May 182015
 

 

(In this first part of a mammoth two-part essay, our Russian contributor Comrade Aleks explores a variety of spiritual rituals and their connections to doom metal.)

All right now! Tonight we’re summoned for a divine cause!

Mankind started the basis of society since its  primordial childhood. Many old and good traditions have been lost to the ages, yet ritualistic aspects and traditions were set very deeply in the turns of our brains. Certain traditions and ceremonies have been transformed into religious acts or became social rituals during our evolution, but most of them remain alive in modern days. Something took the form of the Christian Eucharist, something else developed into the form of the Easter Rabbit or the bacchanalia of a metal gig. These rites have provided new trappings to the symbolism at their core, but some people still seriously follow and perform its archaic elements. Let us take a look at which forms of religious rituals live their new life in the sermons of modern priests of the doom cult.

This text is a reworked, renewed, extended, and a bit rude translation of an article that I wrote for a Russian e-zine (here), but I and some of the bands who were discussed thought it would be a good idea to have an English version as well. Of course, it’s not really as much of a scientific or anthropological work as it could be, but if there’s someone who’s ready to make a proper investigation then let me know — I have an idea or two.

Here I’ve used some of my past interviews or just asked some bands straight question about their vision of certain rituals.

Don’t take it too seriously! And don’t try to perform it at home!

And as I’ve mentioned above — tonight we’re summoned for a divine cause! Continue reading »

May 032012
 

I’m basically going to be missing in action for the rest of the day.  My fucking day job is going to demand undivided attention into the night.  Shith happens.

So, most likely until tomorrow, I leave you with this — a song from Hour of 13 called “Who’s To Blame?” It’s from an album titled 333 that Earache Records plans to release on May 29.

Hour of 13 is a two-man band from North Carolina — Chad Davis plays all the instruments and Phil Swanson sings. I knew nothing about them until this morning, probably because their style of music is relatively foreign to what we cover on this site. It’s a kind of old-school, Black Sabbath-influenced doom metal with almost exclusively clean singing.

But the riffs in this song are titanically convulsive, the melody is undeniably catchy (though bleak), and it changes pace effectively and satisfyingly on the back end, with a very cool finish. Phil Swanson can really sing, too. So we’ll call this an Exception to the Rule and bid you a fond farewell until we meet again. Fill your head with “Who’s To Blame?” after the jump. Continue reading »