Caged Wolves - Act of Nature Beyond Control (2021) Coming to us from the cultural hub of Vienna, this is the third release from Caged Wolves, following their back-to-back studio and live EPs in 2019. This time around, the band brings three songs to the table, each settling in the eight to ten minute range, working a mix of desert rock, doom metal, and alternative approaches to each. First of the tunes is “Cosmic Rage”, which kicks off on a psychedelic groove with some phasing guitar over heavy rolling drums. Settling into a slow-moving but powerful groove which hangs around for much of the s ..read more

The Slow Death - Siege (2021) Hailing from Australia, this death/doom quintet has some common ground leading up to their current incarnation. Three of the members are in Horrisonous and Illimitable Dolor, with the two vocalists (one of whom also handles keyboards) having been plucked from Muskrat and Oracle of the Void. With the shared history between the main instrumental members, you'd expect to find this project approached with a strong sense of purpose, and just from glancing at the track times, that suspicion seems borne out. Totaling just over an hour, split between four songs, it's cle ..read more

Black Wound - To the Endless Depths (2021) On the physical release of their debut EP, the Swedish trio of Black Wound serve up a heady mix of death and doom metal. Despite their young ages (with a drummer who's currently 17), the band has a solid lock on the style and substance, delivering music with enough dark potency to shame groups twice their age. Opening track “Absence of Will” jumps right into their swampy stew of deep bass riffs, growling vocals, and clanging percussion, with abrupt time signature and tempo change-ups meshing into the grim gurgles and noisome grooves. “From Eternity ..read more

Big Smile Revival - The Universal Veil (2021) Coming at us from the Bristol region of the UK with this, their debut EP, the trio of Big Smile Revival balance retro psych rock leanings with some more modern rock rough 'n' tumble looseness. Lead track “Sacred Mushroom” lays in a choice sample before sliding into a warm groove, which finds its way into bigger, faster, and rowdier forms as the group gets down with it. Staying instrumental, they keep the focus on the tones, rhythms, and interplay, and turn out a high-charged piece of cool exploration as a result. As the move into “Divided Kind ..read more

Crypt Monarch - The Necronaut (2021) Hailing from Costa Rica, the power trio of Crypt Monarch are making their debut with this three-song, thirty-six-minute album, recorded (according to the liner notes) “live in a cabin in the woods.” Thanks to their name and some woodcut cover art (especially that fine shade of purple), they've got a good sense of character from the start. That's especially welcome, since for the most part, the vocals aren't the focus on this album. The evocatively titled “Morning Star Through Skull” opens things up, leaning into some heavy, hard-landing beats and long-sus ..read more

Fell Harvest - Pale Light in a Dying World (2021) Following up on their self-titled EP from last year, the power trio of Fell Harvest have made their return with a solid forty minutes of forceful doom metal. Peppering in a little bit of spoken word samples here and there, the main focus remains firmly on the strength of the instruments' impact, moods that lean more towards rage than sorrow, and pressing ever onwards. With “Titanicide”, the opening track, the band sets a powerful first foot forward. Pounding percussion, strident vocals, and insistent strings come together in punchy chords and ..read more

Inner Missing - Deluge (2021) On their first album since clearing the one-decade anniversary of their first release, the Russian group of Inner Missing have put together eight tracks of gothic doom metal, blending melancholic reflections with powerful rhythmic work and aching tones from their strings. “In the Haze” gets things off to a strong start, showcasing the band's skill with nimbly sliding from one exploratory movement to the next, carrying listeners along through rousing action and somber focus. While that lush songwriting style persists throughout the album, as does the general mood ..read more

Planet of the Dead - Pilgrims (2021) Following up on their debut album from February of last year, the New Zealander quartet of Planet Of The Dead have made quick turn-around to bring us this sophomore LP. Filled with references to sci-fi hallmarks like Alien, Dune, and RoboCopin the track titles and lyrics, with asteroid-drifting art for the album cover, the band makes no bones about their inspirations and pop culture fondnesses. Opening with “Gom Jabbar”, the band takes a few moments for spaceship engine noise feedback to set an atmosphere before crashing into full sludge banger mode. Conf ..read more

SpaceMetal - Highness (2021) It's been a while since we last heard from the NOLA-based group of SpaceMetal; their last LP, Shroud, dropped back in 2018, and it's been fairly quiet on their digital front since then. Now, thankfully, the group has returned with another batch of songs, this time in honestly-titled EP form, to reassure the world that their heaviness is alive and well. First of the EP's four tracks is “Stare”, an eight-minute cruiser which plays around with acoustic guitar and spoken-word vocals for an intro before diving into the deep bass and big-body riffs which make up its ma ..read more

Bong-Ra - Antediluvian (2021) While Bong-Ra is best known for decades of work in the breakcore style, back in 2016, the one-man band experimented with doom metal, on the two-track Palestinarelease. Half a decade later, musician Jason Köhnen is taking a deeper run at the style, bringing together about half an hour's worth of material across four songs. Opening with “Kheper – Pharoah's Serpent” (sic), the album's ten-minute opener operates with delicate female vocals over kicks of drums, long-reverbed waves of bass, crashes of cymbals, and squeals of feedback. Though most of the song takes a d ..read more