Circle of Death

Here in good old Tennessee, I am constantly plagued by bands trying to add me or talk to me under the moniker of "death/doom metal". Most of it turns out to be worthless -core mixed with the ever so slight Black Sabbath or Pentagram influence. I had lost faith in the genre. One day, someone recommended this band to me. I downloaded, expecting another disappointment. Boy, was I wrong.

The first thing I see is the fantastic cover art. No cliche or overproduction here, just a good quality, simple cover. It wasn't like any other death/doom cover I had seen, and it made me all the more curious as to the music inside.

At the start, I was drawn into an ambient void of punishing guitars and airy effects, along with very tasteful drums. Listening to this album put a gradually bigger and bigger smile on my face. I had found the death/doom I had been looking for.

There are a lot of good things in this album. To begin with, we see the guitars expertly played in a style that perfectly complements the atmosphere. There are the palm muted riffs that just screem SOTC-era Deicide, along with the doomy midsections that just ooze sludgy goodness. To complement said musicianship is an expertly blended effects panel. These guys really know how to set up a good atmosphere with their guitar pedals, and there is certainly none of the "drowning in a pool" you hear when one uses too much reverb and delay. The vocals just add to the atmosphere of the album. It's the quintessence of an ethereal death growl- again, the band is obviously experts at effects. Finally, the drums added the final touch to it- they keep you interested with some good underlying rhythms and blasts.... most of the time.

Why did I knock off 11 points? Firstly, I would have loved to hear a bass guitar. There are so many places where I was thinking "Wow, this could make for an interesting opportunity for a bass riff". I'm not certain if there is even a bassist, if he was turned back in the mix, or if it's just my crappy speakers, but in any case it was a definite downturn. Secondly, there were times when the drummer seemed to get either too excited or too lax. I heard some fills where his double-kick was just a bit off rhythm, and in some of the doom riffs it almost sounded like he was just a tiny bit slow. It's easily fixed, and it doesn't really detract too much from the overall sound.

All in all, it was worth the download time. It's a solid death/doom album, and it definately shoves good stuff in the hordes of poser band's faces. I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of creative death metal, or to any die-hard doom fan who is looking to delve their way into death metal.