doom metal

Cathedral – The Guessing Game

Modestly experimental and incredibly grandiose by their standards, this double album (their first ever) clocks in at an ungodly 80-plus minutes, way more than it should but, hey, it’s Cathedral. You know the fuzz-pedals were particularly gritty one day and writing got out of hand.

Woods Of Ypres – W4: The Green Album

W4: The Green Album is a difficult journey. There is a great deal of darkness, and there are certainly wolves (and worse) in these particular Woods. But, as a listener, you are never without a guide. However difficult and painful it may be, this was David Gold’s journey before it was yours, and it is going to hurt him a lot more than it hurts you.

Tom Gabriel Fischer: The Hellbound Interview Part Two

Hellbound’s two-part interview with Celtic Frost and Triptykon founder Tom Gabriel Fischer continues. Today, Fischer talks about his signature guitar sound; composing several tracks on the new album; his relationship with Martin Eric Ain and what will be included in Triptykon’s set list.

When you were working on Triptykon’s debut what was

Tom Gabriel Fischer of Triptykon: the Hellbound Interview

`I didn’t just leave Celtic Frost in the heat of the moment. It took an immeasurable amount of personal problems for me to walk out of my own band. I was the main songwriter in Celtic Frost. We worked for so many years to achieve the status that we only achieved at the very end. It was difficult to let that go on every level.`

Justin M. Norton interviews metal mastermind Thomas Gabriel Fischer about his new outfit Triptykon and the incidents surrounding its formation and the break up of Celtic Frost

Triptykon – Eparistera Daimones

Could it be that after three decades as metal musician Fischer has found his voice after playing with so many different styles? Eparistera Daimones is not that different from Monotheist, but that’s not a detriment when following an album that revived your career and reputation. Triptykon’s debut is a worthy piece in Fischer’s enigmatic but always provocative musical career.

Trouble: Unplugged and Live in Los Angeles

While instability is familiar territory for Trouble, the changes of the last few years are of an order of magnitude beyond anything it has experienced previously. The reissue of Unplugged, featuring outgoing vocalist Eric Wagner, and Live in Los Angeles, featuring the debut of replacement Kory Clarke (Warrior Soul), jointly symbolize the end of one era and the start of a new era.

Tate Bengston reviews these two new releases by Chicago doom metal legends Trouble.

Ava Inferi: Blood Of Bacchus

Blood Of Bacchus is haunting and mysterious. It is graceful and desolate. Picture pure doom, lying under soft, almost operatic vocals and heavy guitars. Though it is very easy to develop a strong sense of what Ava Inferi sound like through this description, you will never fully understand the brilliance of this band until you give them a fervent listen.