Dooom... DOOOOM I tell you

My mate Chris MacKinnon regularly torments me with new hints of sonic doom, knowing full well the internet connectivity here where I live sucks so bad I'd probably have faster DSL living in the outer reaches of the Mongolian desert. Anyhoo, I had to share the misery, so I've invited him to take possession of my blog today. Welcome, Chris! 

* * * *

Poor Nerine.

From time to time I encounter bands on bandcamp.com that I just have to share with her, and it can be weeks before she gets to listen to them. So maybe you, her readers will have that same sense of pity for her after you have the chance to listen to 5 from my collection while she has to wait patiently for her chance to actually receive the files...going so slow.....so dreary....

Good then that it's gloomy and doomy that I'm sharing. Just in time for the coming darkness in South Africa, by which time Nerine may have been able to stream one of these tracks if her neighbours can get off World of Warcraft for longer than 10 minutes.

These aren't in order of preference, just as they spring to mind. So first we have Herodias. Which is a strange project that merges somewhat minimal guitar and piano pieces with some incredible female vocals done mostly in an operatic style. Their Antevorta album contains an example in the track Una Vida Aislada of both operatic style and more traditional clean doom vocals. Throughout their work is something that speaks of beauty and a great deal of sadness, and there is great dynamic between loud and quiet,and a sense of space that makes for a very lonely atmosphere.

Next up is Abstract Spirit. Hands up if you like funeral doom but think that Funeral, the band who's name and music helped pioneer the genre perhaps sound too cheerful these days. Abstract Spirit are just awful......ly...........heavy........Moro........se.....ble.........ask and somewhat terrifying in their approach. The guitars play very slow, very low tuned riffs of dread that seem to take ages to reach their resolution before crashing back down again. There is a good use of synths, that just float in the background like some ghostly vapour in the early hours of the morning in late autumn.....and the vocals are extremely low, guttural death-doom style, like the voice of ancient warriors summoned back from the grave to give grim testimony against man.  Check out their album Horror Vacui to see what I mean.

Sandwiched in their middle I think I'll put Ambsace. If you've made it this far, you deserve a rest. Ambsace is a one man project from Toronto, Canada who I found by searching one night for "gloomy". So far Ambsace have put out a couple of EPs, most recently is the self-titled Ambsace EP.  But I still come back to the Lust EP frequently. How to describe this, there's a certain lack of appreciation of the work from its Creator, that sense of a musician who seems to be in agony when composing and then dejected by the time its done. I can empathise with some of his comments in the liner notes for the self titled EP. It's very expensive and draining for a solo, unsigned musician to get a release made to your satisfaction. I wouldn't exactly call it easy-listening, because Ambsace just make me quite sad in ways other projects don't seem to.  Whether its the vocals, the melodies or the clean and echoing guitars, or the fact that there's just about enough music between the EPs to forge an album with that may never see the light of day, I can't put my finger on it.

Cheering me up slightly, nah...only kidding....is Penuria. I am still so glad I found these guys, a lazy comparison would be to liken them to My Dying Bride. But that'd only speak of the melody, besides My Dying Bride play a fair bit faster on some of their deathier tracks. Here we have a kind of symphonic melodic doom band, who have a mixture of clean vocals and more anguished screams.  See their track "Time is Agony" for a better demonstration of why I love them than I can put into words.

I'm cheating a bit with this next one: At The Graves. For me flirt more with Anger, which of course isn't too far removed from grief. They've got a few releases on band camp, but it was their Mercurial EP that I discovered first.  Its heavy, anguished, fast and slow, clean vocals, screamed vocals are well exhibited in the first track of that EP in "Trickle".  It's like a mental breakdown, which is something we all need from time to time, along with the dour self-examination of the weaknesses that lead to such things.

Right, before I get back to my cage I'll briefly mention I'm working on the last album of my own project Be Not Idle In Preparation Of Thy Doom,  which is a horrible mess of dark ambience, electronic, and black metal. There's a few releases available including a collaboration between myself and Fistulae, who has done an excellent remix of one of my tracks, now called Beelzedub. And Houston-based EBM outfit also remixed a track from the October EP, which I repaid in kind by remixing/destroying horribly their "Fallen Angel" track. But for a better indication of what the new stuff will be like, think of a more guitar focused version of my favourite personal release, "Faileasan".

Of course you can also check out my bandcamp collection to see some of the other things I've encountered, and will in future.

Cheers for having me, Nerine.

Chris MacKinnon

Introducing Eye of Solitude

Today I welcome Daniel of Eye of Solitude, a UK-based doom band that has recently given me the wicked thrills with their album Sui Caedere. This has got to be one of my best finds for the past year, and I'm a huge fan. Their music is perfect for me when I'm writing and need sounds that are atmospheric and bone-crunchingly dark and heavy at the same time.

Daniel, you've got exactly 16 words to tell someone who's never heard of Eye of Solitude before, let alone doom metal: go!

Doom death with inhuman vocals, heavy fucking riffs and soul crushing melodies.

Textured, layered... Your music suggests a sonic landscape laden with despair. How has your sound evolved since you first laid down tracks?

We have evolved enormously since The Ghost, our debut full length.The music has taken on higher levels of composition,firstly, and with that, elements like atmosphere, both on record and live, riffage, approach towards the public etc, have been increased, exploited and analyzed carefully for a good interpretation on both sides, the band and the public.

Where would we be without the public and vice-versa? Haha! We try to create a good atmosphere, even though the textures and layers on the album are very hard to reproduce live, but so far everything went extremely well, we are very happy with the live sound, we are happy with the record sound, so I guess I couldn't wish for more than just to expand our horizons even more.

I have to ask about the Sui Caedere cover art, which makes me think of a Max Ernst painting. Can you elaborate a little more on your choices of visuals? And perhaps also share a little about the album's particular underlying themes.

The artwork has been created by Giannis Nakos of Mortal Torment from Greece. He's a very close friend and a fantastic artist, he actually made the first half of the front cover in just one night! That was amazing,coming to work in the morning and finding out a whole bunch of artwork files in my inbox.

Right, the cover is a bit tricky to explain, it resembles a hung angel, in a desolated kind-of background.

I would call it a typical sort of artwork for a band that plays what we play without falling into a stereotypical asset specific to bands.

It represents the highest form of divinity close to a deity. And just like all divinities,they should be pure and free of negativity and such, and yet it commits the deadliest sin in history. Sui Caedere is Latin for killing oneself. Suicide is one of the worst sins,but suicide can be interpreted in oh so many ways.

We would like to leave the listener to decide what they understand by suicide.

And the question that most musicians hate to answer... What's your musical background? Who got you excited about music before you knew you had to create your own? Who're you listening to now?

Haha, no worries. My background varies from classical music to brutal death metal, to shoegaze and cascadian black metal, post metal, post rock and so on.



The other boys in the band have their own influences, but we do have quite a few in common,which makes us understand the music better and feel it with the same intensity. In my opinion, this is the best things that can happen to a band. having more in common means a better collaboration, a better perspective and a better congruence when it comes to writing the music.

For my readers based here in South Africa, what's the metal scene up to in the UK? Which bands do you share the stage with?

There are quite some things happening in the UK right now. Recently we participated at Doom Over London, where we have supported Ahab, Officium Triste, Faal, Indesinence and others, that was truly amazing!

In the past we have shared the stage with the likes of Saturnus, Esoteric, Decemberance and so on...so things are going well for the UK (doom) metal scene.

In the future we hope to share the stage with other great bands worldwide,there are sooooooo many of them out there!

Go check out Eye of Solitude on ReverbNation, Facebook, or on the Kaotoxin Records site.

A Little Doom, Anyone?

Today I welcome Malcolm Burger to my world to chat about his latest event, Symphonaire Infernus. For those of you who move around in the South African metal scene he'll be no stranger. He runs a blog--The Monster from the Blog--but he's played in a few bands and he's also known for arranging charity events.

Tell us a bit more about your event. Why doom metal? And to the uninitiated, what sets doom apart from regular metal?

Symphonaire Infernus is a little bit of a sinful indulgence on our part. The League of Doom is a small group of like minded Doom Metal aficionados that formed in order to preserve and grow interest in a very marginalised sub genre. As most of the members are musicians we decided it would be fun to pay homage in the form of a live show to those bands we hold dear, and to share it with anyone else who is interested. Doom Metal is a slower, more ornate form of regular metal that grew our of the early 90s death metal when bands like My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost started adding instruments like violins, pianos and other more classical instruments. The use of pseudo-operatic female vocals also lent an extra air of beauty to the style. The genre is typified by the use of a more poetic lyric as well.

You used to play in a band called Grämlich and had quite a following. Are there any projects you're currently involved in?

Yes, along with some of the musicians involved in Symphonaire Infernus, an original Doom Metal band is pretty much up and running. Called Ashes At My Grave, we have written approximately 16 songs and are currently working on lyrics and production. Similarly, other bands I’m involved in include Goth/Rock/Metal outfit, SubVerS and an Industrial band known as Axxon. Members of The League Of Doom are involved in all of these.

Which bands are you paying tribute to? Any particular favourite songs?

It’s kind of a secret for now, but it’s not the most difficult thing in the world to work out... We’re posting a cryptic clue per title on the event’s Facebook page. See if you’re up to the challenge!

Type O Negative fans will be remembering the late Peter Steele on April 14. Did you pick this date on purpose?

Yes, very much so. We may even have a nice little surprise for you all...

What's the outlook for the metal scene in SA? Are things looking up? Are there local bands you recommend?

Rosy! There are a lot of quality bands working hard and doing well. Institutions like Metal4Africa are doing wonders for the local metal scene. Personal favourites of mine would include A Walk With The Wicked, Warinsane, Bulletscript, Cold Hand Chemistry and, of course, the ever popular Mind Assault. And many more.

Linkage:

Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/411646838861539/

Details: 14th April 14, @ ROAR – Free entry (Cape Town)

Metal4Africa: http://metal4africa.com/