Rituals of Doom

Doomraiser ~ Reverse (Passaggio Inverso) (2015)

 These Italian doomsters have a long, glorious history of some great albums in the realm of doom metal. Their newest album since 2011's "Mountains of Madness" was released on Blood Rock Records. It really doesn't stray too very far from they tried and true sound they've perfected over the years, not that it needed to. They've always had that right mixture of melody and heaviness, so that something massively heavy can still have the haunting, resonant qualities of something that would usually be much more melodic and softer in style. It's a balancing act, and they manage to balance it in just the right ways. While the lead off track "Addiction" is the video single and quite good, I really got into the next to last track "In Winter". For this one they crawl along slower than usual in the beginning, with the megalithic riff dragging out that feeling of despair to new depths. It doesn't stay that way forever, switching over to a crushing mid-tempo riff about a third of the way through. And even manages to kick it up another notch afterwards, around the halfway point. Falling back into the slow crawl from the beginning, it doesn't take very long for a screaming guitar solo to fall into place. With the song being just over nine minutes long, the transitions are seamless and don't feel rushed. With the album being produced and mixed by Billy Anderson himself, you know it's properly done and sounds great. You can pick up the digital version for just a few bucks off of Blood Rock's bandcamp or check out the Doomraiser's store for all of physical copy needs, including some vinyl options.
~Skip

For Fans Of; Saint Vitus, Black Sabbath, Paradise Lost

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