Doom comes in many shapes. There’s doom that combines elements of stoner rock and then there is doom that touches the waters of atmospheric death and black metal, such as pioneered by bands like Katatonia, Paradise Lost, Evoken, and others. The release before us ‘Latitudes Of Sorrow’ (2025) brings together two bands who pull their origins from the same year that Doomed & Stoned began: 2013.

First up are three grey clouds from SHORES OF NULL. The Roman quintet brings harsh vocals and growls contrasted with clean, melodic crooning, and this is pitted against a dark ensemble of guitar, bass, and drums. It’s the ideal time of year for this kind of sound, as it matches the gloomy weather and provides a morose commentary on the state of human existence in contemporary times.

The band provides us with a walk-through of these tracks:

“An Easy Way”

It is the song that opens the split, and it is the most straightforward of all our songs in there. It has a dual nature: on the one hand, it’s quite catchy and memorable; on the other, it retains a deep inextinguishable darkness that leaves very little room for hope. Lyrically, it deals with depression and the inner struggle, as well as the temptation to surrender when everything seems utterly bleak. It is a reflection on human frailty that can lead to self-destruction.

“The White Wound”

This song was inspired by the avalanche that struck Hotel Rigopiano on January 18, 2017, in the Central Italian region of Abruzzo, near where I grew up. Imagine 120.000 tons of snow coming down from the mountain at the speed of 100 km/h and destroying everything on its way. 29 people died and only 11 survived. Musically, it blends doom-and-gloom passages with sudden blackened blastbeats, reflecting the unpredictable violence of nature. Lyrically, the song meditates on grief, loss, and the anger over the negligence that allowed the tragedy to happen, leaving lasting emotional scars.

“The Year Without Summer”

Browsing the web for catastrophic events, I came across an unprecedented volcanic eruption that took place in 1816 in modern-day Indonesia, which triggered devastating consequences. Sunlight was obscured, temperatures plummeted, and the world faced famine, floods, and epidemics. The song captures the fear, uncertainty, and despair of that time, exploring both the material devastation and the inner turmoil of those who lived through it. It’s a meditation on fragility, loss, and the inescapable force of nature. It features MN of Convocation of growls.

The CONVOCATION side is no slouch, and everything fans of the band love about the Finish crew is here. Furious roars that seem to manifest as pure flame, plaintive guitar strains, swelling rhythms, and bewildering atmosphere that will sweep you away into its aura. “Abaddon’s Shadow” is a watery behemoth like none other and you’ll dissipate right into the molecules of “The Empty Room.”

Latitudes Of Sorrow is deeply affecting and powerful through and through. Shores of Null and Convocation are ideally paired on this release and provide a good balance to this ship adrift in nihilistic fog. Releasing on cassette and CD, in addition to digital format, on Friday, November 21st via Everlasting Spew Records (get it here).

Stick it on a playlist with Enslaved, November’s Doom, Marche Funebre, and Endonomous, along with your favorite death and funeral doom bands.

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Shores of Null stand out from their contemporaries with their ability to blend seemingly disparate elements into their sound, overwhelmingly heavy and soothing at the same time: blackened aggression stands alongside gothic-doom sections without either sounding out of place. Their music can be both melancholic and majestic, made of chorale-like guitar textures across the instrument’s entire range, sustained by a powerful rhythmic section and punctuated by a refined mixture of clean and growled vocals, along with extensive use of pleasing vocal harmonies which have become the band’s trademark through the years.

The Rome-based metal band has been an unwavering presence within the metal underground since their musical outset in 2013, churning out a series of impressive records: the melodic and somber Quiescence (Candlelight, 2014), the darker and more complex Black Drapes For Tomorrow (Candlelight/Spinefarm, 2017), and the ambitious Beyond The Shores (On Death And Dying) (Spikerot Records, 2020), a 38-minute long doom manifesto that sees guest appearances of the doom-titans Mikko Kotamäki (Swallow The Sun) and Thomas A.G. Jensen (Saturnus), along with the angelic voice of Elisabetta Marchetti (Inno).

Shores Of Null’s fourth album, The Loss Of Beauty, released in March 2023, was hailed as one of the best albums of the year within the genre. The band supported the release with an extensive EU/UK tour alongside Swallow The Sun, Draconian, and Avatarium, followed by standout performances at major festivals like Hellfest, Rock Imperium, and 70000 Tons Of Metal, among others, further solidifying their status as one of the rising forces in the metal scene.

In 2025, Shores of Null released Beauty over Europe, a powerful live album capturing the raw energy and emotional depth of their performances across the continent. The release serves as a testament to the band’s commanding stage presence and the resonance of their music with audiences worldwide. Looking ahead, the band is set to unveil Latitudes of Sorrow, a highly anticipated split album with Finnish funeral doom masters Convocation, promising a profound exploration of grief, atmosphere, and sonic weight.

Convocation started as a death metal project that later developed more close to darker doomish soundscapes, an outlet for really heavy and slow music with the will to experiment including synths, organs etc. This brought in 2017 the release of the 4 apocalyptic anthems comprised in “Scars Across”.

Three years later Convocation came back with the grandeur of “Ashes Coalesce”, an aural study of concepts encircling death while 2023 finally brought the third album “No Dawn For the Caliginous Night”, their most majestic and immersive release.

Enter PRAETORIAN, a pummeling sludge quartet from Stevenage, in Hertfordshire, about 27 miles north of London. The band has been at it since 2015, with three EPs to their name, the most recent being A Deluge of Bad Faith in 2022. Now gearing up for their debut LP, Doomed & Stoned is bringing you a first listen to a song from the upcoming Molotov.

In “Fear & Loathing in Stevenage,” the band captures a rotting slice of life. A portrait of bleakness and despair in contemporary England. Misery, isolation, confusion, hatred. It’s a tale told that is increasingly relatable to the world around, as the concrete jungle and all the trappings of artificiality engulf us, removing us more and more from nature, community, and purpose. Plunging us into social, economic, and technological hamster cages not chosen, but inherited. We seem helpless to escape or change our surroundings.

Here I dwell
Drunk with sour
Endlessly
High on strife
Desolate
Hanging Loose
Needlessly
Begging for life

The words resonate, even if you live outside this particular version of reality. There is no compromise in the brutality of the sound, either. This music nails the words emphatically with bloody hammers.

And this is how you do a music video, folks. Pangaksama’s editing and juxtaposition of imagery shows a lot of thought, syncing poignant moments in the song (lyrically and musically) with visceral tableau and searing visual effects.

Recently signed to APF Records (whose roster we’ve featured many times in these pages), Praetorian are slated to drop their debut full length ‘Pylon Cult’ on January 31st, 2025. It’ll be a rude awakening to another new year on space station Earth, but a welcome release for those whose eyes are opened to the comic tragedy of it all. This is a band that commands savagery.

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Taking homage from author Hunter S. Thompson’s classic novel of gonzo journalism gone bad, Praetorian have adapted this drug fuelled mania towards the horrors of living in modern day Britain. Showcasing their sharp eye for pitch black humour, lyrics such as “Way to get stabbed outside the Primark” give the song a distinct Englishness… Or perhaps it’s just a typical day in Stevenage!?

The music video matches Praetorian’s violent sound to a tee, a rapid fire stock footage compilation of death, drugs, destruction, decay, disease and maximum dis-ease! 'Fear & Loathing In Stevenage’ boasts acid tongued riffage, maniacal screams and furious drums. The song takes a real turn halfway through, marked with a monstrous breakdown that transitions from thrashy mayhem into ugly, filthy sludge, sounding as if the earth has engulfed you painfully and slowly. Both the song and video are NOT for the faint of heart!

'Fear & Loathing In Stevenage’ was recorded at Bear Bites Horse Studio in London by celebrated heavy music producer Wayne Adams (of Petbrick, Big Lad and Wasted Death). This studio has produced celebrated records from the likes of TORPOR, Green Lung, Wallowing, Kulk, Opium Lord and many more.

Just in time for the change of seasons comes Austrian death-doomers ENDONOMOS, back for a pensive second full-length following their pandemic self-titled debut two years ago. ‘Endonomos II - Enlightenment’ (2024) delivers six more compelling numbers, and comprising the band are singer/songwriter Lukas Haidinger (also on bass), Christoph Steinlechner (guitar), Philipp Forster (guitar), and Marius Segl (drums).

Trafficking in the terrain of Ahab, Evoken, Mournful Congregation, Katatonia, My Dying Bride, Candlemass, Swallow The Sun and Paradise Lost, the new album fills up our tank with dark, brooding doom (the strange, dirge-like opening to “Atheon Anarkhon”), featuring some wicked fingerwork (all throughout “Inversion”), contrasting murky and melodic singing that can be either brutal and caressing (as in “Entrapment”), and all of this surrounded in a mysterious, dreamlike fog that pervades the record.

Lyrics decry the brainwashing that leads to war and the oppressiveness of religious totalitarianism throughout history, imagining utopia “outside the grip of man.” I couldn’t help but conjure the famous image of Rodin’s “The Thinker” while listening, as words often seek reconciliation with a past too tangled and labyrinthian to take fully into comprehension.

The theme that bookends “Inversion” is a powerful doom anthem that I keep turning up the volume on. There are some beautiful dual guitar harmonies on “Atheon Anarkhon” is dismal a.f. and I love it. The sequence of rhythm, riffmaking, melodic guitar antics, gruff and haunted crooning builds fantastically, like pillar of ashen smoke taking shape into a terrible Phoenix and claiming the expanse of the sky.

“Resolve” brings us rainy riffmaking that goes for Serpentine Path depths of low, with strong rhythmic architecture, dazzling guitar play, and dissonant stretches that juxtapose with vocals that come through like a ray of sunshine piercing dark clouds. The slow guitar is almost mesmerizing and the plaintive melodies touch a sorrowful place in my brain, as I contemplate the lyrics: “In time I’ll resolve into the void, to blissful unconsciousness.” This coupled with powerful, thudding rhythms that ground the listener to the hard, cold physical reality of the here and now.

“Entrapment” is pure winter – one can imagine trudging through feet of snow in a landscape blanketed in white and covered by low hanging clouds. In fact, the lyrics speak of being taken “back to days of cold.” There are some touching and effective guitar harmonies in league with the beautifully tragic intro/outro of Pentagram’s “I Am Vengeance.” And when the downtuned low-end joins in the emphatic latter moments, it’s so damned heavy it shakes all around.

“Hostile” has that misty feeling from the aftermath of tears that Pallbearer fans will appreciate. Vocals are appropriately subterranean as it features the growls of Daniel Droste of Ahab fame. These are paired with clean pipes that, while forlorn, are accessible, and can also really soar.

“Kafir Qal'a” ends the record on a dismal note and has the feel of epic doom about it. Big chords, resounding soundwaves, grim arpeggios, screeching axework that hints at the extreme metal background of its handlers. The dark/light pairing of vocal styles works very well as the verses unfold, which may reference a battle fought around an ancient citadel somewhere in the first century.

Keep this one playing and really soak it in for max effect. Endonomos II - Enlightenment comes out Friday, September 27th, on compact disc and digital via Argonauta Records (get it here).

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Austrian epic doom metal Endonomos announces new album “Endonomos II - Enlightenment” via Argonauta Records. On their second album Endonomos refined their sound, going deeper and more eclectic in their particular vision of Doom Metal.

From the uncanny intro of dissonant chords and unsettling sounds to heavy, mean riffs and a highly melodic chorus, this one sports all the trademarks of Endonomos’ distinct style, while pushing its boundaries.

The ancient Greek song title “Atheon Anarkhon” could be translated as “no god, no sovereign” and deals not only with the inseparability of atheism and anarchism, but mainly how their counterparts (theism and autocracy) contradict human nature and corrupt the human mind.“ - says the band.

Recorded, mixed and mastered once again at DeepDeepPressure Studios, the album delivers thick riffs, epic melodies, uncanny chord progressions, The first single "Hostile”, boasting at almost 9 minutes length, is a highly melodic doom monolith, dealing with the inherently ill-disposed nature of life towards each other, and features guest vocals by Daniel Droste of German Doom Spearheads Ahab.

Endonomos is the brainchild of Austrian multi-instrumentalist, producer and session musician Lukas Haidinger, who is mostly known for playing extreme metal in bands such as Profanity, Nervecell, Distaste and many more, but as a longtime doomer, he finally brought his sinister yet melodic sound to tape.

Nothing is worse than the emotional burden of hurt, loss, betrayal, and grief. It is often overwhelming, consuming thoughts and giving rise to depression and physical distress that can last for months, years, even a lifetime. Music comes as a welcome respite, as it not only identifies with our pain but offers an outlet for mourning, insight, perhaps even healing.

Thus, death-doom was born, a melding of death metal with doom metal that began with groundbreaking acts such as Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Katatonia, and Draconian in the 1990s and continues strong well into the second decade of the new century. A hallmark of this style is slowed down tempos, gruff vocals, double kick drumming, and plaintive guitars, with the genre expanding into melodic realms as well. To onlookers it may seem harsh, morose, even distasteful. However, to those in the throes of misery it can come as a welcome salve to the soul.

Today, we introduce you to the grim New Hampshire blackened death-doom crew VIGIL, which rose from the ashes of another Kingston area band: Onera.

Justin Christian (bass, guitar) and Craig Simas (guitar, synth) have aimed not only for a heavier direction than their previous project, but also something “beautiful and emotional.” Dave Petillo (vox), Joe Davis (bass), and Brandon Phinney (drums) round out the formidable ensemble on the band’s debut EP, ’…And The Void Stared Back’ (2024), which Doomed & Stoned is premiering.

“One of the original building blocks of Vigil was to be as heavy as we could,” the band says, “This led to the decision to have two bass players. As the songs started to take shape and each member was putting their own touches to the arrangements, we realized quickly that we succeeded in our goal. Combining that with our love for post-rock, thrash, and progressive metal, Vigil is a showpiece for all our influences filtered through our ears, hands, and emotions. We take the listener down a dark road of sorrow and anger.”

The four-track affair begins strong with one of my favorites of the record, “Descend To Extinction” – a song that puts our mortality into perspective.

You must all face
The truth of life
We end in spite
Of our strife
All must pay
A toll sometime
Let our being
Be a moment in time

A sanguine guitar lead greets, interlaced with dire growls personifying our great common enemy: Death. Juxtaposed to this is a melodic chorus with appealing vocal harmonies that address the cold, hard reality of human suffering. At 4:22 there is some arresting riffwork that harkens back to the metal glory days of the ‘80s. It feels as if the rushing winds of Fate are sweeping us away. The song closes with a return to the dissonant rhythms and the bittersweet riff of the start.

Next comes the “Words of a Dying Man”. Rainy repeated chords set the stage and are soon contrasted with contemplative picking, spacey synthesizer, and dark octaves on the piano. This is accompanied by gnarling vocals and that both snarl and whisper. Emphatic bass and drums shake us awake from this dream state, and downtuned guitars embrace a return to reality.

After this, we’re visited by “Erosion of the Soul”. Gut-wrenching black metal vocals are reminscent of Enslaved and the tension increases with strumming chord progressions, tremeloes, and aggressive drumming. You can really feel the rumble of the dual basses here.

The pain you gave me rots inside
I cannot tell you
I can’t believe
The hatred still living blind
I can’t let it breed inside
Spirits live fighting Right inside my head

“Convulse Ways From A World Beyond” finishes us off with a wild hailstorm of drumming, chugging groove rhythms, and flashes of dissonance, interrupted by some doomy moments on guitar that are genuinely moving. Twin guitars offer sorrowful strains that intersect and contrast. Solitary bass lines usher us to the EP’s closing moments.

Vigil’s …And The Void Stared Back is available on compact disc, with singles available for download (get 'em here). Stick it on a playlist with Serpentine Path, Heavy Death, and Hooded Menace, and Marche Funèbre.

Give ear…

As a rule, humans spend much of our time occupied with the activities of life and daily living, perhaps very little of it thinking about the reality of death. The pandemic, however, brought death near to each one of us in a way that was terrifying, leaving many inconsolable. It is my conviction that music is a part of the process necessary for healing our emotions from such wounds. Bands like Serpentine Path, Yob, and Undersmile have helped me to stomach some serious struggles with anxiety and depression, primarily because their sound translates so remarkably to the thing I am experiencing, as though they have unlocked the secrets of communicating precisely with the emotions.

Now comes COLUMBARIUM, not a new band by any stretch (its original form echoing back to the mid ‘90s), but a band new to these ears, thanks to them being picked up by a label we’ve followed for the past 10 years in these pages, Argonauta Records. Hailing from West Flanders, Belgium, the four-member crew has married old school doom on the order of Saint Vitus and The Skull to brumal death vocals for a sound that is not only severe, but curiously elevating. For the band’s premiere studio LP, 'The Morbidious One’ (2023), we have here assembled the team of Pete Jules V (bass, vocals), Koen Biesbrouck (guitar, keyboard), Marc ‘Markie’ Vangheluwe (guitar), and Vincent ‘Mille’ Millecam (drums)

The first of its seven tracks is “Eyes Bleed Black,” which the band states “is Columbarium in its purest form” and “was conceived from our gut feeling at one of our rehearsals.” The song, dedicated to a close friend of the group, is cold, misty, and ancient sounding. Esmee Tabasco from Tyrant’s Kall lends her ferocious and gnarly singing to the mix, to great effect. Lyrically, the song questions God and the often inexplicable nature of our existence. There are variations of the main theme along the way that accent the point – from powerful and menacing, to beautiful and stately.

Oh, Griet
Where’s your World
Where are you
We are here alone
Oh, Griet,
No Heaven above
Nor Hell below

“The Morbidious One” features some sinister, stinging guitar tone, which really wails as the track opens. Chords are angular and statuesque, with raspy dirty vocals. Around 4 ½ minutes in, things shift into a chugging quasi-thrash swagger, but soon return to the strange forbidding nature of its main character, which the band reveals is actually (here and throughout the album) “the deep emotion of Death.”

‘The Morbidious One’ is about a tribe that divinizes Death in a positive way to ensure a safe transition to the Afterlife. The character on the cover symbolizes Death in some of the lyrics.

We get a swirl of styles in “Rivers Of Blood,” which begins with resounding piano harmonies, soon joined by echoing strings, and finally the growl of the band in full form. It’s an effective intro, taking us to the bard and his tale of woe. The guitar gives us a memorable passage in between verses with a rhapsodic run of notes. Meanwhile, blast beats roil and then an interlude that seems to almost levitate in its solitude. The guitar’s theme returns opposite of the singer, then finally lets loose in a frenetic solo.

“Redemption” is next and its solo guitar introduction reminds me a bit of the plaintive style of the late, great Pilgrim. Soon the band hustles up and ushers us to the first verse, where the vocals are as grizzly and blood-dripping as you could ask for. And oh what a beautiful guitar lead from 4:14 to 4:46, imbued with pain, insanity, and the blues. Frontman Peter wrote this one “facing the passing of his mother in 2017. 'Redemption’ is redemption from life, redemption from mental suffering.” The death of his beloved mother seems to take on an almost Christlike character in the lyrics:

I am drained, of my Misery, My Preparation, for my Litany, The Last Day, Has come, When I cease to bleed, in your Arms,

“Barefoot On The Moon” is only 1:11 and makes me wish it lasted at least twice as long, owing to the appeal of the 12-string guitar matched with ghostly sanguine vocals from Michelle Nocon (ex-Bathsheba, ex-Serpentcult, ex-Death Penalty, now with Of Blood and Mercury). It’s a good palate cleanser, because things are about to get brutal.

Lyrics aside, “Our Glorious Ways” feels as if it could be a Puritan hymn sung inside a church by some stern fellow back in the 1700s. It’s fierce and unyielding, alternating between long, slow beats and up-tempo sprints, while the guitar hammers away at a grim piece of riff-metal, and closes with organ-like keys.

“A Cure For Everything – Get Back Alive” is like those runs with the romping drums and devilish guitar play that we’d all look forward to on thrash albums (or even from Witchfinder General and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal). Dual guitars come out to play, ravaging and savaging along the way with nimble tremeloes and dank chord progressions. At the three-minute mark, a switch to doom mode with a guitar harmonies so sweet it hurts to think about it too long. So it disappears and then comes back a minute later.

From there the theme develops improvisationally, then at 5:13 the thrash comes back and continues undaunted until the bass throws its weight around in an amazing solo. Aside from OM and Sleep, it seems rare to see an extended bass section of this kind, and that alone is worth sticking around for. And this bass, already downtuned, gets dead on your belly low! What an awesome bookend to what has been a strong album overall.

Look for Columbarium’s The Morbidious One on CD and vinyl via Argonauta Records, with the digital album releasing this Friday, September 29th (pre-order here). Stick it on a playlist with Marche Funebre, Conviction, Barabbas, Pilgrim, and Purification.

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Columbarium is a Belgian (from the village of Zwevegem) heavy Doom band which found its birth in 2021, but was conceived of seasoned members from the doom scene for over ten years. Having played about a 100 gigs in a former setup in Belgium, the Netherlands and France with bands like The Gates Of Slumber, Nekromant, Marche Funèbre, Serpent Venom, FAAL, Famyne, King Hiss and at fests like Little Devil Doom Days etc., they have built a serious reputation as a live act in the last decade. The addition of an extra guitar/keyboard player some years ago (Koen Biesbrouck, formerly also from the avant-garde, instrumental band Locus Control) has taken the music to another horizon and that newfound sound of the band was the cradle for the bands rebirth.

Columbarium found that sound in engaging with Belgian producer Lander Cluyse from Hearse Studio (Amenra, Aborted) and with Brad Boatright from AudioSiege Mastering Studio (US/Portland who worked with the likes of Monolord and Pig Destroyer). Together they found the sound they have always dug for in the Flemish clay. Columbarium played their first gig at the end of September 2021 with brothers in arms funeral doom band FAAL at the well-known underground club Little Devil in Tilburg/the Netherlands. Being the first gig in over two years at the venue, it was a memorable evening in a sold-out and very cozy setting.

As a teaser to the bands’ music, Columbarium independently released a lyric-video for the song ‘Rivers Of Blood’ on the 17th of December 2021. It got noticed by Belgian independent label Dust & Bones Records and it was very quickly clear that label manager Frederik Vanhee and the boys were assimilated minds in being metal freaks in heart and soul and having passed a lifetime of love for all kinds of different metal genres.

This resulted in the release of a first single ‘Rivers Of Blood’ with the title track and ( even though it’s not) B-side track ‘Save Our Children.’ It was released on the 23rd of May 2022 on limited, hand-numbered cassette and digital streaming and download on all platforms. The release was supported by a visualizer for the new song ‘Save Our Children’ which saw the dawn of day on the 23rd of May. The single was meant to be a ‘getting to know the band’ before the release of a full album in 2023.

Bass player/vocalist Pete states: ‘It feels rather uncomfortable to describe your own music and actually we don’t like doing so, but we go through life as a heavy Doom metal band with influences ranging from blues to some earlier slower death metal. To say it with the words from our good friend William Nijhof of funeral doom band FAAL, ‘A super combi between miserable and brutal!’

Having recorded that first full album with the title ‘The Morbidious One’ from April 2022 until mid July 2022, the mix and full production was finished in February 2023 by Lander Cluyse from Hearse Studio, who also did the first single in 2022. In March the band was picked up by Italian specialized Stoner/Doom/Sludge label Argonauta Records for release of the full album at the end of September 2023.

Last week, we premiered the new album, ‘Abscission’ (2023) by Bristol, England doomers TORPOR. Today, bassist/keyboardist Lauren Mason takes us behind the scenes to help us apprehend the depth and breadth of this devastating spin, out now on the Human Worth label.

I. “Interior Gestures”

Turn from the promise of phantoms.

This was one of the first songs we wrote for Abscission, and the album grew very organically in all directions from here. “Interior Gestures” sets the stage for the journey the album takes – inviting the listener inwards, deep into its sonic and psychological landscape.

Our album concepts often germinate from things we’re reading. In the early stages of writing Abscission, Jon [Taylor, guitar and vocals] and I were talking about the idea of unlived lives we all carry with us like phantom limbs – psychoanalyst Adam Phillips writes beautifully about this in his book Missing Out – the opportunities turned away from paths not taken, the apparent possibilities of these fantasy selves which are incredibly seductive but ultimately distracting from the actual life we’re living. This becomes hauntingly real the older we get, the more choices we make or decide not to make.

We wrote and recorded this album at a point where for some of us, certain doors were slamming shut, certain phantom lives dying literally days before we entered the studio. It’s too complicated and private to go into any detail, but there were things we had to confront and let go of, a lot of which was worked out in real time during the recording session.

In other ways, Abscission was created at a time of looking back and reflecting on past issues and past selves, with more distance. There is a lot of grief and existential questioning on Abscission, the psychological progress it makes is real. We know Wayne Adams [producer and engineer] well enough at this point to be vulnerable in the studio, and he really held the space for us to access and transform those raw emotions through the music.

II. “As Shadow Follows Body”

Turn away and turn inwards.

As the album came together, we had a lot of discussion about which direction to push it – the consensus was ‘as huge and heavy as possible’ but also enhancing the industrial sounds of some of the instruments. We are so lucky that Wayne asked us to record with him at Giant Wafer Studios in Wales with its beautiful live room, and have access to gear like the Fender Rhodes electric piano and the vintage Yamaha RA-200 rotary guitar cab you hear on a few of the songs.

The guitar intro here really showcases the unique tone of one of the vintage combo amps we were using – the weird reverb effect is completely analogue. It was a lot of fun to play around with! I adore the heaviness of the guitars when everything kicks in, and remember being in the upstairs bedroom on the other side of the building when Jon and Wayne were laying down the guitars – they recorded all three guitar tracks simultaneously through three separate isolated cabs with different tones, and the entire studio complex was shaking with the insane volume of it all! Wayne has done a perfect job of capturing it, the guitars just jump out of the speakers and you can feel the air moving.

Two of the key elements we wanted for Abscission were enormous bass and drum tones, and on this song in particular I think they both sound incredible within the sparse arrangement. Simon [Mason, drums, synth and vocals] and Wayne took a lot of time figuring out how to get his huge 90’s Tama Superstar drum kit to sound as hench as possible, and ended up using predominantly room mics to give that feeling of spaciousness.

III. “Accidie”

Come to the end of desire.

Jon brought the concept of accidie to us, and it served to crystallize some of the themes of the record – the feeling of complete directionless apathy that occurs when the very ground of your existence disappears under certain circumstances, you find yourself at the true bottom of the pit. It’s a poignant concept for all of us. “Accidie” is a painful state, but often necessary for any kind of movement to begin. You have to orient yourself to the void in order to climb away from it.

The intro to this track is an example of us pushing the more industrial sounds on the album, and I think works perfectly as a kind of sonic reset into the second half of the record. If you listen carefully at the end you’ll hear one of my favourite recording moments on the whole record. Wayne and I spent a day doing bass and keys overdubs, and you can imagine what happens when two bass addicts try and conjure the most ridiculously heavy sounds imaginable.

At one point we were running the Rhodes through an Ampeg 8x10 cab and Wayne’s Sunn O))) Life Pedal, resulting in this very unique, organ-like drone that I can’t get enough of.

IV. “Carbon”

Story untethered in rupture.

Talking about orienting yourself to the void, “Carbon” was written and recorded very spontaneously at the emotional peak of the session, the bristling rage and devastation Simon is channeling here is absolutely visceral. I can’t listen to it without being sent straight back to that place. The vocals are another one-take, and I remember him stalking the live room, screaming into an SM58 microphone through a guitar combo while the rest of us looked on in awe. Harrowing.

The end of “Carbon” is another key point, where the peak intensity of the feedback and blasts break open and you freefall into the much more expansive sonic territory of the final song.

V. “Island of Abandonment”

Air takes my breath.

I have such a clear memory of us coming together to listen to the completed album for the first time one night, after Jon and Wayne had recorded the vocals by themselves. Jon usually does all his vocals as single takes, and this album is no exception – it means that what you hear recorded is fresh and raw. He had decided on the spur of the moment to record some clean singing for this track and “As Shadow Follows Body,” and wasn’t sure what we’d think because we’d never rehearsed it – I remember us all sitting and looking at each other, speechless. It really takes the album to another level and completes it.

This song opens, and ends with such simplicity and spaciousness, stark and cleansed after the raging fire of “Carbon.” It’s bleak and meditative, a raw and vulnerable feeling akin to going outside and watching the sun rising after a night of crisis. There is loss, there is possibility, we can start to see clearly.

STRATUZ may be a new name to these pages, but the the doom-death quartet from Venezuela has been around since 1984, with their debut album In Nomine… arriving in the mid-‘90s, placing them as one of the pioneering acts in extreme metal.

After numerous celebrated and controversial live performances and three studio full-lengths, the band decided to hang it up in 2006. But it’s hard to keep a good band down, and in 2019 they came back together for a new album, 'Osculum Pacis’ (2022), which translates “A kiss of peace.”

Lyrically, it speaks of the abuses of the church and its deafening silence in the face of so many denunciations of abuse. It speaks of the manipulation of the masses, and injustice, but at the same time, it also speaks of the awakening of consciousness, of death as a process of transformation, and the need to change ourselves in order to rise up and banish our own miseries. It speaks of rising up aware of who we are.

Indeed, Stratuz was the first Venezuelan band to write songs against the Catholic Church, before widespread scandals rocked The Holy See throughout the 2000s. Keep in mind that it was illegal to do so in their country back in the '80s, so this caused quite a stir. For example, one major Argentine newspaper published a column to discredit Stratuz with the headline, Stratuz: Worshippers of Satan. The effect was the opposite and the band became more popular.

The single before us, “Left,” according to the band, addresses “that emptiness that many people feel internally, that feeling of abandonment, of loneliness, of neglect, that lack of sense for being on this plane, taking refuge in their own sorrow.

The track begins with grim, quiet strumming and then is ignited with a glowing melody pronounced by the electric piano. Gothic vocals follow, tortured with the thought, "We are alone!” As the song develops, it asks of us, “Is today one day more or one day less in your dreams?”

Osculum Pacis is a mighty struggle between light and darkness, that fans of Paradise Lost and Type O Negative should take a fond liking to. Now streaming on Spotify and available for purchase on Bandcamp and other platforms.

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Venezuelan atmospheric death/doom Stratuz unleashed their latest album “Osculum Pacis” in April 2022, which marked their return since going on hiatus in 2006 and reforming in 2019. The album is an immersion into the band’s own universe of sound, which will lead you to listen to each of the themes repeatedly and thus discover each sound layer and the sensations to awaken you

“So many years away from the scene led us to experiment with other musical currents and the studio, which allowed us to nourish ourselves and thus reach the level we are at now. This record we hope will awaken your senses with its eleven tracks that ebb and flow through dreary gutturals, majestic choruses, and heart-pumping riffs.” says the band.

Lyrically, “Osculum Pacis” speaks of the abuses of the church and its deafening silence in the face of so many denunciations of abuse. It speaks of the manipulation of the masses, and injustice, but at the same time, it also speaks of the awakening of consciousness, of death as a process of transformation, and the need to change ourselves in order to rise up and banish our own miseries. It speaks of rising up aware of who we are.

Today, Stratuz shares their latest lyric video for the track “Left”, a song that reflects the emptiness that many people feel internally. “This is one for those who know that feeling of abandonment, loneliness, neglect, and that lack of sense for being on this plane, taking refuge in their own sorrow.” adds the band.

The band is currently preparing to continue promoting their latest album “Osculum Pacis” in Venezuela and other countries along with working on new material to follow in the near future.

“For those of you who have already heard our current work Osculum Pacis, you will have high expectations with the new stuff we will produce, however, we are convinced that we will surprise many again and it will be very well received.”

Stratuz live transmits a much more powerful energy than on recordings, and there are always comments that the band sounds much better in concert than on recordings, and this is because of the particular energy that can be appreciated in the shows. They are recommended for fans of Paradise Lost, Tiamat, and Moonspell. The album “Osculum Pacis” was released on April 26, 2022, and is available on CD/digital on Bandcamp and Spotify.

The marriage between doom and death metal was inevitable, but its long life was not. Yet here we are more than three decades hence and the subgenre still thrives. A band that’s been active at least half of that time is Tampere’s LURK, active since 2008 and now with four full-length records to their name. The first three LPs came together in steady succession: Lurk in 2012, Kaldera in 2014, and Fringe in 2016 (reviewed here). While no explanation has been offered for the recording silence that ensued, I was nevertheless delighted to learn of a new offering: ‘Aegis’ (2023).

The title more than hints at the shield carried by Zeus and Athena, which the Iliad says “produced a sound as from myriad roaring dragons.” There is, in fact, a dragon on the album cover made up of warriors, demons, and demented souls. Each of the seven tracks play wonderfully to this horrifically beautiful and detailed painting, though it is not (to my knowledge) intended to be programmatic.

“Cursed!” the dread voice of K. Koskinen cries out, as the new single “Infidel” lumbers. It’s a creepy number, made all the more so by A. Pulkkinen’s synthesizer. His guitar leads are forlorn and searching, whilst E. Nurmi’s bass is a warm consolation. Drummer K. Nurmi keeps things sailing along smoothly, making the song feel like a vessel adrift on the river Styx. This is now the 4th single ahead of the record’s imminent release.

Lurk’s new album Aegis is morbid, bruising, and maudlin, yet robust and sustaining throughout – at times even tranquil. Look for it on Transcending Obscurity Records in digital and compact disc formats this Friday, April 7th (pre-order here). Stick it on a playlist with Serpentine Path, Fange, and Cult of Occult.

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Finnish band Lurk return with their unique brand of slow, dreamy, unpredictable and vile sludge/doom to confound and enthrall listeners all over again. The deceptively catchy and entrancing quality of the music has been honed and the music slithers in its inimitable way, progressing in directions not easy to ascertain.

The music itself is a blend of multiple subgenres and is far too evolved now for the influences to be clearly identified. The band upholds this singular sound throughout the album and still manages to give each of the seven songs their own identity. Without a perceptible disruption of momentum, they all succeed in shifting the mood their own way, adding variations and conveying a wide range of emotions.

For an album that may seem innocuous, it will leave you emotionally vulnerable by the end of it all. For fans of Altar of Betelgeuse, Eibon, Usnea, Subterraen, Adramelech, Fleshpress.

Italian melodic death-doom unit (EchO) comes from the rich tradition of Katatonia, Saturnus, and Novembers Doom, with a contemporary metal edge. There is great attention to detail on the Brescia quartet’s forthcoming LP, ‘Witnesses’ (2022), and I’m not just talking about the intricate artwork. Here we have musicians thoughtfully appointed to their instruments, and they’ve obviously taken care in crafting their songs.

Take, for example, the third track and latest single from the band’s fourth album. Taut guitar strings pick and strum ominously. Verses are gnarled and frothy, but a transcendent chorus soon prevails (“I will be free”) soaring over a guitar solo with sharp tone. Then the mood suddenly shifts, as “Fate Takes Its Course.” In the closing minutes, it felt like I was strolling through the shambled halls of a forgotten Gothic cathedral. On a damp autumn’s morning, no less!

Vocalist Fabio Urietti tells Doomed & Stoned:

“Fate Takes Its Course” may be one of the catchiest songs we’ve ever written. Here melodies and smooth choirs reveal themselves, shining through every instrument. The moments of light, though, are sudden and are often roughly interrupted. As dusk gives way to twilight, peace becomes rage and fear again. Inevitability involves a series of realizations that not everyone is able to manage.

“Fate Takes Its Course” features the picturesque keyboard playing of guest artist Don Zaros, longtime member of the New Jersey band Evoken. On the record, it is followed by “Wanderer” which was previously released as a single.

Witnesses is sometimes uncanny and haunting, even beautiful. On the whole, the album is seismically convincing. Look for it November 25th in CD & digital formats from Black Lion Records (pre-order here).

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Formed in 2007, Brescia unit (Echo) has established itself as one of the strongest forces in the Italian underground doom metal scene with two self-produced demos, three acclaimed full-lengths, and incessant live activities across Italy and Europe.

Witnesses is the 4th full-length album of (EchO), was written through the first lockdown imposed for the pandemic in 2020 and finished in the following summer and autumn. Although it’s not a concept album, all the lyrics written by singer and lyricist Fabio Urietti reflect all the distress and various feelings that the whole band felt during those strange and alienating days. In a nutshell, the album is a collection of images and thoughts — sometimes more explicit, sometimes more ambiguous.

The album was recorded between September and October 2021, with Francesco Genduso (Onda Studio, Plateau Sigma) taking care of the recording of drums and mix, Jei Doublerice (Exiled Media, Despite Exile) producing and recording vocals, Greg Chandler (Priory Recording Studios, Esoteric) taking care of the mastering, while guitars and bass have been recorded by the band’s guitarist Simone Saccheri.

The album features four guest musicians, Francesco Bassi on Drums, Heike Langhans (ex-Draconian) on vocals, Alex Högbom (October Tide) on vocals, and Don Zaros (Evoken) on keys.

Growing up a preacher’s kid, I found myself trancing out to the repetitive mannerisms that often accompanied the sermon’s delivery. I would disassociate and go to strange, weird, and wonderful places in my mind’s eye. If there was anything that could snap me right back into place, it was those diatribes on hellfire and damnation. One oft repeated saying of Jesus lingers with me still: “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth.”

Here’s a band that has got the gnashing bit down to a veritable art form. They are, in fact, GNASH from Columbus, Ohio, and this is their debut EP, ‘Shared Nightmare’ (2022). I think we can all identify with its title, as we enter the final quarter of year three on pandemic planet. Whether you view it economically, politically, culturally, or personally, it has been both an interminable nightmare and a wake-up call from our collective delusions of unfettered technological, scientific, and social progress. Put simply, we are at the end of it all still human. We came cosmic dust and to dust we shall return.

Gnash’s debut four-track record exposes those wonderful stories we tell ourselves about how things should be, but rarely manifest as envisioned. It is an awakening to pain, loss, and frustration

Am I losing you?
Or are you losing me?
To a future that we did not plan

First song “The Darker Half” opens to the eerie hypnotic sound of cicadas and a bass riff tuned so low (and captured so remarkably) that you can feel it right down in the pit of your stomach. The dual guitar attack is less for show than atmosphere, conjuring a misty swell of acid rain that buttresses Gnash’s nasty vocal stylings.

The cross I bare
This pain we share
Is more proof that life is just not fair

“Broken Mirror Image” greets us with a crusty, raspy roar and Gnash’s attack here is beyond heavy. There is sadness in the air, with the bittersweet chords of rhythm guitar complimented by the melancholic lines of lead guitar.

It’s a broken mirror image
This broken face that I see
It’s a broken mirror image
Of a severed bond between you and me

“The Amniotic Lake” has a pulsing, headbanging rhythm to it. It swirls and thrashes about. Soon your entire body will be caught in the grinding undertow. The lyrical subtext here is grim, to be sure.

“Sacrificial Bastard” strikes a Nirvanaesque heartbeat, but delivers something else: a hideous, irradiated, sludged-up remnant of what mankind has become in these early stages of the late, great planet Earth. The words here seem to draw a kind of parallel with one’s own suffering and the suffering of Christ.

Says singer Josh Richter:

I have always taken pride in being able to pull from whatever emotion I’m feeling inside when writing new music, but this record in particular came from a much darker place than I had expected. Due to some personal things that have transpired over this past year I was able to take the sadness and hatred I was feeling and funnel it into this entire record. I feel as if this band, these songs, and this idea came at the perfect time for me personally. I’m very proud of what we created as a team and I hope everyone can feel a little bit of my pain when they sit down to take a listen.

Shared Nightmare by Gnash sees the light of day on Thursday, September 22nd (get it here). Stick it on a playlist with Thou, Usnea, Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean, GoodEye, and Shepherd’s Crook. This is the Doomed & Stoned world premiere.

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Sludge metal newcomers Gnash are preparing to unleash their debut EP, Shared Nightmare. Frontman Josh Richter comments:

“I’ve never done a concept record before so I wanted to try to tell a story in great detail over an entire record rather than just one song. As dark and gruesome as the concept is, the underlying theme is the feeling of carrying around emotional baggage and trauma your whole life and the effects it takes on someone. Life is a heavy burden sometimes.”

Formed this year in Columbus, Ohio, Gnash has already established a powerful and unique sound, drawing influence from the depth of death metal, the raw emotion of black metal, and heaviness of sludge metal, the band’s debut EP, 'Shared Nightmare’ (2022), is a profound and thought-provoking insight into the darkest reaches of mental health issues.

'Shared Nightmare’ tells a tale of conjoined twins, where one half of the pair dies. The remaining twin must continue on in life, carrying with him a corpse he can’t be rid of. The EP is an exploration of what it means to bear trauma and the toll it takes after a lifetime of being weighed down by such inescapable feelings.

Not for the faint of heart, prepare to be transported into a dark and chilling tale in Gnash’s debut EP 'Shared Nightmare,’ coming September 22nd.

TONS have been a mainstay of the Heavy Psych Sounds label since their inception and I’ve grown to adore their deftly downtuned and savage sound, even if they aren’t (yet) among the better known names in the doom scene. The Turin band’s sound is huge, and in its own strange way cleansing.

The song before is the latest single from the Italian fistfull (which I listened to at least a half-dozen times when I first heard it), who are all set to release their new record ‘Hashension’ (2022) next month. “Slowly We Pot” starts out with gnarly bass that scratches away at the concrete of our civilized cage. Doomed-out guitars follow, tuned to a wintery conglomeration of dismal clouds and rainy drizzle.

The sludgy death vocals are some of the sickest I’ve ever heard, a notch dirtier than Bongzilla (whom they also shared a recent split) and just about reaching levels of Reptile Master and Dopethrone nasty. I’d hate to see those raw throats after two weeks of cross-continental touring!

Expect Hashension by TONS to release on some wild and crazy vinyl variants on October 7th (pre-order here). Slap it on a playlist with Conan, Clouds Taste Satanic, and Lucifungus.

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Tons formed in 2009 with members of hardcore bands from the Turin scene (The Redrum, Lama Tematica and NoInfo). Slow and heavy sounds take the place of the frenetic HC rhythms; the texts speak about weed in an ironic way, but also about a certain tendency to esotericism that characterizes the city of Turin. In 2010 they recorded a demo and in 2012 the first full length “Musineè Doom Session”, recorded by Danilo “Dano” Battocchio, was released for the Turin-based Escape From Today and for the Roman Heavy Psych Sounds. In 2013 a split with Lento from Rome came out and Tons began to plow the European venues, opening the stage for bands like Bongzilla, Unsane, Church of Misery, Napalm Death, Pentagram, and many others.

In 2014 they were invited to play at the Duna Jam in Sardinia and at the Incubate Fest in Tillburg (NL). In 2015 the drummer Marco Dinocco left the band and was replaced by Andrea Peracchia (Dogs for Breakfast/Slaiver). Paolo Paganelli (Woptime/Linea77) was also added as a solo guitarist. In 2018 the second full length of the band “Filthy Flowers of Doom” was released for Heavy Psych Sounds Records, which would bring Tons again around Europe in 2018 and in 2019.

After the infamous split album with the almighty Bongzilla, Tons are back with their third full-length studio album. Hashension is composed by 6 heavy reefer songs which express the band’s devotion to the Green God. The recipe is the same, but always evolving: an infusion of slow and swampy doom/sludge metal with hints of psychedelia, and the band members’ hardcore-punk background gives the record a groovy and personal feel throughout.

The marriage of death to doom was inevitable, with some of its finest exponents emerging in the ‘90s and continuing to this present age where we are confronted with the scourge of HOLY DEATH.

Rooted in the tinder box of the Los Angeles underground metal scene, Holy Death have been releasing record after record of terrifying death-doom since 2019. Their latest record, in fact, is called 'Moral Terror’ (2022) and it brings together two EPs released over the summer with a third to complete the 'Moral Terror’ trilogy. I like how the band went about publishing these, something they also did on last year’s Sacred Blessings (itself a compilation of EPs from 2020). Besides this, the Long Beach-based three-piece has issued a dedicated full-length record, 'Separate Mind From Flesh’ (2021).

The riff that greets us on “East ov Eden” is a merciless one, and no wonder for it’s got “blood on my hands, guilt on my mind.” Is this the anthem of the fabled first murderer Cain, who was given a mysterious mark by God for murdering his brother Abel? Or is Holy Death tapping into our humanity’s collective guilt for turning paradise into a fetid sewer of violence, hate, and pollution? Dirty, irradiated bass bass crunches emphatically, whilst guitar screeches with abandon. “Death is upon us, end all life.” Frontman Torie John’s crooning is mingled with bitterness, disgust, and sorrow, mingled with defiance:

East of Eden the vultures circle
I will not be defeated

The regress from enlightened ape-man back to feral, frightened animal continues with “Ultraviolent,” a two-minute pounding that obsesses with revenge against one’s foes. The guitar menaces with swirling downward arpeggios, met by rattling drums, grim bass, and grizzly vox barking:

Death is a gift you will not receive
until you’ve suffered beyond reprieve

“Annihilationism” awaits next, and it takes the perspective of the hopeless: “Born to rot, guilty thought, empty dream – nothing left for me.” It’s a sentiment I suspect many can relate to after two-and-a-half years of disease, isolation, fear, and despair. Guitar and bass lay out a slow-chugging rhythm as our two-minute window closes. “Bite my tongue, taste the blood, grinding teeth – nothing left for me.”

“Serve No King” is one of the most damning songs of the record so far. It’s that sinister four-note riff; it makes me feel like I’m being carried bound in chains before the court of some medieval tyrant. The song pronounces judgment on the head of the “jester upon the throne” who “vomits lies,” and leaves him with a warning:

Justice is not dead
the blade will find your head

Now onto the final block of three songs, which fans of the band will be hearing for the first time via this Doomed & Stoned premiere. “神経” is Japanese and has something to do with the nerves (or having nerve). Described by Holy Death as a “contemplative Dungeon Synth inspired interlude,” it provides a nice palate cleanser before we encounter the ravaging “Paradice Death.” You might think I (or the band) misspelled that, maybe on purpose, and you’d be partly right. “Paradice” was one of the oddly framed words that stood out in the cryptic letters of the Zodiac Killer, sending investigators on an eternal quest to solve a riddle of death and madness.

“The Blood Earth Consumes” may hearken back to the story of Cain & Abel that presumably kicked off this excursion into moral chaos. In the Genesis account, the Lord said, “Listen: your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground.” That’s some pretty spooking shit. The mood of this last song is dire and savage, heralded by the insanity of disonnent guitar and thumping drums, and driven forward like some infernal death machine grinding everything in its path.

Sonically, the record sounds amazing – produced and mixed by Alex Estrada (Nails, Xibalba). You can get a hold of Holy Death’s Moral Terror (vol. 1-3) this Friday on streaming platforms, as well as on cassette (pre-order here). Stick this on a playlist with Eyehategod, Come To Grief, Serpentine Path, and Ghorot!

Give ear…

Hot on the heels of their new 9-tracker on Napalm Records, Doomed & Stoned caught up with drummer Julie Simonsen of KONVENT to talk about ‘Call Down The Sun’ (2022) and a whole lot more. At present, the Copenhagen crew are gearing up for a robust spring tour, with Implore, Livløs, (0), and Hiraes joining the bill. Whether you’re a dyed in the wool fan already or just a curious lurker, now’s your chance to get to know the band a bit deeper.

Thank you once again for taking a few moments to visit with our readers. I hope all of you are well since we last spoke. I would like to say congratulations to Sara Helena Nørregaard for making the Konvent family even bigger! I wish Sara and her new baby great health and happiness!

We will let her know! Very exciting for her!

Please tell me about Sophie filling in for Sara on guitar while you are on tour.

Well we already had the tour planned when Sara announced her pregnancy, so we knew from early on that we needed someone to fill in. We all were aware of Sophie in the Danish metal scene and thought she would be a blast to go on tour with. She’s also been crazy fast to learn the songs and really taking it like a pro.

How are COVID-related restrictions where you are and where you’ll be playing shows and fests?

All restrictions in Denmark have been lifted and I think most of Europe is headed in that direction. Our next gig is the Napalm Over Europe tour!

That’s exciting! I hear Konvent will be performing at several festivals?

Yes, apart from the Napalm Over Europe tour we will play Dessertfest, Roskilde Festival, Gefle Festival, Inferno Metal Festival, and a bunch of other cool places.

How do you feel about what is going on in Ukraine?

We feel terrible about what’s going on there. Our thoughts and support go out to everyone in Ukraine.

How does this affect you and any touring?

Yes, sadly 1914 had to cancel the tour due to their situation in Ukraine. We hope to get a chance to tour with them again in the future.

Konvent’s sophomore LP 'Call Down the Sun’ goes even darker than your first and has a strong gravitational pull. Curious about the gear you used to record on this album.

We’ve never been gear nerds, so it’s basically the same gear we recorded 'Puritan Masochism’ (2020) on. Both Sara and Heidi play Squier and I play on a four-piece drum set. Sara is very fond of using Engl amps as well. The rest is our producer Lasse’s fancy amps and effects.

“Grains” is one of my favorite tracks off of 'Call Down the Sun.’ What is the significance of this particular song to the band?

“Grains” actually mean a lot to us. It was the first song we wrote for the album and we all really like how it came together. We’ve always wanted to use Danish in our lyrics, but have always hesitated. I’m glad we did, and Rikke really did an amazing job with the lyrics.

What is different about this album compared to your prior two releases?

I think the second full-length album is always gonna be hard, because you have to exceed the first one. But I feel confident that 'Call Down the Sun’ is Konvent 2.0. We’ve all become more confident experimenting and in general just better musicians. We’re really excited for the world to listen.

You go and save the best for last. “Harena” is a seven-minute-thirteen-second saga. It has a great ambiance and I enjoyed staying there.

Yes! “Harena” has really been a song that challenged our comfort zone, but we all ended up loving it. “Harena” is about having hopes and dreams that you want to achieve, but because of insecurities you have to give up.

Do I hear violins?

Yes! Violins and cello. We got Felix Havstad to play both. Very talented and awesome guy.

What are some heavy bands that Konvent is listening to these days?

I know Rikke is probably listening to Cattle Decapitation, as always. And Heidi is listening to Vanhelgd. I listen a lot to Full of Hell and Gulch. We all listen to different stuff!

'Call Down the Sun’ is one of my new favorite albums now! Thanks for your time and safe travels on the road.

Thank you for once again interviewing us!

Pskov is one of the oldest cities in Russia, the first historical mention in the chronicles date back to 903 AD. Through the course of many centuries the city of Pskov has been the center of many wars and conflicts, but only once the defense of the city was broken and Pskov was invaded.

After the founding of Saint-Petersburg, Pskov’s political and strategic importance in the western borders of Russia greatly diminished, and after Russia’s borders expanded to Riga (aka Tallinn, currently Estonia), Pskov has lost the status of a military and trade center. In the second World War, the city was under the occupation of the Nazis. Over three-thousand civilians tragically died during that time.

This city, filled with so many stories of sorrow, triumph, and pain, was ideal to hold Doom Over Pskov in the midwinter of 2022.

Reflections by Vladimir Alekseev (frontman/vocalist, Neuropolis)

When we began to organize Doom Over Pskov, first of all we decided to see if there were any bands in the city which play in the doom metal genre, do they exist, how are things within the scene with gigs, and support from the fans.

We were sadly surprised to find out that (but for a few exceptions) Pskov’s metal scene is almost devoid of life, and the culture of metal gigs is almost non-existent.

Pavel Krasnov, leader of Inner Missing, had gathered a great line up for the festival – no doubt in that. The main question we asked ourselves was, Will the festival be of interest to anyone?  To make matters worse, the city was under semi-lockdown measures due to the ever-present COVID-19 infection. This created additional troubles and hardships for the organizers of the gig and the listeners alike.

We were near an almost extinguished fire, with only a glimmer of hope to spark the interest of local heavy metal fans. There was a rather large promotional campaign to advertise the festival, and although we have used different strategies, the interest in the social media was not overwhelming at first.

But at some point, the old-school spirit and the anticipation of something unique took over. People began to show interest in social media and started asking questions. Then we understood that the festival would indeed gather its audience.

The concept of the gig’s lineup and sound was unconventional. The sound was like playing in an ancient dungeon, with an atmosphere of horror and existential dread.

NEUROPOLIS opened the festival, the band having already become familiar to listeners of old-school death and doom metal. Neuropolis brings a unique interpretation of the death-doom sound.

The band continues to play live in various cities with their previous material and is working on new songs. In 2021, they played in Vyborg, Moscow (Doom And Stoner Halloween), Arkhangelsk, and of course Saint Petersburg.

In Pskov, the band succeeded in emotionally igniting part of the audience and preparing the rest to experience new and different sounds. The sound of melancholy, grief, and emptiness, the feeling which comes after hysteria, despair. The sound of sadness looming over the earth.

INNER MISSING took the stage next at the Nora Club (Нора/Nora translates as “burrow”) to overpower the venue with the beautiful academic vocals of Melaer, which made the crowd go silent and full of bittersweet sadness.

Her voice was joined by the rare tones of Sigmund, who put the crowd in a trance, almost hovering over earth in some kind of limbo. The singing was accompanied by exquisite arrangements, which completed the feeling of deep immersion.

Fall out of the trance or leave the barren earth altogether? Where there are no more voices, only endless waves of cosmic sound, which lure you into the infinite depth.

The music of ENDLESS OCEAN accomplished just that. First, there were no words to describe the full spectrum of emotions. Then came the realization that all words are dead and no one is to speak in the depth of space, and even when you are thrown back in the stratosphere, caressed by the cold winds you remain silent.

So what began with a brutal onslaught of growling death-doom continued as pure melodic Gothic-doom, culminating as a flight in the celestial abyss through the means of eclectic mix of post-doom, alternative, and even avant garde sounds.

It is hard to fully define the genre, the sound is so cosmically enveloping that it makes you forget about such things as genre tags. Missing one of the guitarists, Endless Ocean managed to engage the crowd fully, and got the last round of applause that evening.

Reflections by Сергей “Blackknot” Мелихов (reviewer, Darkside)

A rare event in our desolate times. An entire mini-festival of sad music, ranging from the orthodox ‘90s soul-crushing death-doom and Gothic adventures to strict rhythmic post-doom.

This all happened at a time when underground life in Pskov was almost non-existent. Only the atmospheric black metal band Путь (Pathway) from Pskov tours Russia and abroad, and that is all that is present in the underground scene of the city today.

It was my first visit to the Nora. I usually attend venues only to listen to someone in particular and the gigs in this club were not my cup of tea. But Doom Over Pskov was perfect – cozy, friendly, and sad in a good way. I saw my old friends, had a few drinks. All the bands gave out a solid performance.

Neuropolis stood out especially. Inner Missing performed as a duo with some pre-recorded instruments in the mix, and Endless Ocean were without their third guitarist and are an instrumental band.

The bands where different and together formed a logically complete event. The order in which they played was also logical, from brutal growls to a Gothic duo and ethereal instrumental post-metal.

Thanks to the guys in Pathway for introducing me to Neuropolis, with whom we have found a lot of common interests and decided to move towards the friendship of the underground movement of our cities.

We are waiting for them to return. Maybe another gig at Nora sometime would be great (the club is not as far on the outskirts of the city as some people claim). In these dark days, we are hoping for the best. We are waiting for Doom Over Neva!

I would like to sincerely thank the staff of the Nora club and Anastasia personally, the bands Endless Ocean and Neuropolis, the sound engineer, photographers and all those who attended and supported our celebration of death. It was the first major festival outside of Saint-Petersburg I have organized, and if we take into considerations the risks that are present today, we have organized a successful, memorable event. I wish good luck to everyone, hope we will meet again in the future!

–Pavel Krasnov aka Sigmund Краснов, Inner Missing

I’ve attended the gig in the Nora club, it was entertaining It was a pleasant surprise for me to discover this genre. The sound was good and fat.

–Фёдор Егоров, photographer

Reflections by Anton Bryukov (bassist, Train to Elsewhere)

A few words about the past and present of the metal scene in Pskov. First, the present.

Путь (Pathway) are one of the finer examples of slow/mid-paced Russian atmospheric black-metal. Their style is unique; they sometimes use folk arrangements and instruments like the accordion.

The music may be compared to some post-black and atmospheric black acts like Panopticon or Wolves in The Throne Room, but yet has a distinct feel of early Katatonia (Dance Of December Souls era) and some influences from doom and Russian folk in their sound. The band began to make a name for themselves in Russia and abroad. Definitely the most successful band from Pskov.

Recommended albums: Песни Смерти (Songs Of Death) and Песни Смерти (The Vale of Sorrow) to get into there intriguingly atmospheric style of black-metal.

And now I will take a look into the past.

The now disbanded Артефакт (Artifact) band from Pskov recorded an album Дань прошлому (“A Tribute to the Past”) and release it in 2005. The album consists of some unconventional gothic-doom.

The more goth-sounding albums of Paradise Lost come to mind when listening to another band, Lake Of Tears. Their obscure and lo-fi production quality has a hidden catchy and melodic sound underneath. Themes of war, despair, darkness are in the center of the lyrics and narrative here. This doom-laden album was almost lost to time. Yet due to the efforts of Apostle of Doom and its administrator Boris Travkin was rescued from oblivion and is available for listening via vkontakte.

Apostle Of Doom is on a mission of finding, cataloging and publishing obscure Doom Metal from all over the world. Music which is otherwise lost to time. Lots of original, rare music here. Be sure to check it out!

There was another band that originated in Pskov and later moved to Saint-Petersburg. We Are talking about Burial Shades (also not disbanded). They played a mix of dark metal and doom-death with some symphonic overtones.

The sound is deep, depressing, lo-fi and massive at the same time. For fans of wickedly strange old-school doom-death.

Sergej Bychkov (a member of Burial Shades) attended Doom Over Pskov and had this to say:

On January 8th, 2022, Pskov was submerged in darkness, due to a powerful performance of dark and angry guests from Moscow and Saint-Petersburg. Good and high quality music, the trademark of doom metal.