The Wounded Kings - The Shadow over Atlantis

*Year : 2009

*Country : UK

*Genre : Occult/Psyche Doom

Tracklist :

1. The Swirling Mist

2. Baptism of Atlantis

3. Into the Ocean's Abyss

4. The Sons of Belial

5. Deathless Echo

6. Invocation of the Ancients.

*******

Total playing time : 41.35

Comment:

A sonorous marvel. Darker and more unhealthy than Electric wizard, with a clear voice returned from beyond the grave. A sinister, sticky and terribly evocative atmosphere. A very figurative music.We sail in a barque on a dead sea through the mist in the middle of nowhere, like Charon on the Styx. A unique and grandiose landscape plagued by death lies before us. Like a drug, we are bewitched, unable to get out of this world

By far my favorite release of the year (2010)

The Shadow over Atlantis in 3 words: Immersive, Occult, Abyssal

Myspace

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Necros Christos - Doom of the Occult

*Year : 2011

*Country : Germany

*Genre : Necromantic Doom Death Metal

Tracklist :

1. Temple I
2. Baal Of Ekron
3. Temple II
4. Hathor Of Dendera
5. Gate 1
6. Temple III
7. Necromatique Nun
8. Temple IV
9. Invoked From Carrion Slumber
10. Gate 2
11. Temple IX.99
12. Doom Of Kali Maa - Pyramid Of Shakti Love - Flame Of Master Shiva
13. Gate 3
14. Temple V
15. Succumbed To Sarkum Phagum
16. Temple VI
17. Visceras Of The Embalmed Deceased
18. Gate 4
19. Temple VII
20. The Pharaonic Dead
21. Temple VIII
22. Descending Into The Kinly Tomba
23. Gate 5

*******

Total playing time : 1.13.04

Comment:

Ritualistic Doomish Death Metal from catacombs, hell yeah!

More seriously, I'm not especially fan of Death Metal (with ridiculous names like Nekors Christos) but this is an exception. Overall, the atmosphere that emanates from this album is dark and unhealthy at will, as if you were in a crypt witnessing a black mass.

This occult death metal is enriching by interludes, wich are really different/varied; it passes by a simple acoustic guitar song through church's samples with keyboards that enhance the ceremonial side of the music.

Much more ambient than technical (in my opninion this is a compliment).

Doom of the Occult in 3 words: Long Funeral Procession

No Myspace

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Virus - The Agent That Shapes the Desert

*Year : 2011

*Country : Norway

*Genre : Avant-garde Rock/(Black?) Metal

Tracklist :

1.The Agent That Shapes The Desert
2.Continental Drift
3.Chromium Sun
4.Red Desert Sand
5.Intermission: Furnace Creek
6.Dead Cities Of Syria
7.Where The Flame Resides
8.Parched Rapids
9.Call Of The Tuskers

*******

Total playing time : 43.12

Comment:

I would describe this music as a complex and delirious mental monologue. This record consists in: dissonant, eerie guitars; monotonous, grandiloquent, maleficating and really strange vocals; great and varied jazzy drum with a terrible groove. It's deeply black metal without sounding like black metal. Finally, I would note the presence of Garm (Ulver) on the last track.

The Agent That Shapes the Desert in 3 words:  Psychedelic & Demoniacal Orgy

For fans of: Ved Buens Ende (very similar), Fleurety, Voivod and Ulver

Myspace

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Bohren & Der Club Of Gore - Black earth

*Year : 2004

*Country : Germany

*Genre : Jazz/ Dark Ambient/ Doom

Tracklist :

1. Midnight Black Earth
2. Crimson Ways
3. Maximum Black
4. Vigilante Crusade
5. Destroying Angels
6. Grave Wisdom
7. Constant Fear
8. Skeletal Remains
9. The Art Of Coffins

*******

Total playing time : 1.10.59

Comment:

B&dCoG musical style is based on jazz providing a cozy and sweet atmosphere (reinforced by keyboards and saxophone...). But the main features of their music are minimalism and slowness. An oniric slowness.

It's the kind of record that you don't listen to anywhere and anyhow, the listener "must" be conditioned before listening to enter the trip. 

Black Earth in 3 words:  Shabby, Freakish, Dark

Myspace 
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Drudkh - Handful of Stars

*Year : 2010

*Country : Ukraine

*Genre : Black Metal

Tracklist :

1. Cold Landscapes
2. Downfall of the Epoch
3. Towards the Light
4. Twilight Aureole
5. The Day Will Come
6. Listening to the Silence

*******

Total playing time : 41.51

Comment:

This album marks a change in the group dirrection: Drudkh sets aside the massive wall of strigs for clean and powerful guitars, massive basslines, and standard (but perfect) growl, I'd even say that there's sometimes post rock influences. Handful of Stars isn't 'technical' but the music itself is very complex. It’s not especially dark, raw, hateful, angry or dissonant. However, it is black metal; atmospheric and evocative. Another classic from this well-known ukrenian band.

Handful of Stars in 3 words:  Poetic and melancholic aggression

Myspace

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Vindensång - Terminus : Rebirth in Eight Parts

*Year : 2008

*Country : USA

*Genre : Ambient/Black/Dark Metal

Tracklist :

1. Prologue: The Advent of Autumn / From Infinity 

2. A Place Where Sand Meets Fog 

3. Return My Flesh and Bones to the Earth

4. Ashes and Memories

5. Dusk: Into the Glow of Nightfall 

6. Fading Light 

7. The Origin: The Point of Return 

8. Epilogue: At Winter’s End / To Infinit

*******

Total playing time : 1.10.00

Comment:

The album is at no point heavy, and it is never quick in tempo. It is full of slow, deliberate compositions which are created ​​to make your mind travel: This album is a long journey into darkness with only time as a company.

In my opinion a complete listening of the album is the only way to enjoy music in all its dimensions

in 3 words:  Cinematic, Ambient, Metaphysical

For fans of: A Forest Of Stars, Walknut

Myspace

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Blood Ceremony - Living with the Ancients

*Year : 2011

*Country : Canada

*Genre : Heavy Doom Metal 70's

Tracklist :

1. The Great God Pan

2. Coven Tree 

3. The Hermit 

4. My Demon Brother

5. Morning of the Magicians

6. Oliver Haddo 

7. Night of Augury 

8. The Witch's Dance

9. Daughter of the Sun

*******

Total playing time : 45.44

Comment:

Brand new album of the band (7 march). It's psychedelic, experimental Rock influenced by Paganism and Occult (film, masses,...). The main particularities of the band are the female vocals and the flute parts which are more dynamic than ever before (it sounds a bit like Jethro tull). The guitars consist in really basic Sabbathian riffs, and it certainly won't be the release of the year, but it's even really enjoyable! A special mention to the great song-writing.

For fan of: Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, Vintage porn and Patchouli

Living with the Ancients in 3 words: Occult, Retro, Doom 

Myspace

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