One of this years releases that has been playing non-stop here on my den is this killer split release between two of Ireland's finest doom heavyweights: Nomadic Rituals and Tome. Featuring one track for each band, it's more than enough to let this thick, blurred, cosmic, black ooze flow into your ears for the next coming months. I'm totally addicted into this split and love equally both tracks from each band. It's slow, it's fucking.. I mean FUCKING SLOW AND HEAVY. What else do you need? It's so fucking good. Please check both bands and buy this vinyl record. A mandatory release for fans of the genre.
Next is Church from Sacramento, California with their "Unanswered Hymns" Demo. Church deliver these thick slabs of slow, heavy as fuck, riffs that drags us into the depths of the pits of Doom. It's almost impossible to hear this without in some unconscious way, you start banging your head s-l-o-w-l-y... I totally love the way the two vocal styles combine, bringing the most occult, witchy(!) side of doom metal with it's most vile and ugly facet. Another great doom release to keep in mind. Crushing. Demo available through Transylvanian Tapes.
Another fucking crushing Demo that landed on my ears was this one by Weltesser, a young band from Saint Petersburg, Florida. Now this exactly the type of sound I'm into. Filthy, brutal, vile sludge doom metal. No fucking bullshit here, just hatred in its most pure essence. Weltesser's sound has got to be one of the meanest you'll hear this year coming from an underground band. I can see a bright future for these boys. Check them out. No salvation. Only perdition.
And finally, another band that I'm super stoked upon are Spectral Voice from Denver, Colorado. Sick, putrid and misanthropic death doom is what you'll get here. Delivering thick, heavy and decaying riffs very à la Corrupted meets Disma meets Anhedonist kind of sound. The stench of death is everywhere on this Demo. And I fucking love it. So much that I instantly ordered the tape immediately. The tracks are amazing here, I love them all, they're very well played. These guys are truly on the right track.
Do yourself a favor and support all the bands above. These are fucking mandatory Doom releases for this year. Support the underground!