Diaries of Doom

Tumanduumband's third release dropped out of nowhere at the end of January. A testament to the lads' will to keep the ball rolling over lockdown, as it has been recorded at home on smartphones, it proves that little will stop this four-legged beast. It also signals a change in direction and sound - the instrumental drum and bass doom riffs are replaced with sludgy, droney, blackened evil performed with guitars and vocals instead. So, fair play for keeping things going, and fresh, given all the shit going on in the world at the moment. The title track is a droning slow burner, with Luke's tortured howls creating a genuinely unsettling vibe. It weaves in and out of different sections with a free flowing structure. More than anything, the focus is upon atmosphere and a different kind of evil that the duo's last two releases have been based around. The very raw production ethic works well here. As much as this choice has come out of necessity, with a national lockdown in fo...

We all celebrated the death of 2020 a month ago. But, the first moon into 2021, are there any bets on when things are going to start feeling any better? Okay, so many of us here were probably happy to see an oversized tangerine baby collect his P45 from the White House, but in the depths of a grim Corona winter, where Glastonbury Festival has already been cancelled for this summer (the first of many?), there's been fruit and veg shortages due to the unholy cocktail of Brexit, Covid and cold weather, and we found out about the untimely death of Alexi Laiho, you have to wonder when the pendulum is going to swing back in the other direction. Music has always kept many of us sane during difficult times. To keep us optimistic, we've had new singles from Monolord and Eyehategod, an incredible debut EP from Wall , and three particularly grim releases I've picked out from the last four weeks below. Music for the times, to be sure. Gatecreeper - An Unexpected Reality (death metal/gr...