Diaries of Doom

On this day 50 years ago, Black Sabbath released Sabbath Bloody Sabbath on Vertigo I didn't grow up in a household of heavy music, so my first memory of hearing metal is being in my friend's kitchen at around seven years old, at the time when The Osbournes was on the telly. I didn't know what Black Sabbath or metal was back then, but I picked up on a couple of earworms that turned out to be Sabbath songs later down the line. Fast forward to the age of 13 and I was chatting to an older mate of mine about music. When I told him that I was listening to a lot of Green Day and Kings of Leon, he turned his nose up and told me I should try a bit of Black Sabbath and get into metal. I went to a youth club in my village back then and a few months after that conversation I noticed a CD lying by the player at the end of a night with 'Black Sabbath Greatest Hits' written on the front. I stole it, put it on my mp3 player (showing my generation here) and brought it back the n...

Combichrist - This Shit Will Fuck You U p Promising an old-school set for all of us Uprising attendees, the aggrotech/industrial giants are really offering a treat in a few weeks. 2023 really does feel like Uprising's strongest year and I imagine this set will be much talked about after the event. It's hard to argue with the legendary status of the first song from Combichrist's second record. In every sense of the word, it will fuck the Academy up. Lowen - The Fortress of Blood My pick from 2018's 'A Crypt in the Stars', this track showcases Lowen at their haunting best, with wailing vocals and a uniquely Middle Eastern take on doom that gives them a psychedelic and progressive feel. Lowen do something genuinely interesting and different; this may well be one of the most memorable sets of the evening. Boss Keloid - Hats the Mandrill The one I come back to more than the rest from 'Family the Smiling Thrush'. The key changes are masterful, the riffs cr...

Another trip around the sun and we find ourselves at a time of year for reflection, resolution and introspection - or for writers like me, a time of year where we scramble to get these lists out and hope to get a few shares. On a personal level, 2022 won't be a year I'll forget any time soon. I've been lucky enough to work at Desertfest London, Bloodstock Festival and Arctangent Festival with three different publications and in particular, I'm lately getting a lot of gig reviews under my belt with The Razor's Edge. I got to see Billy Idol the day before my birthday with a press pass. That was amazing. Through media, I've got to chat in-depth with plenty of the bands on this list about their own music. I hope that I'll be able to tick off more from this list as we go into 2023. Of course, most that know me as the Diaries of Doomer will know that I hold six-string duties in Alunah. At the start of the year, I still felt like the new guy in the band - no one el...

Obligatory end-of-year post. 2021 has been a year I won't look back on fondly, with a pretty constant series of personal challenges - not least because of the pandemic - but there's been plenty to remember for all the right reasons, such as the big family reunion at Bloodstock, seeing some of my friends again for the first time in ages, and all the fun band-related stuff I've done with Alunah and Slump. If you follow the blog closely, you might have noticed I've had to take a complete break from posting for the last couple of weeks. Trying to balance running this blog with two bands, other music media platforms and working full-time to pay the bills as a side gig can be a lot sometimes, and burnout's no joke. It's been good to take time away from the music side and enjoy the festivities with my family lately. Only time will tell what '22 will bring, but the standard of music releases only seems to get better at the moment. If the stars align then both of my ...

This year didn't really go to plan, did it? I'm sure we're all relieved to see 2020 finally on its way out - who's taking bets for 2021? Zombie apocalypse, anyone? Regardless, there's been some absolutely stellar new releases all year round. The Diaries of Doom writers team have gotten their heads together and picked out 40 of their favourites from 2020 - in alphabetical order, to avoid lengthy, meandering arguments. Find something here that you previously missed. As you'd expect, there's a lot of sludge, doom and stoner here. But we've also got everything else, from Pearl Jam to grindcore. Here's our essential 40 releases of 2020. Anaal Nathrakh - Endarkenment (blackened death) Battalions - Pure Humber Sludge (sludge) Beggar - Compelled to Repeat (sludge) Cillian Breathnach - Lothric (drone/dark ambient) Fæðm by Cillian Breathnach Corrupt Moral Altar - Patiently Waiting for Wonderful Things (death/grindcore) Deftones - Ohms (alternative metal) ...

50 years ago, something magical happened. Utterly beyond the realms of what was thought possible or probably, four blokes from Aston, Birmingham, were set to change the world forever. Reeling off of the energy of a debut album that introduced a fresh face of musical evil to the world, Bill Ward, Geezer Butler, Ozzy Osbourne, and Tony Iommi set about writing what would become an inimitable cornerstone of music culture. They took an honest look at the world around them, and committed their feelings to record. The result is an album of devilishly ferocious highs, and brooding, often insidious lows, with expertly crafted songs weaving through lyrical themes of drug use, and a strong anti-war sentiment. Paranoid, the album that is beloved by the everyone: elitist doom metal drones, the old guard who can remember the year 1970 (we're a young writing team), and everyone in between. Is it doom? Is it Dad Rock? Yes. It's nothing short of brilliant. Join us (Matt, Joe, and Jack) as we pi...

On this day in 2019... Mandalorian  played a headline set at the Flapper.  Voidlurker  and  King Corpse  were also on the bill. I spoke to all three bands and made this little documentary of the evening, and Diaries of Doom was born! It's still one of our most popular videos on the channel.  Since then, we've had over 7,500 channel views, built up a slow but steady social media presence, and made a ton of new friends on the ride. To all my fellow music lovers who've been a part of this in any way whatsoever... Thank you.  A lot has come from this for me personally that I didn't and couldn't predict in any way, and for that I am grateful. Ben, who's actually in the above video, officially joined DoD three months ago. We were hoping to be at Desertfest London celebrating the channel's anniversary over this weekend, but for obvious reasons, that's not on now. Maybe next year? Here's to the next twelve months! I only remem...

I'm happy to unveil the Diaries of Doom site. If you're hearing about me for the first time, I have run the Diaries of Doom YouTube channel since May 2019. I got the idea of doing so in the same week as some of my good mates in different bands all played on the same bill, which spawned this gig documentary . The channel has a mix of interviews and live gig footage, and the occasional other gig or festival documentary. I cover any original rock or metal live band, but make sure to include smaller, lesser known ones as much as I can. I've also been with  MMH Radio for four months at this time and play guitar and sing in Slump . With the 9 month anniversary (month-iversary?) coming up I've made the decision to expand and make this site to track everything and use text posts. At time of writing Diaries of Doom has about 140 Instagram followers, 80 Facebook likes and 40 YouTube subscribers. Here's all the links! Doesn't matter if you're new or have been ...