blend of epic doom showcased on Lamenting of the Innocent offers a touch more pomp and real-world relevance than anything Leif Edling’s cohorts have done in the past decade, themes of the Inquisition mirroring the recent scandals in the Church, while some doomy riffing ballast is exchanged for a power metal sense of the big show. Original vocalist Anders Engberg remains on hand with his warmly searing croon, opening his lungs both to dark and bright moods, such as his duet with Johan Längquist on acoustic ballad “Deliverance”. Undoubtedly, a gleaming production job assists in making all these areas of Lamenting of the Innocent feel bombastically widescreen, in a manner not dissimilar to the last couple of Pyramaze albums.
Unfortunately, the songwriting lets Sorcerer down pretty badly at times. If it weren’t for the fabulous impact with which the heavy sections strike back, the overriding memory of these 64 minutes would probably be the copious amount of downtime bulking up cuts like “Age of the Damned” and the title track past 8 minutes. The core content of the compositions rarely needs to exceed 5 minutes, leading to troublesome pacing as parts dawdle without really achieving much. Epic metal need not always be lengthy, and that’s something Sorcerer seem to forget. Credit where it’s due though: lead-off track “The Hammer of Witches” crunches into the fray in essential manner, plus “Institoris” rocks throughout and includes a tasty solo. As a whole, Lamenting of the Innocent puts up some fine highlights, but just feels a bit bloated and unfocused as well.
Pulchra Morte – Ex Rosa Ceremonia – Transcending Records
7.0
The biggest change for Pulchra Morte from the previous year’s well-received debut album was a vocalist switch and addition of a permanent bassist, bringing in 2 more Wolvhammer men, one of whom currently doubles as frontman for Skeletonwitch, namely Adam Clemans. Though his low, dry roars were quite different to Chance Garnette in his other band, Clemans doesn’t drastically alter the formula put forth on Divina Autem et Aniles, nor have the rest of the group shifted focus away from a dense deathly take on early Paradise Lost. Sonically, Ex Rosa Ceremonia feels a touch more modern than the sandy debut, cutting into fewer gothic shapes and sticking more steadfastly to the rolling heaviness despite some Gregor Mackintosh-inspired melodies and clean vocals on pre-release single “Knife of the Will”. As a result, Pulchra Morte could easily appear on a bill alongside death, doom, or sludge artists.
Where this follow-up struggles in contrast to the band’s earlier success is in defining individual songs against one another. The long intro to “Prince Among Shadows” effectively changes the dynamics in the middle of the album, as does the echoing opening and airy melody of “Locust Humanity”, yet most of these 9 songs sit in a similar pocket and maintain a steady momentum that seems fast for a doom outfit but relaxed for death metal. Sometimes the thick grooves hit almost like a free-flowing Crowbar, “To Suffer (the Way You Do)” sounding like both a stolen title and direct nod to the NOLA sludgers, yet that comparison agrees with the notion that lead instruments largely stay dormant, very few solos appearing and the melodies never being foregrounded. That leaves Ex Rosa Ceremonia with a nice moody, bruised tone overall but – other than a few brief guest appearances – lacking in specifics, which suggests that this new line-up haven’t quite gelled yet.
Cardinal Wyrm – Devotionals – Independent
7.5
Wherever you read about Cardinal Wyrm, you’ll see attestations to their weirdness. But are they really that strange? As a sort of duo that includes their most well-known member on the side (Leila Abdul-Rauf of Hammers Of Misfortune plays sometime bass and adds backing vocals to this fourth album), primitive thumping doom would probably be expected. While that’s sort of the case for Devotionals, Cardinal Wyrm do enough to ensure their formula sticks out. Some of the riffs are real thick, grimy slabs of fuzz that come across with much more power than the pottering drums, backed up strongly by bass and pulling the mixture down into murky depths; even the vocals remain quite low and reined in despite Pranjal Tiwari adding a lot of colour and character with low moans and some desperate enunciation. Together, those elements come on like the Pentagram-fuelled rituals of Hour Of 13, yet acid washes of lead guitar on “Gannet” and “Abbess” give the experience a definite psychedelic bent that fits in with some of the spiritual themes here.
Several of the songs swirl into one haze of twisted shapes, though that’s as much to do with the sonics of Devotionals as the songwriting. Dropping down to semi-clean playing for the start of “Do We Have Another Battle Left in Us?” shows the trio setting unusual moods and Tiwari particularly laying down unexpected rhythms on drums, which continues to happen throughout the heavier latter part of this longest song. Jumping time changes seem to be led by the vocals at times, while the ponderous riffing of “Selimesh” draws from the old Revelation handbook of despondent creativity, sounding at once primal and otherworldly. A minor drawback to this approach materializes during the less curious sections, where the fairly long songs wander a little aimlessly. As such, the album is more one to dwell within uncertainly rather than rock out to uninhibitedly, although you also wouldn’t bet against the power of the fuzz when playing Devotionals on big speakers.
Five-way slow cuts battle
Shortest album: Pulchra Morte (42 minutes)
Longest album: Sorcerer (64 minutes)
Heaviest album: Pulchra Morte
Most atmospheric album: Cardinal Wyrm
Most emotional album: Marrowfields
Best vocalist: Laura Donnelly (King Witch)
Best guitarist: Jamie Gilchrist (King Witch)
Best bassist: Leila Abdul-Rauf (Cardinal Wyrm)
Best drummer: Clayton Gore (Pulchra Morte)
Best lyrics: Sorcerer
Best cover art: Kim Holm (Cardinal Wyrm)
Catchiest song: “Institoris” (Sorcerer)
Moodiest song: “Dragged to the World Below” (Marrowfields)
Fastest song: “Witches Mark” (King Witch)
Best riffing: “Selimesh” (Cardinal Wyrm)
After such a close battle, it’s clear that each of the 5 albums have quite different strengths. The visceral appeal of King Witch made it a snip for both their lead players to win their respective categories, while the brute force of Pulchra Morte put up a good fight too. However, the overall novelty of Cardinal Wyrm’s approach comes across strongly, and the Bay Area trio should be declared the winners with victory in 4 categories! Congratulations to Cardinal Wyrm and Devotionals.
However, it’s worth noting that all 5 albums could cater to different kinds of doom listener, and none should be written off. Sometimes it’s nice to take your time with music and find the real quality of a release without any pressure. For this set of slow cuts, the extra time certainly helped open up some of their curious features. Hope to see you again next year for a fresh batch!
