Empyrium - Songs of Moors & Misty Fields + Weiland

Songs of Moors & Misty Fields

1997; 6 tracks

Why can't we be stars?


Weiland

2002; 12 tracks

Download.

This is a very personal band to me, mostly because of how long I listened solely to them and how they were one of the very first bands to actually inspire me. Empyrium was a German neo-folk/doom metal band founded by Markus Stock (Ulf Theodor Schwadorf) active through the mid to later 90s and early 2000s. More recently they released a new track on the 2010 Prophecy Productions compilation Whom the Moon a Nightsong Sings.

These two albums, Songs of Moors & Misty Fields and Weiland, are, in my opinion, the band's most wondrous releases. I do enjoy the rest of their discography, which includes four other full-lengths, one of which was self-released, and an EP, but I have listened to these two countless times in the depths of night, the depths of winter, when I was just coming to know how amazing music can be. Songs of Moors & Misty Fields is, quite simply, a masterpiece of doom metal and neo-folk. Weiland, also, is pure acoustic neo-folk and seems to have been recorded within the heart of a magical forest. I just wanted to post these as the year is coming to an end, but my love for this band will never fade.

Earth - Pentastar: In the Style of Demons

1996; 8 tracks

I'd never heard of Earth before this album, and it is thanks to a friend whose taste in music I literally worship that I even picked this up. Earth are a renowned stoner/doom/drone metal band, founded by Dylan Carlson in 1990. Repetitive, slow, and steady, their sounds blend the best of solid doom metal with disarming monotony. This is a lovely work, I highly recommend it.

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Harvey Milk - Special Wishes (Live)

October 27, 2006; 9 tracks

Here the Athens, Georgia-based sludge band Harvey Milk play through their 2006 album Special Wishes at the Drunken Unicorn in Atlanta, GA. I haven't heard the original album, but this live album is full of crushing tracks that hook you in almost immediately. My personal favorite would have to be "War," it being just so damn catchy, but many tracks here lend themselves to a deluge of heaviness and earthmoving brilliance. For a while now I've admired their 1996 album Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men, a milestone in this experimental / sludge genre. There is something about their guitar sound which blends southern drone with a Boris-esque dread, completely inundated with mystery, and the utterly spine-tingling voice of Creston Spiers, reminiscent of Jandek and Cohen, that innately draw me to them. It is said of Creston that he would only do Cohen covers if he could, and I don't think that would be a bad idea. On Courtesy they did an incredible cover of "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong," I can't remember if I've already mentioned that in an earlier post or not, but listen to it right now if you haven't already. Live albums are always spontaneously alive and awe-inspiring, and this is no exception!

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Kauan - Lumikuuro

2007; 8 tracks

Today is Christmas day, and I cannot imagine listening to anything other than this perfect, beautiful album - Lumikuuro. I listened to it last year at Christmas and it enchanted me from beginning to end. It is the first and, in my opinion, most fluid album by the Russian doom/folk metal band Kauan. Kauan, in Finnish, means something like "a long period of time." The founding member of the band is Anton Belov, a very talented man who has worked in a few other projects (Inea, Strecosa, Helengard). Violinist Lyubov Mushnikova joined the band later on, with a few other session musicians to help orchestrate this god-tier music.

Lumikuuro, which means "Flurry," masterfully blends neofolk, classical, doom metal, and maybe even black metal. The perfectly placed distances between the darker, more doom metal parts and the softer, jazzier/classical sections make the album like a journey to be traversed and enjoyed. The variety of instruments and musical ideas are seemingly endless as well, and perhaps that is what catches me every time I listen. There is a melancholy beauty to be found at every corner of Lumikuuro, a radiant gleam of bittersweet light. I think "Koivun Ela" will always be my favorite track, but I'm growing more and more fond of the acoustic version of "Syleily Sumu."

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Estatic Fear - A Sombre Dance

1999; 10 tracks

This is one of the most amazing doom metal albums you will ever hear. Don't miss out.

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Corrupted - El Mundo Frio

2005; 1 track (1:11:39)

Corrupted is a doom/sludge metal band from Japan. They are also pioneers of that music genre and sing in English, Japanese, and Spanish.

El Mundo Frio (meaning The Cold World) is a 71 minute-long track that includes elements of sludge, doom metal, drone doom metal while also featuring dark ambient sections. It takes a long time to actually start to have some life in it, and when the real song actually starts the riffs repeat over and over and over again. I find this deeply rewarding because the riffs and atmosphere that is created is deeply beautiful. I'm wondering what others would think of it.

Here is a well written summary/review of what you should expect: http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/10928/Corrupted-El-Mundo-Frio/

Download.

Dolorian - Dolorian

2001; 9 tracks

Prepare to be transported to an alien landscape by the psychedelic, very dissonant guitars and heavy dark atmosphere in this doom metal masterpiece. Hidden underneath the slow paced (sometimes even purely atmospheric) and the alternate powerful/faster parts you will find some of the best sounds you will ever hear in your life. You will miss the place you went as soon as the album ends.

Doomload.