I'm going to be harsh (or rather, honest) here I'm afraid as I'm not giving extra points because many of the participants are amateurs. I will review you pretty much as any music on the archives. Do not be offended. If you feel I'm being unfair, you may point it out.
Don't think my ratings have anything to do with the idiotic US school grade system.
10 = incredibly good, an instant classic.
9 = very, very good. I will listen to this again!
8 = quite good, shows lots of promise
7 = promising, but quite lacking in some areas
6 = lacking in many important areas, but not without remeeding values
5 = not good at all, but not terrible either
I didn't rate anything below 5, but anything below it would be really bad.
Awerewa – Geophagus
Atmospheric, dark doom metal with some rather peculiar touches. The guitar solo reminded me of Bolt Thrower's early solos. The riffing is competent and delightfully Sabbathy at times. The major problems in this song are the following: drumming and songwriting. The drums are extremely boring and monotonous and lack so much punch that this song would've worked better without them. Another problem is in the song's pacing. Riffs come after another without any sense of increasing tension or even the most elementary sense of flow. The riffs are really good and well played, but in other fields the song is very lacking. The guitar tone is interesting, but I'm more keen on a basic bread and butter guitar tone for this kind of music; stranger sounds should be used occasionally, but not extensively. 7.0/10
Amaritude – Alignment of Stars
A melodic doom metal song somewhat reminiscent of what some modern doomish black metal bands are doing. The chord progressions give that impression. Here the drum machine works quite well, although you insisted on using a fast snare roll for a fill at one point which hardly ever sounds good with drum machines. Overall, this song is pulled off fairly well. The vocals fit the song's lethargic atmosphere, but it would've benefitted from a much slower tempo to further enhance this atmosphere. For doom metal of this kind, it sounds too agitated and not heavy enough. I was not that impressed with the riffs in this song either. Other than that, a good performance. 6.6/10
Corpsefister – The Flesh Remembers
This is definitely a dark one, somewhat reminiscent of Shape of Despair's first full-length, although less melodic and more gloomy and desolate. It could be described as what Xasthur would sound as a funeral doomish band. The vocals are almost as if spoken, but in a gruff, guttural tone, and near the end is a very anguished scream - nice. Haunting keyboards sit tastefully in the background. The guitar tone seriously lacks vitriol and power, but on the other hand since guitars, too, are almost merely a background element, and the music is more driven by bass and vocals. A rather nice piece. 7.9/10
CrustAsFuckExistence – Solitude and Despair
A very plodding, dark funeral doom song, quite like Corpsefister's, but this one is even darker and more desolate. The tempo is truly funeral doom slow. Again reminiscent of Xasthur. The vocals are really, really far away somewhere. I'm not sure I enjoyed this one that much, although being so incredibly gloomy and hopeless, the point of the music may not be in bringing enjoyment. Whereas Corpsefister's song lacked vitriolic guitar tone, here it is even too harsh: extremely distorted and treble-heavy, but also thick and all-encompassing. A monolithic slab of doom metal of the darkest order, a very drery piece. Too dreary for my tastes, even. A song like this requires more variety. 7.4/10.
deathprog23 – hvy.wtr
This one is a more traditional spirited doom metal piece. Nice, pleasant riffing, although quite unevoking, starts the song, but it takes a more melancholic turn soon. When the melancholic riff kicks in, I must say, the song also makes a turn for the better. It's quite underwhelming though: the drum sounds are dry and poor and lack power. The vocals, clean singing reminiscent of earlier Anathema's clean sung parts, could use some improvement. The pitch is off, and the tone is a bit weak. The tone might be due to poor recording more than singer's lack of ability, of course. When the fast part kicks in, it doesn't really manage to put any strength into the song's progress. The slow, plodding beat just suddenly changes into a fast one with one drum fill, and everything else stays quite the same. The screamed vocals are quite good, I would've liked to hear more of them. The riffs are, after that one great riff early in the song, not very good. Overall, this one leaves a lot to be desired. It wasn't at all horrible at any part, however; instead, there were some good parts. 5.8/10
Super Famicom – I Will Only Be Yours
A faster song, one I wouldn't classify as doom if it weren't for the claustrophobic, anguished atmosphere. In some ways this is like some so-called post-sludge (or post-metal or whatever) music, and the acoustic break with clean singing reminds me of Neurosis (although the singing itself reminds me of Rob Halford
). Very cool riffs in this song, shame that the guitar tone is quite muddy, as if in a poor-quality mp3. Harsh vocals are pretty alright shrieks, but the clean singing leaves a lot to be desired in terms of pitch. Some vocal lessons, and you'd be a most promising tenor. The musicianship is otherwise competent, although the drum beats could use more variation. 8.1/10
Willoos – Vervallen
Wow, the intro really blew me away. Probably the best riff so far in the competition. Man, I wish the vocals would make justice for the music – some kind of far-away chants, I dunno man. Why not harsh vocals or melodic singing? The riffs are fantastic, the production is fantastic, everything is played really well too. Awesome song! Shame about the vocals... Get someone to scream like a bastard over this and it'll be one hell of a song. Really intensive. It doesn't really get doom metal until about halfway in, which also marks a notable shift in quality from awesome to fair. Still not bad. The lead guitar doesn't play anything very interesting and doesn't sit well in the mix. After that, back to epic excellence. Did you get Drudkh to teach you songwriting? It's a black metal song with a doomy break, but hey, it's fucking fantastic. 9.5/10
Haightred – Astral Entities
Another dark piece. A really nasty guitar throne with loads of lows and trebles and practically no middles. Like Metallica tone, but on steroids. The music itself is not quite as impressive, but quite competent anyhow. The vocals are a duet of higher rasps and low gutturals; not bad at all, but I would've reserved the duet thing for a special effect and used either-or for the most part. Not any very memorable riffs here, but decent enough. A cool melodic break like a respite from the heavy, gloomy Disembowelment-esque doom bombardment. The lead guitar is somehow a bit grating though, it needs to be subtler both in terms of melody and tone. It needs a counterpoint, or it needs to be a counterpoint to the underlying theme or riff. 7.0/10
Gloaming - The Nightmare of Braddock Heights
Batman here really understands the meaning of doom. This is some fucking doom alright. Incredibly downtuned guitar riffs, drumbeats that implement different kinds of cymbals, and really dark-sounding chord progressions make this sound like a fucking steamroller juggernaut of death heading your way while you're stuck in wet concrete. Despite the very low tuning of the guitar, the tone is crystal clear, and the bass manages to hold its own against the huge guitar by being even huger. Bass and guitar tones complement each other perfectly, and the drums sound organic and real and stand out in the mix without being loud (they could be louder even). Very cool, if a bit lacking in variety. 8.6/100
kingnuuuur – Stoner Jam
A stoner jam indeed! Like a lethargic, laid back, plodding version of Clutch. How can music sound so sure of itself? Very doomy, very heavy and very catchy. Excellent tones and a cool mix aside from the drums which are slightly powerless. Again, incredibly low tunings. I liked this one, although it was too plodding for my tastes. Lack of dynamics and variety. It does sound very jam oriented indeed, both in a good way in that it sounds flexible and free, but also in that like in jams, the guitarist will go and forget that one really great riff he was planning for some part. 7.7/10
Ecliptic Dawn – The Black Waterfall
For this one I can't think of much to say for some reason, it simply rubs me the wrong way. It starts with a horribly out of tune guitar lead, which is then accompanied by power chords for the exact same notes. Never a good way to go. The melodies are vaguely oriental-sounding, a bit like Amorphis. The growls sound very similar to early Amorphis, how did you achieve such a similar voice? The keyboards are much too intrusive, since they don't really do anything anyway. No good riffs, no atmosphere other than the irritation it creates in me. It sounds almost like a metal parody or something; as if no passion was put into it at all. Too much shit is going on, but nothing goes anywhere. 5.2/10
Yzordderrex – Crawling
Not Linking Park. The song really crawls. This is incredibly twisted, dark and heavy doom metal. The best mix of all participants: magnificent guitar tone lets bass show through it despite how heavy and low-tuned it is, the drums sound very clear and powerful. If anything the vocals could be louder. No reason to hide them in the mix since from what I can hear they're pretty amazing. If anything, the riffs could be a little .. more. The first riff is good enough, but the second riff doesn't have a lot to it, and it goes on forever. Then, for almost half of the duration of the song, almost nothing happens. Don't leave your song halfway finished, this one has incredible potential. To indulge in such megalomanic doom breakery, you need to have at least three great riffs before it for at least twice the duration of the break itself. You had one for half the break's length. Great work in every other field though. I almost gave you a much lower score, but I didn't, because the great sounds alone make this song interesting to listen to despite the fact that half of the song you have only one damn power chord. 7.9/10
Damn Willoos and the vocals. Well, Willoos wins despite the vocals. Hooray!