Diaries of Doom

Napalm Death played a triumphant hometown show in Birmingham on Thursday. They were joined by Eyehategod, Misery Index, Rotten Sound and Bat. King Corpse  released 'Exhumation', the first track from the upcoming Sacred Crimson EP. Catch them on March 14th with  Voidlurker   and   Tumanduumband   at Ye Olde Foundry   (listen to the track  here ) Telford blackened death metallers  Blood Church   announced some new 'False Idols' merch. Check their Facebook for more details. With the dust settling from HRH Metal last weekend, DoD has already uploaded a couple of highlights from  Ashborn  and  Lullaby for a Unicorn . We've also put up an interview with  The Grand Mal  and a live clip of  Those Snakes . Those Snakes' second album is barely a week away now. Towards the more classic side of metal, KK Downing announced KK's Priest with two other former Judas Priest members (Tim 'Ripper' Owens and Les Binks), and of course, Ozzy O

Last week on Diaries of Doom... Black Sabbath's debut album turned 50 on Thursday. Yeah, you read that right. Half a century of heavy metal in our ears! No biggie. Master Charger  announced a show at Scruffy Murphy's in Birmingham with  Flex Bison ,  Slump   and  Shot Down Zed . It's the first Diaries of Doom gig and will be  promoted by MMH Radio  as well! HRH Metal went down in Birmingham at the weekend, including bands like  Flex Bison  and  King Corpse  as well as Rhapsody of Fire, Equilibrium, Evil Scarecrow and Raised by Owls and Witchsorrow nearer the top. Speaking of festivals, Bloodstock announced Acid Reign, Svalbard, Idle Hands, Soen, Viscera, Dog Tired and Bailer. Witch Tripper  toured with Evil Scarecrow, sharing stages in Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds and London. Those Snakes released a new video for the song 'Ghosts of Tomorrow'. The Stafford psychedelic metallers are not a band to be missed this year. We uploaded a c

Last week on Diaries of Doom: We uploaded our first review! Ben wrote a brilliant piece about  Voidlurker 's Industrial Nightmare EP. It's a banger, and a must listen for doom and sludge fans. Have a read ! Our  Pemphigoid  interview from the Hare & Hounds is now up. Have a watch for an insight into the Mansfield OSDMers. Netherhall released a new song on Friday, titled 'Distant'. You can buy it for a quid here  - the Brummies seem to go from strength to strength with every new release. King Corpse  announced details of their upcoming EP 'Sacred Crimson'. It's coming out on April 17th. Can't. Wait. Read the Facebook post here . Desert Storm  announced an upcoming new album and tour. 'Omens' comes out on the 1st of May, and 'Black Bile' was released as a single (listen here) . They're doing a run of UK and EU dates throughout May, with a few more through the rest of the year. As well as the one abov

Heavy metal and the city of Birmingham have been interlocked in a deadly embrace since a certain Mr. Iommi accidentally played a part of Gustav Holst’s Planet Suite incorrectly. The rest, they say, is history. Almost 50 years to the day since Black Sabbath released their seminal debut album, a new band from Birmingham have taken up the Doom mantle. Incredibly, they’ve made it one hell of a lot nastier, too. Riding high on the wave of their spectacular Metal to the Masses victory and a slew of gigs supporting the who’s who of modern Doom near the end of 2019, Voidlurker have started the new decade with just under half an hour of grim tidings that leaves you no choice but to sit up and take note with their debut EP, Industrial Nightmare. While there is more than a passing resemblance to Black Sabbath: filthy, fuzzed-out guitars; lumbering, elephantine riffs and crushing drums aplenty; this EP neatly manages to avoid the pastiche that so many bands get accused of these days.

January's always a slog of a month, isn't it? Everyone's broke after Christmas, the pubs are half empty and it's cold (pretty much) all month round. And we've still got bloody February to get through before the weather gets any better. January 2020 was especially apocalyptic, with bushfires burning Australia to a crisp, Coronavirus, and the assassination of Soleimani in Iran. Pretty doomy, if you ask me. What's the press going to tell us we're all going to die of next month? Plus we had the untimely losses of Neil Peart, Reed Mullin, Sean Reinert and Joe Payne, to name a few. Diaries of Doom doesn't broadcast current affairs, though. The first month of the new decade was pretty good for new music, and I've picked out a few of my favourite releases for January 2020. Konvent - Puritan Masochism (death/doom) - Napalm Records Konvent were signed to Napalm Records with only a demo to their name. Puritan Masochism dropped like a bomb the other wee