Thanks to motig we got ourselves some delicious Norwegian, classically-sounding Metal. Just Metal, no subgenre indicators – although the band itself seems to favor the descriptor ”Doom Heavy Rock”. I think this is just Metal as it could have been in the Eighties. Except that the band has only been together since 2004.

In the time since then, the band aired three studio albums, titled I, II and III. It doesn’t have to be complicated.

UK Doom Metallers Conan have just uploaded a video of them performing a new song of their upcoming album, at the Buffalo Bar, Cardiff. The name Hawk as Weapon, already sounds cool to me, and the live recording sounds promising. I’ve always wondered what these guys would sound like live, and all I can say is that they sound louder and heavier than in the studio. Which is a good thing.

Then who are Conan? We wrote about them little over a month ago, and we were all quite positive. I wrote about their latest record Horseback Battle Hammer

their music feels like you’ve just had a massive blow with a war hammer, and now you lie on the ground, which is wet from the rain, while you can’t feel anything.

The boundaries of Doom-Death Metal has been stretched again, this time by Greek act Hedon Cries. Their self-labeled “Atmospheric Doom-Death” is not quite as funereal or elegiac as expected, and adds a much faster tempo than the genre implies. After releasing two albums since 2001, the band underwent new changes in the form of bassist Stathis Karoutis and vocalist Christos Aidonis, and adding Thanos Lois on keyboard. The band, as a result, has shifted styles slightly into a gloomier Melodeath approach, akin to Novembre’s and Sentenced’s lovechild, with several other smaller influences hidden within The End of the Path is Nigh.

The record kicks off in style with a speedy number; the pounding drums from Papadoulas and Sentenced-like guitar-work of Boufas and Kopsaftopoulos keep the rhythm whilst injecting some melancholic melody in the chorus. The real center stage, and where the band excels, is in the guitar-work, combining a mixture of Tales…era Amorphis, Novembre and a touch of Agalloch circa Ashes… to create many a swirling melody within the songs.

I actually need to write my letter of motivation, but this got me so pumped that I couldn’t get myself to do something else. I was wondering what people do at Doom Metal concert, do they like mosh in slow-motion, or do they headbang really slow and hard, or do they do ballet? So I typed in ‘doom live’ into Youtube, and the first one I got was a live video of Krux performing their song Omfalos. There were no crowd shots, but it certainly got me headbanging for 6 minutes, so I clicked through.

The most appealing songs came from their latest album III – He Who Sleeps Among the Stars, released end November, 2011. Their style is a mix of old school (think of Candlemass) and some modern tones. The old school feel is mainly enhanced by the use of clean vocals, although there are some rare growls to be spotted in their earlier work.

The big moment! The top four of albums I’ve reviewed this year. If you’ve missed what came before this, these four were preceded by eleven other albums in Part 1 and Part 2 of this list. Today’s four are the absolute cream of the crop.

As you’ll read on, there’s one thing you might notice: Finland’s the winner. Each and every single band in this top 4 hails out of the most Metal nation on the planet. Something I only just discovered myself. I think the Finnish are to Metal what American are to hamburgers. What Germans are to cars. And what Dutchmen are to drugs and prostitutes.

Anyfuck, I can make this a long and boring speech up front, like they do with most award shows, but I think everyone would just prefer to fuckin’ get going with this! After all, it’s Christmas Eve tonight and I’m sure you’ll want to get back to spinning Metal albums sitting under the Christmas tree.

Thanks to CroOZza’s comment here, I now know something I should’ve known months ago: that Black Sun Aeon has released a new album! One of many projects by Finland’s most busy Metal wonderboy Tuomas Saukkonen, this outfit traditionally represents the darkest of his projects.

Also traditionally, this project was one he manned 100% alone. Until now. I’m reading that for this new album, entitled Blacklight Deliverance, Tuomas is joined by two additional vocalists: Mikko Heikkilä (male cleans) and Janica Lönn (female cleans), bringing the total number of voices including Tuomas’ to three. Still at the old is the fact that Saukkonen’s responsible for all instruments by himself.

While we’re in the doomy, sludgy type of mood that Toreignimmortal initiated with his post on British Doom Stoners Conan, we might as well throw up Ventilation Shaft’s recommendation as well. He recommends Omega Massif, a German band from Würzburg, Bavaria that has been active since 2005. As Ventilation Shaft describes it: ”very dark in atmosphere, very heavy, but also melodic”. Accurate!

After the band’s 2007 debut Geisterstadt, four years passed until the release of Karpatia, which came out last September. All their songs carry German titles, but the vocals are not. Because there are no vocals. Omega Massif plays purely instrumental.

I’ve seen fit to take you through some of the band’s past releases – there have been two splits as well – as there is some genuinely good stuff there. Just free up some time for this, as this, despite that the songs aren’t even that ridiculously long, is not suitable for quick and easy listening. Now follow us past the jump!

As I promised you all, we have some Doom Metal to digest, and today’s subject is Conan. The first time I ever ‘did’ a Doom Metal band was with Subterranean Disposition, a project I really liked for its diversity. Apart from this however, I’ve had no experience with the legendary DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM Metal, which makes it all the more interesting.

However, Conan is completely different from the stuff Subterranean Disposition makes. The guys claim to be “as heavy as interplanetary thunder amplified through the roaring black hole anus of Azathoth.” which is quite a claim. I’ve listened to their EP some time, and I must say, these guys are heavy. Heavier than anything I’ve hear before. However, before you make the jump, make sure you’re connected to some good speakers.

When I put up the Brain Hammer EP and looked at the cover, the first thing I thought was “Oh, Lord.” And that’s how this EP feels. These first seconds just annoy the shit out of me, but on the other hand, perhaps those first seconds are the best part of the whole album. It’s like that one movie where they sew one’s eye shut. It gives you the creeps, but you enjoy it, because it is one of the few things to give you them.

Brain Hammer are an Extreme Metal outfit from the Lebanon, but you’ve seen that already. At least, Extreme Metal is how they describe their EP. Although the mix of Death-, Doom- and Thrash Metal sounds pretty extreme in theory, in practice it doesn’t work out that extreme. The Brain Hammer EP practically consists out of five mid-paced songs with a total length of round about 18 minutes. Of these songs, the third one Crosses of Wood immediately stands out. This is a rather enchanting song, which actually shows that there is some potential writing skill in this band. However, the rest is just as average as average can be, as you’ll find out.

As I do not have access to the Dump a link “list”, it doesn’t happen that often that I do music posts without being asked to. However, this time I’ve got something special which I really wanted to share. Facebook-user Patrick Urban, sent us a link to this Atmospheric Black/Doom Metal band. Dammerfarben are a German band formed in 2005 by Guitarist/Vocalist/Cellist Blackheart Nostarion and started out as a solo-project. The addition of more members however, gave the band a boost, bringing forth their debut album Im Abentrot.

Closing in on 55 minutes Im Abentrot is not the shortest album and with songs in German, I would imagine this to be a very interesting listen. I turned out to be right as I searched the web for some material. I’ve got some awesome stuff for you after the jump.