Diaries of Doom

Today marks the 40th Anniversary of one of Rock’s most astounding achievements: AC/DC’s timeless album, Back in Black. What’s so special about the album is not just the quality of the songs on display, but the circumstances under which it was created. It’s a true phoenix risen from the ashes moment. 1980 was a year of great change in Rock music, though, as a new breed of Heavy Metal began to rear its head and left the old guard needing to adapt or die. To celebrate, Diaries of Doom have a look back at three bands who released important albums with a bit of a direction change in this momentous year:   Black in Black - AC/DC The start of the 1980s had been about as kind to AC/DC as the start of 2020 has been to the rest of the world. Having released perhaps their greatest commercial album to date, Highway to Hell, a year earlier, Bon Scott and the boys looked to be on the precipice of world domination with their rough and ready, bar brawling Rock ‘n’ Roll sound. It was not to be...

Having released a series of singles since their new EP “Exordium” back in October 2019 (after being signed to Realityfade Records earlier the same year), Visions of Disfigurement are on their best form so far, and they haven’t even peaked yet. Along with welcoming their newest guitarist only last year, the boys have been busy as part of the 0161 Slamchester movement. Visions of Disfigurement are one of the leading figures in the Manchester Slam/Brutal Death Metal scene, along with the likes of Ingested, Chainsaw Castration and Crepitation, as well as plenty others unmentioned, helping with a revival of the Brutal Death Metal genre which was almost dying out in Britain, especially with a lot of the best bands in the scene being situated around Europe and the United States (more notably Europe with bands like Begging for Incest and Kraanium, if you like the filthy depraved sounds of beautiful cacophony that perpetuate through the creative whims of the souls behind Visions of Disfiguremen...

There’s a violent storm brewing far in the north. Vast clouds threaten torrential rain, claps of thunder signal an oncoming barrage of electrostatic energy. This isn’t a weather forecast: it’s the only appropriate way to set the scene for Bosphorus’ Slow Burn , set for release on the 25th of September 2020 through Trepanation Recordings. Seriously, the drama, the foreboding, and the essence of space that this record manages to communicate is akin to beholding a storm front. The Glasgow trio develop dynamic and thematic elements with care, showing attention to detail and great care for their song writing into a familiar but original post-metal sound that you’d be a fool to skip.   ‘Silhouette’ instantly begins the assault with a cascading riff that threatens to trip itself up, if not for such talented control on the part of the Teager, Wiseman, and Hamilton. A dual vocal hook that combines hardcore style vocals simultaneously with a more doom laden delivery calls forth a truly bleak...

London progressive sludge metallers Tunguska released a killer self-titled EP right at the end of last year before unleashing Untethered Guillotine unto an unsuspecting world a few months ago. It's four-and-a-half minutes (near enough) of heaviness that will appeal to fans of Neurosis, Mastodon and Meshuggah. Tunguska strike a clear balance between light and shade, with clean singing, emotion and atmosphere amid demonic growls, pummelling riffs and razor-sharp aggression.  Opening with ominous synths and effects, Tunguska waste little time before releasing a beast of a main riff that evokes Mastodon beneath clean vocals from Sean Gibson. The heavier, more guttural style of vocals that it follows into are simply awesome. The riffs for the dirtier sections are sludgy as hell, but the technical approach to the guitars really remind the listener of Meshuggah at their best. A clear dichotomy exists within the song between the more melodic stoner-type parts and the heavy dissonance. Desp...

To the uninitiated, a band that has a discography that gets anywhere close to rivalling Boris’ can be a bit daunting. Compound that with the Japanese trio’s reluctance to confine themselves to even broad genre descriptors across any given album, and you could be forgiven for struggling to find a jumping in point in their 28 year long career. 2020’s No is a strong and uniquely Boris as anything that they’ve released, blending their early drone doom works as well as their breakneck punk sludge in a new record that will melt your brain in the best possible way. If you want a fresh gateway into a band that is more than worth your time, get this record on. The majority of the record falls into Boris’ all out punk bruising madness category. Most of the tracks, such as ‘Anti-Gone’ and ‘Temple of Hatred’ sit around the three minute mark and sound as a love letter to the punk and sludge bands that Boris so often cite as influences. Those who seek doom level heavy are catered to on ‘Genesis’ and...

Chicago’s punky noise rock outfit Of Wolves’ new album Balance drops tomorrow! (4/7/20). Following up to 2013’s Resolve , the band have refined their sound and infused more anger into their songwriting. “Metal + Punk + Hardcore/Crossover + Sludge Stoner/Doom + Grind = Therapy”, to take it from the horse’s mouth. So as pubs prepare to reopen in the UK, the trio provide a wonderfully dissonant soundtrack for getting drunk and angry at the elite. Lead single and opening track ‘Mens Rea (Izaguf)’ slaps, and wouldn’t be misplaced on a copyright-ambiguous skateboarding video game franchise. ‘Maker’ violently grooves it’s way into your ears. The seventeen second long ‘Flavour of the Week’ is more of a mantra set to heavy music, but it is straight to the point. The first four songs of this record (the only one not mentioned previously being 'Jesus Jihad') touch upon a tried and tested sludge sound, with equal measures of nasty punk and thumping stoner metal. It's nothing new, but t...

Congratulations, Diaries of Doom reader! If you're reading this, you've made it halfway through this bastard of a year without succumbing to Coronavirus, a police system in need of systemic reform, murder hornets, bushfires... It f eels like we're slowly going back to normal after a very weird few months, whatever 'normal' is now. Wonder what kind of curveball the next month will throw at us. Although 'Diaries of Doom' could be the name of any current affairs outlet at the moment, I'm just here to write about bands. Now, some bands have released music in the last month. Some of those have been pretty good. I'd like to think I've got something here that you won't have heard yet. Invictra - Chaos Theory (thrash metal) - independent US thrash metallers Invictra released 'Chaos Theory' only a few days ago. What a monster EP it is. If you like technical, groovy thrash metal with progressive, neoclassical flourishes and plenty ...