The Tritonus Bell

Finland's Hooded Menace is easily one of the strongest doom death bands going right now. Throughout their fourteen year career they've shown an incredible level of consistency. I personally enjoy how diverse Hooded Menace's discography can be, especially their recent releases. All of their albums are still doom death, Hooded Menace just likes to explore how to fit different styles of death and doom metal into their music. Not many doom death bands are this versatile, which is a large reason why I'm a big fan of this band. On August 27th Hooded Menace released their sixth studio album, 'The Tritonus Bell', via Season of Mist.

'The Tritonus Bell' again shows why Hooded Menace are some of the strongest and most innovative songwriters in doom death. This time around Hooded Menace continues their recent trend of exploring how diverse doom death can be as a genre by incorporating plenty of new influences. Gone are the funeral doom leanings of 2015's 'Darkness Drips Forth' and the shimmery, ethereal feel of 2018's 'Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed'. On 'The Tritonus Bell' Hooded Menace looks to doom metal's traditional roots for inspiration. Bands like Cathedral and Candlemass seem to have been in principal songwriter Lasse Pyykkö's recent listening. The traditional doom influences are most evident in the guitar riffs and the less harsh tone of this album. The traditional doom back bone of 'The Tritonus Bell' actually makes it Hooded Menace's most accessible album. It has a much cleaner sound than any of their previous albums.

Hooded Menace brings back many of the staples of their sound which keeps things familiar for longtime fans. My favorite Hooded Menace staple is definitely the killer main riffs in their songs. They're always simple, catchy and, combined with the smooth guitar tone used, a dominant part of Hooded Menace's sound. 'Chime Diabolicus' and 'Those Who Absorb the Night' have two of the strongest main riffs on the album. The riffs on this album are some of the catchiest this band has done to date. 'Those Who Absorb the Night' was firmly stuck in my head after just one listen. On the first listen the amount of groove becomes readily apparent as well. 'Blood Ornaments' and 'Scattered into Dark' are just two examples of the great death metal groove on this album. The strong catchy riffs, combined with the strong groove makes this album accessible and a lot of fun to listen to.

'The Tritonus Bell' features a slightly cleaner, more inviting production than modern doom death bands typically utilize. The production brings out the chunkiness of the riffs and emphasizes the groove in several of these songs. Overall 'The Tritonus Bell' feels like a blunting of some of the death metal harshness and ugliness that Hooded Menace is known for and embracing a cleaner doom sound. Death metal is still present, especially in the harsh vocals and chunky groove but this album is definitely less ugly than a typical death metal album. Unlike their last two albums, 'The Tritonus Bell' is a fun, more energetic listen.

The only problem I had with this album was the somewhat awkward ending. The nine minute penultimate track, 'Scattered into Dark' has a slow fade out to nothing that has a sense of finality to it. This song is followed up with the instrumental outro track, 'Instruments of Somber Finality'. It feels unnecessary and awkward after the outro of the previous song. I don't find this choice bad or offensive, it leaves me scratching my head more than anything.

'The Tritonus Bell' is a great doom death album. It's simultaneously heavy and accessible. Hooded Menace fills this album with plenty of catchy riffs and some great groove to bump your head along to. It's a cleaner, more fun album than I typically expect from Hooded Menace. The traditional doom influence is a nice addition to Hooded Menace's formula and helps this album stand out from the rest of their discography. If you're new to Hooded Menace or even the doom death subgenre, this is an excellent place to start.

Originally published on my facebook blog, 33 RPM Chaos