BURDEN OF DESPAIR ~ Confutatis (2025)

Well, if I didn't know I had a brain, I do now because its just seeped out of my ears halfway through 'Confutatis' the debut full length from Japanese band Burden Of Despair. This is doom/sludge/death of the highest and unbelievably heaviest calibre. 

I love the fact that Japanese doom often mixes hints of stoner and psychedelia within its dirges but with 'Confutatis' Burden Of Despair has swept away any hint of branching out into slightly calmer aural pastures. Calamitous riffs of Uranium groove dominate your senses from the funereal lament of the opening track 'Slaughterfaith' all the way through to the deathlike hardcore tinged stomp of the final song 'Godforsaken.'. The unstoppable doom death dissonance ripping right through the blackened heart of 'Confutatis' adds chaos to the burgeoning mix and a menacing vocal delivery heightens the sense of foreboding.

An absolutely pulverizing release. An Event Horizon. The point of no return.

HARSH REALM ~ Death Carries On (2024)

Press play and feel your very essence devoured into the maw of The Great Beast. A coagulate of unemotional death doom encapsulated in a bloody crust. 

'Death Carries On' by North Carolina's Harsh Realm is as rancid as death metal gets, slow chugging riffs contorted into even slower, flyblown breakdowns repeatedly abused by a frenzy of hostile violence.

The only boundaries Harsh Realm has stretched is how much pain you can suffer and still enjoy your punishment!

TUMULATION ~ Haunted Funeral Creations (2023)

Tumulation is something of a supergroup consisting of members of bands wallowing in the lower regions of the 'Filth Pit' such as Conjureth, Messial, Sarcosium, Decrepitaph and more! regurgitatting repulsive Death/Doom harking back to the glory days of the early 90's. There are no frills with Haunted Funeral Creations, each track is fully immersed in a nightmarish vision of final judgement not just relying on the tried and trusted Death/Doom formula, instead, agonisingly stretching the pain into Funeral Doom and even tenuously, grind territory creating various layers of depravity. Modern recording methods enhance the overall claustrophobic atmosphere of the album, enhancing an aura of foreboding that bleeds through the clotted pores of each seething track.

For fans of: Autopsy, Winter, Blood Incantation, Hooded Menace, Paradise Lost, Incantation

DIVINIST ~ Divinist (2023)

Ominous, sludgy doom seething with evil intent. Bleak, black and sullen, the surprisingly sumptuous sound adds multitudes of layers, pitted with pained, acidic guitar leads, to the numbing, hypnotic dissonance taking root into your skull. Painfully slow, not even the added death metal element breaks Divinist from its lumbering stride of behemothic proportions. Dark, necromantic spells are cast from the first track and the feeling of oppressive malevolence leaves goosebumps on the nape of your neck long after the final track 'Curse' has ended.