Diaries of Doom

That title’s a bit of a mouthful, isn’t it? I can’t actually say it out loud without tripping over my tongue. Anyway. I want to say that I’m openly a big fan of progressive sludge metal. I like fat, meaty riffs and bands who are clever with their music, and I don’t care who knows it. Put those two together and you get progressive sludge. There should be more progressive sludge out there, I want to discover more progressive sludge bands, and everyone should listen to progressive sludge. What does progressive sludge sound like? Well, there’s not necessarily a straight answer. There’s songs on albums included in this list that sound nothing alike each other. All bands on here are devout followers of The Riff™, but do vastly different things with it. There’s elements of black metal on here, all the way to reggae. Alright, then, at what point does sludge metal become progressive sludge? I don’t know, to be honest. This is all down to my judgment. Feel free to vocally disagree with me i...

King Corpse have been making quite the name for themselves in the Midlands as purveyors of grim Sludge Metal of the most rancid quality. The grim pounding of thunderous bangers like ‘Swamp Thing’ take a deep dive into Stoner Rock’s darkest recesses and take a morbid fascination in seeing what monstrosities they can coax out of the shadows. Gearing up for the release of this hotly anticipated new EP, I was very excited for more of the same. Business as usual from the Sludge Factory (see what I did there?)… What I got, however, was not that. Well, not exactly that, but that and a whole lot more! After an ominous, swirling intro, opening track Exhumation lumbers into view with a familiarly gnarly riff, but this is juxtaposed wonderfully with a vocal line that’s dominated by a whistleable clean melody and mournful harmony. Vocalist/Bassist Jack Cradock’s enviable screams are not gone, but the track is dominated by this relatively clean (we’re still listening to a Sludge record, a...

In the absence of gigs due to the pandemic at the moment DoD is holding off from the usual weekly roundups for the time being. There's a lot less going on - especially for the small, live, underground bands we champion - and it feels a bit depressing doing them without. They'll be back among more normal times. Stay safe out there.

We're already at the end of March. Seems like we're in a very different world to the one where I last wrote one of these. I'm not going to bother doing a social commentary like I did for the last couple of months. What can I say that everyone else hasn't been saying? I hope everyone's staying safe and sane out there.  Still, even if every gig and festival going is hit with cancellations, there's still incredible music coming out. I've picked out a few of my favourites from the last four weeks. Graceless - Where Vultures Know Your Name (death/doom metal) - Raw Skull Recordz My mate told me about this album only a few days ago, but it's absolutely awesome. Graceless come from Leiden, the Netherlands, playing infectiously old-school death doom. I've noticed a bit of a resurgence in the genre lately, and it's really great to be able to hear everything we love about it with modern production. Graceless do the job extremely well, with all the ...

I’ll level with you here: upon my first listen to this song, I was confused. Anyone would be forgiven for thinking that the first ten seconds of Dead Silence, led by low synths and synthetic vibraphone, would lead into a mumble rap track about drinking too much cough syrup and having colourful hair. Of course, such an indication would cause most rock fans to stop listening almost immediately. Perseverance is rewarded in this case, however, because there are no further hints of mumble rap (thank Christ) for the rest of the single. Much like John Cage’s 4:33 and any Sunn 0))) song, this is a good example of how rewarding it can be to listen to more than the first ten seconds of a song. The rest of this song is a satisfying modern heavy rock stomp, complete with menacing, minor riffage, spooky guitar harmonies and high-flying vocals. Think of Avenged Sevenfold circa 2009, strip away all of the bits you wish they hadn’t put in their songs, then you’re about there with Dead Silen...

Last week on Diaries of Doom... We uploaded another documentary at the weekend. Watch our 15-min insight into Independent Music Venues Week, with  Raging Speedhorn ,  Desert Storm  and  Those Snakes , talking about their local music scenes, the importance of small venues, and new music for the latter two bands. In a busy week for underground live music,  Fractura  played their first show under their new line up at Metal 2 The Masses Wolverhampton,  King Corpse  headlined Ye Olde Foundry in Dudley with  Tumanduumband  and  Voidlurker , and  Ashen Crown  opened for Grand Magus and Wolf in Birmingham. Something I forgot to mention last week was that  Insurgent  released a new single, titled 'Colours Bleed'. Unfortunately, with that announcement came the news that they were calling it a day as a band. Gutted isn't the word. Creature dropped a live session for 'Cold Man's World'. They're touring wi...

Did you catch Ungraven this week? The industrial blackened sludge duo feature Jon of  Conan  and Tyler of Tuskar.  Voidlurker  and Adder supported them in an incredible night of live music in Coventry. You can read our new  review  of the  Land Captains  EP, written expertly by Ben Price. Thomas V Jäger of  Monolord  announced a solo project. It's a bit softer than the crushing doom he's known for - based on acoustic guitars, synths and vocals. The new Testament song 'Children of the Next Level' crushes. That sums it up nicely. Desert Storm  have released another song. 'The Machine' will be on upcoming album Omens, out on APF.  We've got new videos from  Witch Tripper ,  Conan  and  Memoriam  on the channel - have a watch! Viscera's first album came out this week. Jamie, who used to front Sylosis and Heart of a Coward, is providing vocals. This stuff is heavy...