SEAMOUNT

Yet another German doom rock band! Actually, the singer, Phil Swanson, is American but whatever. Here we have sEAMOUNt (officially spelled like that) and these guys play doom rock of the heaviest order. Kinda standard doom singing, lots of open-E chugging when it's heavy and groov-y drumming. Obviously, the bass playing is good and fluid. They're a bit more rock-y than metal, much like in the vein of Thin Lizzy in terms of melodies and metal-ness and very Devil's Blood-ish in a contemporary sense. I think that paints a pretty good picture.

Not much else to say, really, other than this is doom done good. Worth listening to!

GOREMENT

Now I know where Bloodbath blatantly got their logo from...

The band in question here is yet another Swedish death metal band ca. early/mid Nineties is GOREMENT. I recently ordered their discography CD compilation, Darkness of the Dead, from a label which will remain unknown and as I'm listening to the disc now, this really is just "another Swedish death metal band." However, there is some darkness emitted from the sludge-like riffs and some nice, melancholic melodies (not unlike Finland's Convulse and early Amorphis). Gorement doesn't rely too heavily on speed, as most of the songs are mid-paced, but there are short bursts of blasts and the like. Overall, a varied album and filled with darkness.

This may not blow your mind, but it's a nice addition to your collection and worth a listen or two. This is especially critical if you claim to be into Swedish death metal. Just sayin'.

CAUCHEMAR

How the fuck did I not feature this incredible band here before? Of course, I'm talking about Montreal's upcoming, super-fine doom band CAUCHEMAR. Their EP/mini-LP, La Vierge Noire, is now out on the Bay Area's incredible Nuclear War Now! Productions and it's absolutely mandatory that you order it. I'm not shitting you. Go listen to the two tracks up on their MySpace and worship them. Great, haunting and eerie female vocals courtesy of Annick Giroux (who also provides the bass playing), fantastic riffing and soloing by François Patry and Patrick Pageau holding it down Dave Holland-style. The best part is that everything is in French, from the lyrics to the layout of the album. I dunno about you guys, but I get a kick outta foreign things. It leaves everyone else in mystery and it's pretty rad.

Like Pagan Altar or Seventies-Judas Priest? How about some Black Sabbath or Mercy? It's a no-brainer, really.

BURIAL INVOCATION

So my friend and I were browsing the Detest Records distro page and BURIAL INVOCATION from Turkey (of all places) caught our attention. Let's just say that this unorthodox location for death metal has produced a really fucking amazing and brutal band!

They have a demo tape out, Rituals of the Grotesque, and you can pick it up at Detest or other like-minded distros from around the world (wide web). The first thing I thought after hearing "Desecration Remains" was early Dismember + insanely brutal vocals. Nothing wrong with that at all! "Haunted Crypts of the Ancient Dead" is more slow and epic and gives a frighteningly dismal feeling - which is how real death metal should feel like. This is highly recommended!

They're also playing the ridiculous Kill-Town Death Fest in Denmark. If you happen to live around there, there really is no excuse to miss it!

Oh, and note the amazing logo art! It was done by the talented Daniel Desecrator.

MIDNIGHT RIDER

Sorry for the giant gap between updates. There really isn't any excuse I can say for this other than me being super busy with my "real job" and other things.

Anyway, I'd like to introduce to you people Germany's heavy/doom rock/metal band MIDNIGHT RIDER. The core of the band is made up of Wayne, Cliff Bubenheim and fronted by Blumi (also of Metalucifer Germany). That in itself is pretty great since we all know how amazing and credible one must be to be in the ranks of Metalucifer. Rounding out the band as session members are Shinji "Samm" Tachi (of course, of Metalucifer) and Kenji Naruse from Japan.

Sound-wise, we get a really hard rockin', doom-tinged type of heavy metal much like the Seventies Pentagram stuff and all of the bands of that style. I also get a feeling of a little psych-rock in there, as well. Think Hawkwind.

Interested yet? You should be, since you can't really go wrong with bands that play in this ancient style. Unless, of course, you're The Sword.